Not Your Ordinary Summer - Paperback

by Janeé Thompson (Author), Megan Joseph (Editor)

Fourteen-year-old Kylah Hendricks has already found her first love. The softball fields. Introduced to the sport by her late mother in early elementary school, Kylah has dreamed of participating in the Senior League World Series on ESPN. This summer is her chance to be the first Black girl in the world to win the international championship as the lead pitcher.

However, Kylah jeopardizes this opportunity through a number of serious mistakes.

Plagued by memories of her deceased parents, Kylah struggles to keep her emotions in check on and off the softball field while the truth of her family's history is kept secret by her older brother Jarell. Angered by the lack of answers and deeply resistant to forgiveness, Kylah engages in destructive behavior at home and at school, affecting her performance in the pitcher's circle. Her advocates try to support her with accountability measures, but their efforts often fall short.

Kylah must decide if she will allow these circumstances to break or mold her into the young woman she's destined to be: a resilient girl who breaks generational trauma through quality relationships and compassion while aiming to be a world champion to make her mother proud and overcome her family's tumultuous past.