Fast Pitch [Paperback]

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Nic Stone comes a challenging and heartwarming coming-of-age story about a softball player looking to prove herself on and off the field.

Shenice Lockwood, captain of the Fulton Firebirds, is hyper-focused when she steps up to the plate. Nothing can stop her from leading her team to the U12 fast-pitch softball regional championship. But life has thrown some curveballs her way.
 
Strike one: As the sole team of all-brown faces, Shenice and the Firebirds have to work twice as hard to prove that Black girls belong at bat.
 
Strike two: Shenice’s focus gets shaken when her great-uncle Jack reveals that a career-ending—and family-name-ruining—crime may have been a setup.
 
Strike three: Broken focus means mistakes on the field. And Shenice’s teammates are beginning to wonder if she’s captain-qualified.
 
It's up to Shenice to discover the truth about her family’s past—and fast—before secrets take the Firebirds out of the game forever.
 
“Sports, suspense, mystery, history... What more could you want? A funny, charming page-turner.” –Adam Gidwitz, New York Times bestselling author“A grand slam of an adventure.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

Black girl magic hits a home run in Stone's latest novel. —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

Books like “Fast Pitch” are welcome evidence that writers for young readers are continuing to move beyond nals)