The Winning Edge

Deborah Dowson is a Canaadian children’s librarian in North Wales,
Pennsylvania.

Jennie has dreamed about becoming a champion figure skater since she
first became involved in the sport, but now that her coach has selected
her for extra training, the reality of becoming a champion is more than
a little frightening. Dreams are safe and perfect, but reality is often
not. Jennie doesn’t mind the hard work, but having to sacrifice her
social life is hard to take. To make matters worse, her best friend and
fellow skater has decided that their skating rivalry is too much of an
obstacle to their friendship. As Jennie prepares for a competition, she
evaluates what is really important in her life and determines how best
to make her dream unfold.

The central issue in this novel for preteens is the conflict that
arises when an athlete’s dreams clash with reality. Jennie has the
same social dilemmas as her peers, but she has the additional stress of
having less freedom to pursue her social life. The novel is true to its
genre in that the sports issue remains central to the plot, and the
scenes that detail the moment-to-moment execution of skating routines
are nicely balanced with those that describe the social interactions.
The Winning Edge is an extremely attractive and well-written addition to
the notable Sports Stories series. Highly recommended.