Stick Pick

Sandor, Steven. Stick Pick. Part of the Sports Stories series. 2017. 127p. ISBN 978-1-4594-1219-4. Available at FIC SAN on the library shelves.

Janine is the top middle school hockey player at her school. The captain of her team, she leads them to a championship, but on her way back home with her parents an incoming car slams in their vehicle, and Janine is left paralyzed from the waist down, while her mother is also injured. Despondent and angry, Janine spends a few months in the hospital but is unable to regain the use of her legs. Forced to return to school, she now must ride in the handicapped bus with another student, who is really happy to be with her. Unfortunately, Janine is not in a good place and she hates every minute of the ride.

Even at school, life is difficult. The elevator is usually filled with stuff that is being moved by the custodians. The handicapped bathroom is always used by other students. It’s hard to maneuver through the halls when there are lots of people there. Janine just can’t accept her handicap. When she goes to the arena to watch her old team practice, she notices people playing sledge hockey, and she realizes her father and her best friend’s ploy to interest her in this new sport. She’s mad at both of them, but she agrees to try it out. It turns out that all of the upper body workouts to move her wheelchair has prepared her well for this sport. Now it is up to Janine to commit to this new life, even if it is not the life she had dreamed for herself. With so many obstacles in front of her, both on the ice and in life, will she stand up for herself and face this new challenge head on, or will she continue to hope for a life that no longer exists?