A Whole New Ball Game by Belle Payton (review)

Seventh-grade twins Alex and Ava just moved from Boston to Texas so that their father can start a new position as the head coach of a high school football team. Despite being as different as night and day, the two girls have always been the best of friends, but the many changes going on seem to be driving them apart, a fact that they both struggle with as they attempt to figure out their new environs. The third-person narration alternates between the sisters’ viewpoints in this middle-school novel, and while the characterizations are fairly formulaic (Alex is a girly-girl who loves fashion and decorating, while Ava is a sloppy tomboy who spends her days watching football practices), they’re credibly developed. The twin device is effectively deployed as each girl seeks to understand herself independently, in relation to her twin, and in the context of her new town; there’s also appeal in the plot’s sit-com elements of overheard conversations, secret observations, and all the uncertainty that comes with being in a new place. Never fear, by book’s end the twins are besties again and ready to fearlessly face the start of school in Book Two.