Pippa Park Raises Her Game

by Erin Yun

[Steph L]

Title: Pippa Park Raises Her Game
Author: Erin Yun
Genre: Middle Grade

Rating: 5 stars (*****)

I grabbed this book as a read on Edelweiss + because I wanted to read E-Arcs. I was drawn to the title of this book, and that it seemed like it would be a fun read. I have not read many books with athletes, especially sports playing such a big part in the story. Overall, I enjoyed reading this book and learning about Pippa.

The plot of this story was something that took me by surprise. I’m not really a sports person, so I read this on a whim. What I found early on was that this was not just a story about a basketball player, this was a story about growth, change, finding yourself, and finding who your loyal friends are. The other themes of this book were family, earning money, and grief. I loved these themes because I feel like not only middle-grade readers, but anyone can relate to this book. The book opens with Pippa at one school, and then she moves schools to play for the Basketball team, I loved this because it showed that Pippa was growing both as an athlete, and as a person. Pippa lived with her sister- and brother-in-law, as her mother was back home in Korea. In the novel, we find out that Pippa’s mom is sick after a car accident, and Pippa learns that she must grieve on her own without being able to see her mother because she has school. Not to spoil the book, but the subplot of the book involves a group called the royals; and how they treat Pippa from when they meet her, to the end of the book. Another thing I loved about this book is that it taught kids that from a young age, you can earn your own money because Pippa works at her sister’s laundry mat.

The characters in this story are memorable and well developed. With any book, including books of this genre, we want to find characters who are real, and we want to find something we can relate to, so we can find a connection with them. What Erin Yun does expertly in this book is keeping the characters real, and anyone, no matter what their age, will find something that they can relate to in the book. The other thing about these characters is that they’re flawed, and their flaws take center stage as the story progresses. I cared about Pippa, and I wanted to see how she would grow from the beginning to the end of the novel. Pippa’s friends Helen and Buddy are also memorable side characters.

When writing a book for a middle grade that deals with heavy themes such as this one, the writing needs to be easy to understand, and still fit the story. Erin Yun does a wonderful job of balancing, making the story easy for middle schoolers to understand, while still keeping in mind the story happening in the novel. I enjoyed this book, and the writing was one highlight for me.

This book has themes that not only middle schoolers but anyone could learn from and enjoy.