Available Now!
Get a Grip book cover
Reading Level: 2 - 3 • Interest Level: 9 - 12

Get a Grip

Available: Available Now!
Author: Alyson Shelton
Copyright: 2027
Specs: 5 1/2” X 8 1/4”, 200 pages, Hardcover
HC ed.: 9781978598553 • $25.80 | $19.40
eBook: 9781978598577 • $25.80 | $19.40
Pbk. ed.: 9781978598560 • $16.35 | $14.20

It’s the summer of 1984, and competitive gymnast Kelly cannot wait to watch every single moment of gymnastics in the Summer Olympics. Kelly’s excitement is shattered when she hears the worst news of her life—her beloved brother Michael has died. The grief feels like more than she can bear, especially as assorted relatives and friends try to comfort her with all the wrong words. Kelly starts going to a new elite gym and tries to focus her feelings into achieving perfection in gymnastics, just like her idols. Her new gym becomes a place for her to reinvent herself, to become more than the girl with the dead brother. But soon determination becomes obsession, and achievement is only a temporary distraction from grief.

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About the Author

Alyson Shelton

Alyson Shelton is an award winning screenwriter and essayist. Her writing is widely published at outlets including The New York Times, Ms. and The Rumpus. She’s anthologized in No Contact: Writers on Estrangement, Root Cause: Stories of Health, Harm and Reclaiming Our Humanity, Comics Lit: Vol. 1, Spell Check: Lessons Learned from Screwing Up Words and The Loss of a Lifetime: Grieving Siblings Share Stories of Love, Loss, and Hope (Contributor and Co-Editor). She’s best known for her Instagram Live series inspired by George Ella Lyon’s poem, Where I’m From, where she’s hosted over 250 writers. This is her first book for teen readers.