I am a super fan of Nic Stone and this book was just as amazing as the other titles I have read from her. Not only did we get the firsthand experience and pressure of trying to break into a predominantly white sport as a all Black female softball team, we get the history of how difficult it was for Black baseball players in the Negro Leagues trying to make a name for themselves. Three generations of "batball" players are visited in this novel and we see how the problems at home can effect middle schoolers success in other important parts of their life. The friendships forged from team sports are celebrated in this novel and we even get a guest appearance if you have read other books by Stone. This was a fast pace read with a bit of mystery that kept you turning the pages and learning Black history as you went. I loved it and can't wait to put it on my library shelves.

This is another homerun by Nic Stone. The story is well told with developed characters. The situations are realistic and the plot keeps you wanting to continue reading. I love the way that she includes so many parts of the metro Atlanta area. I recommend this book for all middle school collections. This story meets the 8th grade requirements for Language Arts in many way that related to Georgia.

Another excellent book by Nic Stone! I knew from reading her other titles that I wouldn't be disappointed.

Fast Pitch is a book about baseball, family, and past injustice. Shenice Lockwood is the captain of her all-black softball team and is leading them to the Fastpitch World Series. The team faces their challenges and experiences some racism and sexism -- but that doesn't stop them from wanting to win the World Series and take home that trophy. While on the cust of making it to the championship is discovers her own family's history with racism and baseball. With the help of her friends and family, Shenice digs into the past to try and set the record straight.

I love Nic Stone's writing! Her characters always feel so genuine and realistic. This book is just as successful as Clean Getaway at tackling racism and discrimination while still making it age-appropriate for middle-grade readers. I would recommend this to all middle-graders but especially those who enjoy sports.

On a side-note, I love seeing Scoob again and hearing what happened to his family after the events of clean-getaway.

Nic Stone's latest middle grades novel, Fast Pitch, provides an incredible story of heart and strength focusing on a team of softball players. Shenice Lockwood is a main character that everyone can root for. As team captain of her softball team, she wants nothing more than to make it to and win the world series. However, when she finds out that her grandfather may have been set up during his days in the Negro Leagues, she loses focus and wants to clear his name. I love the creative storyline and the young girls who continue to work as a team to help Shenice knowing that their chance of winning the world series may be slipping through their fingers.

Shenice is a member of a winning softball team playing in the state tournament qualifier. Stone tells the story of racism in baseball through an entertaining narrative. You are routing for Shenice on and off the field.

What a delightful book!! To be fair, anything Nic Stone does is gold. Her middle grade novels are fast paced and engaging. The characters are likable and I always love a good cross reference (Scoob is back!!). I am so glad this novel was written. I was hyping it up in my class before I read it/ it was released because I knew it would not disappoint!

There is lots to love about this book about Shenice, a player on the only all Black U12 softball team in a region of several states. I loved that it was about softball and not baseball. I loved the frank talk about race. I loved the Black girl joy. I loved the historical fiction mystery element of the book. What is keeping me from rating this book higher than I did is that I felt that the mystery was integrated into the book a bit awkwardly - I liked the mystery but it almost felt like this book was originally written as two separate books but neither had enough of an impact on its own to get published so the two books were woven together. Still a very worthy addition to middle grade realistic and sports fiction.

I think if I liked baseball more or if it was more like Sandlot, I would have liked this book better. It was good, but it wasn't what all that I'd hoped it would be. It was more like From the Desk of Zoe Washington than Sandlot, which is what made it an okay book for me.

Nic Stone is simply brilliant. She tells a fabulous story while teaching us about history at the same time. I absolutely love that Shenice was so dedicated to softball. That representation is much needed in my classroom. Her whole team was easy to root for. Also, seeing Scoob from Clean Getaway was a nice touch.

Fast Pitch is a fast-paced, poignant sports mystery about family, racism, and community. Fans of Clean Getaway will enjoy this companion title focused on Scoob's crush Shenice. With engaging sports scenes and a diverse cast of characters, this story shines a light on the history of Black men in sports and how we can honor that legacy.

Shenice “Lightning” Lockwood is the captain of her 12U softball team in Georgia: the ONLY all-Black softball team. On the cusp of making history in her league, she gets more some backstory on her family legacy of her great-grandfather, Jumping Bean JonJon, and meets his brother, Uncle Jack. When Jack says something about JonJon being framed for crime, thus losing his baseball career, Shenice cannot get Great-Grampy JonJon off her mind. Will this family mystery be the distraction that causes her team their place in history?

What a great middle-grade sports book! Told from Shenice’s POV, this is an easy middle-grade chapter book that showcases the depth of family legacies and the importance of teamwork and family. My very slight qualm—more of a pet peeve—is when plot action happens “off-screen” and readers are told from the MC/narrator. Other than that, I loved the friendship dynamics, Shenice’s family, and her internal narration that will connect with young readers. Nic Stone has created a lovely book full of history, sports action, and mystery to solve. Love love love!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children's, and Nic Stone for the opportunity to read Fast Pitch in exchange for an honest review.

I am not usually a sports book fan, but I used to play softball when I was in elementary and middle school, so I thought this book would be a fun way to reminisce about my time playing in the past. I was also interested in the Black representation offered by this book, not to mention the author, Nic Stone, is a genius writer with iconic works, such as Dear Martin and Dear Justyce, that have found their way into middle and high school English classrooms.

This book is written for a middle grade audience, more toward girls, but I can see boys enjoying this novel as well. While the book revolves around softball (and baseball), the core of the novel is actually about solving a mystery, which I wasn't really expecting. I'll be honest, I didn't read the book description before diving in, as I adore Nic Stone's work no matter what, but I really loved the direction this novel took.

Shenice is the captain of her all-Black softball team, the Firebirds. She lives in an area where people still sport Confederate flags, but she and her team will not let that bring them down. She knows African-Americans (and girls, to boot), deserve a historic place as ballplayers.

When Shenice meets her uncle, Jack, for the first time, she learns that her grandpa JonJon was a Black baseball player whose name and reputation was slandered by a theft set-up because of his race. Shenice learns she might be able to clear her grandfather's name, if only she can get the right information from uncle Jack during his lucid moments.

As Shenice becomes distracted with clearing her grandfather's name, her focus on her softball team falls a bit short. Between breaking a historical record as a team and fixing the facts of a historic Black ballplayer, Shenice has a hard time balancing what is most important to her, but she's only in middle school, so she will figure it out with the help of her friends and family.

I absolutely adored this book. It is well-written, enjoyable for middle grade readers or readers of all ages beyond. The mystery revolving around the crime Shenice's grandfather was framed for is a great plot focused around baseball, but adds so much more depth to Shenice, her story, and her dreams for Black girls and her softball team. A well-rounded novel that runs more than skin deep.

How is it possible that I enjoyed Fast Pitch even more than Clean Getaway? The likeable and authentic characters combined with an engaging mystery had me hooked.

With thanks to NetGalley and Crown Books for Young Readers for an early copy in return for an honest review.

Shenice Lockwood is the captain of an all-Black softball team. She also comes from a family with a long history of baseball. I like how this book weaves together elements of realistic fiction and elements of historical fiction as Shenice tries to lead her team to the finals and solve the mystery of why her great grandfather was blamed for a crime. I really like when a book leaves me wanting to learn more about something, and by the end of the book I definitely wanted to learn more about the Negro Leagues. Overall, a good middle grade book.

Shenice “Lightning” Lockwood comes from a long line of ball players. He dad, grandfather, and her great grandfather all played baseball and all might have made it to the pros. Shenice is the captain of her fast pitch softball team. She’s ready to lead her all Black team to the district championship and then onto the state tournament. Throughout her softball career, she was often one of the only Black faces on the field, so she’s always felt like she has something to prove.

With the district tournament looming, Shenice discovers a mystery surrounding her great grandfather and how his baseball career was ruined. Can Shenice figure out what happened all those decades ago and lead her team to victory?

I liked that Shenice loves playing her sport and that she likes school too. Shenice’s teammates are multifaceted characters too. Some girls on her team are into robotics and others like fashion and glamour. These girls work hard at their sport and they know they are good. I’m thrilled it avoids some common sports troupe stories. It features supportive parents instead of obnoxious sports parents who push their kid to be the best. This isn’t a story about a girl fighting to play on a team full of boys. The main character doesn’t suffer a career ending injury.

This is a fun and fast paced sports story with a big helping of mystery that will appeal to middle grade readers.

Fast Pitch by Nic Stone is a fast-paced middle grade read that discusses racism by blending history and modern day together through the topic of baseball/softball. I would highly recommend this book.

I don’t want to give too much away but if you are already a fan Nic Stone's Clean Getaway, you will want to read this book!

12-year-old Shenice Lockwood comes from a long line of baseball players. As the captain of the Firebirds, she’s determined to do something no other team has ever done. Be the first all-black fast pitch team to win the district championship. Shenice becomes distracted from this goal, when her uncle tells her about her Great Grandfather who was on his way to becoming one of the first black baseball players in the Major Leagues until he was framed for a crime that ultimately overshadowed his baseball career. Shenice is determined to uncover the truth, but will discovering the truth about her family’s past, cost her team the championship?

I really liked Shenice as a character, with her strong, girl power energy. Last year we learned about the Negro Leagues in school and this book was the perfect follow-up to learn more. Fast Pitch is an important book about racism and belonging, but with a mystery twist.

I just finished Fast Pitch by Nic Stone, and it did NOT disappoint. She shares a story of Shenice, a 12 year old softball player in Georgia. Shenice is the catcher for the first all black girl softball team in the DYSA, and they are hoping to go to the championship this year. Their team would be the very first all black team to make it to the championship! For Shenice, playing ball runs in the family. Her dad, grandfather, and great-grandfather all played and had big dreams of playing professionally, but none of them ever got the chance. However, after a big loss, and a discovery of some old artifacts from her great-grandfather, she realizes maybe one of them was closer to the major leagues than the rest of them ever knew.

I loved everything about this book! It was a perfect companion to her earlier middle grade book, Clean Getaway, with Scoob making an appearance. I loved how this book represented a tight knit family even if there are a few secrets along the way. I also loved that we got a glimpse into major league baseball and the racism that players experienced (and still experience). Speaking from a teaching standpoint, it would be a great book to use in the classroom! Speaking as a Nic Stone fan, this book was everything I could have wanted!

Batball (as her brother calls it) is in Shenice's blood. Her father played, her grandfather played, and her great grandfather was almost one of the first few Black players drafted into the MLB (right after Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige). Something happened though, but no one knows exactly what. Now Shenice is leading her softball team, the first all-Black softball team in the league, to the U12 fast-pitch softball regional championship. She is catcher and team captain. But when she starts to learn details about her great grandfather, she becomes distracted. Can she solve the mystery without losing focus on the games? This was a great sports story AND a great historical mystery. Highly recommended for grades 4 & up.

Fast Pitch by Nic Stone; Crown Books for Young Readers, 175 pages ($17.99) Ages 8 to 12.

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Nic Stone, a softball fanatic and author of "Clean Getaway," plus "Dear Martin" and several novels for teens, offers a firecracker of a tale in this marvelous novel of sports, family and one girl's fierce determination to right a historic wrong.

Shenice "Lightning" Lockwood is captain of the U12 Fulton Firebirds, the only all-Black team in the Dixie Youth Softball Association. Her white coach is dean of an Atlanta charter school and a former youth softball national champion who formed the Firebirds at the suggestion of her mentor, a Black businesswoman and head lawyer at Coke, who felt "there isn't enough concentrated Black girl magic in this sport."

Stone offers a fierce competitor and engaging protagonist in Shenice, who narrates the tale. ("I've been playing base-related ball – first tee, now soft – since the minute I could hold up a bat. Just like my daddy. And his daddy before him. And his daddy before him. It's in my blood.") She is determined to make it to the state fast-pitch softball championships, to send "a message that girls like us do belong on the field. " When her father shows her an old trunk that belonged to her great-grandfather, JonJon Lee Lockwood, and she then visits her great-uncle in a retirement home, Shenice learns about the scandal that ended JonJon's baseball career and sets out to clear his name.

"Fast Pitch" offers exciting play-by-play of the softball games, as Shenice battles to stay focused despite the distractions posed by her mission, a compelling mystery with a very satisfying resolution, and through the lens of Shenice's family, a very personal history of sport in America and the discrimination faced by Black athletes.

This book grew out of Stone's "love of the sport and the movie 'The Sandlot,' and her desire to see more Black female athletes represented on the field and on the page." How fun that the cover illustration mirrors the author photo of Stone, backward baseball cap on her head, catcher's mitt in hand!