Skip to main content

Get a grip, Vivy Cohen!

By

Written by: Sarah Kapit
New York: Dial Books, 2020. Fiction.

All Vivy Cohen wants to do is to play baseball but she already has two strikes against her, she is a girl and she is autistic. Ever since she met her baseball hero, VJ Capello, and he showed her how to grip a knuckleball she has been perfecting her pitch. Her older brother Nate says she throws a wicked knuckleball and she wants a chance to prove that she, Vivy Cohen, can pitch in a real baseball game. But her mom doesn't think Vivy should play baseball because it's to dangerous, even though her brother has played for years. Her mother thinks she should play softball because softball is safer for girls. But you can't grip a softball in a good knuckle grip, the ball is to big and Vivys hands are to small. Vivy tries to explain to her mom how she feels but she just can't seem to find the right words. How do you share a dream that no one believes in but you?

Get a grip, Vivy Chohen isn't a book about a girl who loves baseball it is so much more. This is an endearing story about an 11 year old girl with a disability who goes out and shows the world what she is made of. Vivy is a charming realistic character who learns about relationships, trust, and speaking up for yourself. She taught me a lot about what its like to be autistic and the struggles that come with a disability and how disabilities don't define who you are. This book was a home run hit!



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Alice with a Why

By
Alice with a Why By Anna James New York: Penguin, 2026. Fiction. 240 pgs. In 1919, in the aftermath of the first World War, Alyce is living with her grandmother in the English countryside. Her grandmother, also named Alice, tells Alyce (with a y) stories from her childhood adventures in a wonderful land filled with white rabbits and mad hatters. Alyce doesn't really believe the silly stories, she just misses her father who was killed in the war. One day, Alyce receives a mysterious invitation to tea, and subsequently falls into a pond where she is transported to Wonderland. Her grandmother, of course, is that Alice. Alyce is prompted by the Mad Hatter, Dormouse, and March Hare to seek out the Time Being and put an end to the war between the Sun King and the Queen of the Moon. Thus begins Alyce's adventure through Wonderland. I have a certain soft spot for the original story of Alice in Wonderland. It is one of my particular favorites and I often have a hard time reading new int...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall

By
A Strange Thing Happened in Cherry Hall By Jasmine Warga New York: Harper, 2024. Fiction. 211 pages. A painting has been stolen from the Penelope L. Brooks Museum and sixth-grader Rami Ahmed is worried he's the main suspect. His mother works at the museum as the lead custodian and Rami spends a lot of time hanging out at the museum while she works. On the day the painting went missing, the only people there were the security guard Ed, the cleaning crew, and Rami. Then, a mysterious girl appears in the museum. She floats around from room to room and only Rami can see her -- and she looks exactly like the girl from the missing painting. To prove his innocence and help figure out who the floating girl is, Rami partners up with an aspiring sleuth at school named Veda and the two dive into unexpected situations as they try to solve the mystery. This is a cozy mystery that is focused mostly on characters and ambiance and only a little on the mystery itself. Don't read this book if yo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Review: The Factory

By
The Factory By Catherine Egan New York, NY : Scholastic Inc., 2025. Fiction. 306 pages.  Thirteen-year-old Asher Doyle has been invited to join the Factory, a secretive research facility in the desert which ostensibly extracts renewable energy from the electromagnetic fields of its young recruits. But Asher soon realizes something sinister is going on. Kids are getting sick. The adults who run the Factory seem to be keeping secrets. And the extraction process is not only painful and exhausting, but existentially troubling. Asher makes a handful of new friends who help him with an investigation that turns into a resistance, which turns into...a cliffhanger! The Factory is a page-turning sci-fi with multidimensional characters, an intriguing plot, and refreshingly straight-forward writing. Egan weaves in detail about climate crises and social unrest, making the story's dystopian setting feel rich and plausible. With its sophisticated themes and accessible storytelling, I would recomm...
Post a Comment
Read more