In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle

Rating:
Summary: Very Inspirational!!!
Review: In These Girls, Hope Is a Muscle is the best book I have ever read. I loved it!! This book goes behind the scenes and into the lives of the members of the Amherst Lady Hurricanes basketball team. They show you what it takes to be a champion. I have played basketball for 8 years and this book made me covet a state championship even more. It is also a celebration of the advancements women have made in the sport of basketball. I recommend this book to anyone. It is a fabulous book.

Rating:
Summary: A celebration of girls and sports
Review: IN THESE GIRLS, HOPE IS A MUSCLE, is the story of the Amherst High School Hurricanes championship season. The author, Madelaine Blais, gives detailed descriptions of the girls, their feelings, their drive and their desire, frequently using quotes from the girls themselves, their parents, the coaches, and people in the town of Amherst, Mass. These quotes along with letters and journal entries she includes, allows the reader to identify with the girls. The reader drives with Patri to the practices in her mother's beat up, old car which may or may not start; we sympathize with Jen when she talks about which of her divorced parents to wave to or hug first; we feel the desire when Jamalia describes the meaning behind Hoop Phi. In addition, Blais does an excellent job describing the town of Amherst and its somewhat eccentrically liberal population. She compares and contrasts Amherst with its neighboring towns and the rivalries with their teams. Blais uses all of these adolesent emotions and small town rivalries to build to the climax of the big game. What we have therefore, is an excellent book for anyone, male or female, interested in sports played at its purest. The book is especially recommended for girls or women who play sports, wish they did, or wish they had had the opportunity.

Rating:
Summary: In These Girls, Hope Is A Muscle
Review: In These Girls, Hope Is A Muscle, was a great book! The reason I chose this book was because I am an athlete myself and can relate almost exactly to the book. My High School basketball team also went to state and won it this year. The last four years we have been so close to winning it, and this was our last real chance to do it. And the same thing happened in this book. When they would explain their feelings about losing the big game, or when they won it all, I knew exactly how they felt. The only thing i had a problem with in the book, was that sometimes the author would go on about someone that meant nothing to the story. So, sometimes i would have to skip a couple pages here and there because i just didnt care. But, it was well worth. I enjoyed the book very much and i recommend it to anyone from an athlete that can relate to it, or even a non-athlete that could get the feel for what its like.

Rating:
Summary: THIS WAS AN OUTSTANDING BOOK!!!
Review: Last season, our coach gave us the assigment of reading this book. At fist, we all thought she was crazy. But once we finished it, we were all really motivated and truly inspired. This book was one of the best books I've ever read. It's so inspirational, and I believe it's a real tribute to women's basketball- kudos to Madeline Blais for doing such a great job on covering the story of this extraordinary team! If you like basketball, you'll love this book. If you don't like basketball, you'll love this book, I guarantee it!

Rating:
Summary: THIS WAS AN OUTSTANDING BOOK!!!
Review: Last season, our coach gave us the assigment of reading this book. At fist, we all thought she was crazy. But once we finished it, we were all really motivated and truly inspired. This book was one of the best books I've ever read. It's so inspirational, and I believe it's a real tribute to women's basketball- kudos to Madeline Blais for doing such a great job on covering the story of this extraordinary team! If you like basketball, you'll love this book. If you don't like basketball, you'll love this book, I guarantee it!

Rating:
Summary: Captures the spirit of girls' high-school basketball
Review: My high-school basketball team gave me this book after I finished my senior year, and I am extremely grateful to them. If you have ever enjoyed participating in, watching, or following high-school sports, this is a book for you! It is full of the things that made me love the game to start with... the determination, pride, euphoria, occasional let-downs, pain, tenacity and adrenaline that I feel when playing basketball are clearly demonstrated in this wonderful book. Pick it up and read it, buy it for your daughters, buy it for your sons!

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring Work Uplifting to All Athletes
Review: Of course I'm a little bias, but I loved this book! Finally all levels of women's athletics have been covered. As a high school basketball player I was able to relate to everything in the book, and was especially touched by that. Blais offers a complete and realistic look into the lives and emotions of The Lady Hurricanes, a high school basketball team putting it all on the line for the ultimate goal. I reccomend this book to any athlete male or female who understands how rewarding it is to be on a team, and how wonderful attaining a goal can be after a season of sacrifice.

Rating:
Summary: An anti-Cinderella story
Review: Sportswriters often use the term "Cinderella story" to refer to an underdog team that makes it big. This book is an anti-Cinderella story -- and the reason why isn't what you might think. The result is a moral tale that every young woman, and everyone who cares about young women, should read.

We all remember the story of Cinderella, but we tend to forget the details. If we think about it at all, we think about it as a "dream come true" story. We forget how it happened. Remember Cinderella: the virtuous one, hardworking, uncomplaining, sweet-natured, beautiful under her grime -- and also, deprived, mocked, neglected and shut out. Her dream is to go to the ball, an event to which she had already been invited, along with all the other young women of the kingdom. Somehow she manages to work a deal with her wicked stepmother that will allow her to earn what she's already entitled to: in exchange for doing a seemingly impossible amount of housework, she will indeed be permitted to go to the ball. Virtue, grit, and determination swing into action, but when Cinderella manages to accomplish her half of the bargain, Stepmom reneges on hers -- and Cinderella accepts the outcome and sits herself down in the ashes, giving up what she's earned and accepting what she's given. Not until her fairy godmother shows up and practically drags her to the ball does she get to dance; not until the prince hunts her down and shoves the shoe on her foot does she get her dream.

I don't think the name of Cinderella is ever invoked in "In These Girls...", but the book could almost have been written as an antidote to the lessons of the Cinderella story. These are lessons that women and girls learn too well: that if you do all the work and have all the virtues, you can then shyly retire to the background, and your reward will seek you out. The truth, which the Hurricanes learn in the course of this book, is that after you have earned your reward, you must take the final step of reaching out and claiming it. A championship game is not a season, but it is where the rewards of a season well played are either claimed or abandoned.

In reading the book, I came to love the Hurricanes, their coach, and their families. They are ordinary, and extraordinary, and they behave in ways that make it seem that the extraordinary is always within reach -- if only we can see it, believe in our right to it, and reach out to claim it for our own.

Rating:
Summary: An anti-Cinderella story
Review: Sportswriters often use the term "Cinderella story" to refer to an underdog team that makes it big. This book is an anti-Cinderella story -- and the reason why isn't what you might think. The result is a moral tale that every young woman, and everyone who cares about young women, should read.

We all remember the story of Cinderella, but we tend to forget the details. If we think about it at all, we think about it as a "dream come true" story. We forget how it happened. Remember Cinderella: the virtuous one, hardworking, uncomplaining, sweet-natured, beautiful under her grime -- and also, deprived, mocked, neglected and shut out. Her dream is to go to the ball, an event to which she had already been invited, along with all the other young women of the kingdom. Somehow she manages to work a deal with her wicked stepmother that will allow her to earn what she's already entitled to: in exchange for doing a seemingly impossible amount of housework, she will indeed be permitted to go to the ball. Virtue, grit, and determination swing into action, but when Cinderella manages to accomplish her half of the bargain, Stepmom reneges on hers -- and Cinderella accepts the outcome and sits herself down in the ashes, giving up what she's earned and accepting what she's given. Not until her fairy godmother shows up and practically drags her to the ball does she get to dance; not until the prince hunts her down and shoves the shoe on her foot does she get her dream.

I don't think the name of Cinderella is ever invoked in "In These Girls...", but the book could almost have been written as an antidote to the lessons of the Cinderella story. These are lessons that women and girls learn too well: that if you do all the work and have all the virtues, you can then shyly retire to the background, and your reward will seek you out. The truth, which the Hurricanes learn in the course of this book, is that after you have earned your reward, you must take the final step of reaching out and claiming it. A championship game is not a season, but it is where the rewards of a season well played are either claimed or abandoned.

In reading the book, I came to love the Hurricanes, their coach, and their families. They are ordinary, and extraordinary, and they behave in ways that make it seem that the extraordinary is always within reach -- if only we can see it, believe in our right to it, and reach out to claim it for our own.

Rating:
Summary: Inspirational
Review: The most interesting thing about this book is that the reader sees several points of view, and is usually able to relate to at least one. (I'm Rita and Jen) This book will inspire the reader, and will, if she/he already isn't, excite them about sports.