Arthur Ashe and Me

VOYA

Faith Long, who is spending the summer with her father in Pennsylvania, has promised herself she will never play tennis again. Once ranked number one in her age group (although readers never learn her age), Faith blames herself for something involving the last time she played her friend Meredith in a Florida tournament at about the same time that her parents divorced. Faith's father arranges for her to sweep two clay courts as a summer job at a private club in a secluded spot near his home. While working there, Faith witnesses strange things-disappearing balls and a court she swept at night pocked by ball marks but no footprints the next morning. Curious, she stays one night after dark and encounters the ghost of tennis-legend Arthur Ashe. He persuades her to hit with him, and eventually his advice leads her to forgive herself and start playing again. The details of the match between Faith and Meredith are revealed bit by bit so reader interest is maximized. Arthur's Field-of-Dreams comings and goings into a cornfield and the other supernatural plot twists are credible. The fact that Meredith's problem is her "tennis father," who physically abuses her when she loses, does not make Faith's guilt less credible. Many young people feel responsible for events they cause only indirectly. Ashe's advice about not ignoring your gifts and the places they can take you will have relevance for most teens. The publisher recommends this hi/lo book for readers at a 2.8 reading level with a fifth- to eighth-grade interest level. VOYA CODES: 3Q 3P M J (Readable without serious defects; Will appeal with pushing; Middle School, defined as grades 6 to 8; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9). 2003,Perfection Learning, 120p, Munat