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CATCHING JORDAN by Miranda Kenneally


copyright date: December 2011
primarily marketed for:  young adults (13 and up)

Maybe it is because I am not very athletic that this book appeals to me.  Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally is sort of an athletic girl fantasy story.  Jordan Woods is a teenage girl who is not just on her high school football team, but she is the quarterback of the team.  Not only is she surrounded by athletic guys, she also gets to lead them.  Talk about girl power. 

At first it sounds like it might be a simple story about how difficult it is to be the only girl on the guys’ team.  However, Catching Jordan has much more depth than that.  Jordan does not face much resistance about being a girl who plays football from her teammates or even her rivals.  Her biggest challenger is her father, a pro-football player whose protective attitude prevents him from supporting his daughter, even though he has no trouble supporting her older brother’s passion for football.

She is facing a chance at a football scholarship to her dream college.  She has to keep her head in the game and stay focused long enough to impress the scouts.  Just when she is feeling confident, a Ty Green shows up.  A new kid.  A star player.  A quarterback.  For the first time, Jordan feels her position being challenged and her confidence on the field is beginning to waver.  Not only that, but all of sudden she finds herself attracted to Ty, despite her drive to stay focused. 

All of Jordan’s challenges mount as she gets closer to the state championship that could win her a scholarship.  College visits, her attraction to Ty, her strained relationship with her father, and the memory of choking during last year’s championship game all threaten to stand in the way of her dream to play college football. 

Although at first, I wasn’t sure I could find Jordan to be a believable character, she quickly won me over and I got sucked into the fantasy of being a star football playing teenage girl.  That could’ve been me. 

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The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen
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Comments

  1. Linda BJuly 2, 2012 at 9:12 AM

    Interesting that it's the father who doesn't give the support. She grew up in that household, after all! We had a local young woman a few years ago who made the CU team as a kicker. It was not pretty. She was good, but was so harassed by the other players that it turned into a terrible situation & we were all sorry to hear that many didn't support her. What a great book for young women and young men to read & discuss!

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