Love Puppies and Corner Kicks (review)

Middle-schooler and soccer star Andrea DiLorenzo can't believe her parents want to ruin her life by moving the family to Scotland for a year in a teacher-exchange program ("This is the first time in my life I am really mad at my parents"), but move they do. Andrea worries not only about making friends and finding a way to keep up with her soccer but also about how to keep her stuttering problem in check. She gradually finds a niche playing soccer with the "Tough Girls Football Club" and develops an appropriately tough and taciturn persona to fit in (and keep her stutter under control). True friends come a bit more slowly, but they are eventually found in the form of chubby, funny music-lover Margaret and cute soccer player Stewart, who, blessedly, returns her feelings for him with all the awkwardness and confusion of a true (if fairly innocent) middle-school romance. Krech's writing is clear, fresh, and respectful of her middle-school audience while also being laugh-out-loud funny in places. The Scottish dialect and the stuttering issue are both particularly well handled, being realistic but low-key enough that they don't overshadow other elements of the story; word-loving kids will also appreciate Andrea's penchant for expanding her vocabulary (there's a new word heading every chapter). Andrea is an extremely likable heroine, and kids both yearning for and dreading transatlantic relocation will enjoy joining her for a vicarious trip.