I enjoyed this as a quick read for myself, and think it would make an excellent choice for classroom discussion. It's an honest look at friendship, fitting in, and racism. All of the characters have flaws, the main character shows growth, but there's no pretending that everyone lives happily ever after. Leaves you with plenty to think about!

The plotline is pretty basic, but I love that this is a sports story with a female protagonist who struggles with more than just her sport. The protag grows so much over the course of the story; her perceptions about her parents, get friends, and herself completely change. I would have loved reading this as a kid during my obsession with Ice Princess. The illustrations are adorable. This is a quick read, good for reluctant readers.

I loved this book! Maxine is such a wholesome, relatable and well developed character. Maxine isn't perfect. While she is an excellent figure skater she struggles with math and sometimes gets jealous of her competition. She's also dealing with a bully at school. This bully says and does both covert and overtly racist things to Maxine, who is Chinese American. Maxine is trying to find her place in a school and the figure skating world, losing old friends and gaining new ones. An absolutely fabulous read.

In The Comeback, Maxine balances her days training at the ice skating rinks in Lake Placid and enduring loneliness and racist remarks at school. There is a lot of technical figure skating language, which should be interesting for any kids who love watching those portions of the Olympics. Over the course of the book, Maxine befriends a new, homeschooled figure skater new to town, who helps her build the courage to face her bully. There's also a great message of not giving into your desire for revenge and becoming a bully yourself. A good pairing with Ana on the Edge by A. J. Sass.

Maxine Chen has a lot to deal with right now. Her figure skating lessons - which she loves, really! - are taking over everything, meaning she doesn't have time to even hang out with her best friend Victoria anymore (who, as long as we're on the topic, has a crush on the most gross guy ever). She's fine with the skating pressure, because she wants to be a champion Olympian someday, but losing Victoria really stinks. And then the gross guy starts bullying her because she's Chinese, and she never thought that it was a bad thing to be, but maybe it really is a big deal? She doesn't want to tell her parents about it, because they wouldn't understand. And now there's a new girl in town, Hollie, who blows her skating out of the water. And she has to take ballet classes?! How even?! Can Maxine regain her footing and make a comeback from all that's going on?

Reader's Notes: I have never figure skated, but I was completely drawn into Maxine's competitive world, and found myself watching YouTube videos of various skating moves, so I could better envision what she was working on. I love Maxine, and I completely empathize with her tweenage struggles, though mine at that age were very different. I really enjoyed this story, and I hope the author writes more.

I received an advance copy of, The Comeback, by E.L Shen. I thought this book was ok. Maxine is a figure skater and is in grade school. I did like the pictures of the figure skater on each new chapter.

Much needed book that explores multiple issues faced by many middle grader readers. E.L. Shen handles the delicate topic of racism and stereotyping, as well as the pressures faced by youth to live up to parental expectations, authentically with through the strong voice of the main character. Readers will relate to the main character and feel validated and strengthened by her experiences.

Maxine Chen lives in Lake Placid, New York, and loves to ice skate. She's fortunate that her school is very near the rink where she trains. Her best friend Victoria doesn't quite understand the commitment it takes to compete in the sport, but the two get along most of the time. While Maxine has lots of Asian American figure skating role models, there are very few people of color in her community, and she is often the recipient of microaggressions. Classmate Alex, on whom Victoria has a crush, takes it even further, whispering or writing out racial slurs. Maxine isn't quite sure what to do about this, but has nightmares about her treatment. She lets this slide because she has more pressing issues with upcoming competitions as well as a new rival-- Hollie, who is homeschooled and is a very formidable foe. Hollie is much better at the dance portion of figure skating; Maxine takes ballet lessons, but dislikes them intensely. As she and Hollie warm up to each other, they become friends and help each other out, even though they still compete against each other. When things come to a breaking point at school with Alex, Maxine realizes that there are times when it is necessary to speak up for herself.
Strengths: This is on trend with books depicting the experiences of students from different cultural backgrounds and their treatment in school. Maxine sends away from adhesive to try to make double eyelids on herself, thinking she would receive fewer comments about her appearance. She also gets help with her makeup from an older skater who is also Asian. I appreciated that when her teacher finally realized what Alex was doing and saying, punishment was swift, and apologies were made to both Maxine and her family. The details about skating are excellent, and Maxine's relationship with Hollie is realistically tentative. Maxine struggles with some of her school work, and with time management. The story moves quickly, with a good mix of sport and everyday life.
Weaknesses: I wish there had been a little more interaction between Maxine and the other girls who skated at her rink, so that we could have gotten a glimpse at how other competitive skaters handled their time.
What I really think: Fans of Kim's Stand Up, Yumi Chung who want the same level of social concerns mixed with skating instead of stand up comedy will enjoy this look into Maxine's world. This was a well done book, since I have Levy's Cold as Ice, Freitas' Gold Medal Winter, Nall's Breaking the Ice, Messner's Sugar and Ice, Papademetriou's Ice Dreams and the more YA books Ockler's Bittersweet and Morrill's Being Sloane Jacobs that all center around ice skating,

This book was received as an ARC from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group - Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I love a comeback story especially when there is cultural diversity involved. This book reminded me of two stories; The Color of Friendship and Ice Princess, with those in mind, I could not get enough of this book. and the backstory behind it. All through the book, put a smile on my face. A lot of our young reader community will be inspired by this story and maybe even be inspired to find a passion and dream and go for it no matter the circumstances. Especially during these difficult times, this story was so refreshing to read and I can't wait to share it with our young readers.

We will consider adding this title to our JFiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

This is a great realistic middle grade story about the hard work that goes into being a young competitive figure skater as well as the hard work that goes into being strong in the face of microagressions at school. I really loved Maxine's arc and especially the way she deals with her own jealousy of a new skater compared to the way the racist mean boy at school deals with his issues, and I appreciated that it's a story about bullying where the moral isn't "but also the bully was sad and what about <I>his</i> feelings"?

The Comeback is an OwnVoices middle grade novel that tells the story of Maxine Chen, a competitive figure skater. Maxine is on the verge of making it to the national scene when Hollie, a more talented figure skater, moves to Maxine’s Lake Placid hometown. The rivalry-turned-friendship aspect of the plot is so well-handled, as is the racism and bullying Maxine endures from a classmate. I loved the way E.L. Shen uses real-life Asian and Asian-American figure skaters as inspiration to and support for Maxine: Nathan Chen, Yuna Kim, Kristi Yamaguchi, to name a few. What I loved even more, though, was this sports-themed book featuring a strong female protagonist facing more than just her on-ice battles and achieving much more than any medal.