We Got the Beat

Gr 9 Up–A bright, sapphic rom-com with a light frenemy trope and great friends whose witty banter boosts every single character up a notch. Jordan is starting junior year with the hopes of becoming an editor on the school newspaper. Unfortunately, this is not meant to be, but even worse, she’s assigned the volleyball beat—which means constant contact with her worst nightmare, Mackenzie West. Perfect Mackenzie, captain of the team, seems to be all the popular girl tropes wrapped in one. But Jordan knew her before all the hype, when it was just the two of them becoming best friends the summer before high school. However, the first day of freshman year she overheard Mack call Jordan a stalker to her new, cool volleyball teammates. Being ghosted by someone she was so close to, and had a slight crush on, was tough. Can Jo find a way to get over what Mack did, even forgive her, and write a stellar story about the team and their captain? Or is it better to exact revenge on Mack? A wonderful cast of characters with a wide variety of representation—Jewish, Asian, and many from the LGTBQIA+ community—makes this novel so refreshingly open and happy.