Starred Review ALA Booklist (Tue Jan 03 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Starred Review When Patina "Patty" Jones, the fastest girl on the Defenders track team, comes in second place in a race fact she finds unacceptable r rage is so intense that she mentally checks out. In an effort to make her into a team player, Coach assigns her to the 4x800 relay race and makes the relay team do hokey things like waltz in practice to "learn each others' rhythms." Pfft. Meanwhile, Patty feels completely out of place at her rich-girl academy. And then there's the really hard stuff. Like how her father died, how her mother "got the sugar" (diabetes) and it took her legs, and now Patty and her little sister live with their aunt Emily and uncle Tony. Reynolds' again displays his knack for capturing authentic voice in both Patty's inner monologues and the spoken dialogue. The plot races as fast as the track runners in it, and thout ever feeling like a book about "issues" deftly tackles topics like isolation, diverse family makeup, living with illness, losing a parent, transcending socioeconomic and racial barriers, and rhaps best of all at it's like for a tween to love their little sister more than all the cupcakes in the world. The second entry in the four-book Track series, this serves as a complete, complex, and sparkling stand-alone novel. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Ghost (2016), the semiprequel, was a National Book Award finalist, and this ought to perpetuate Reynolds' hot streak.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews (Tue Jan 03 00:00:00 CST 2023)

African-American track phenom Patina Jones takes the baton from Ghost (2016) in the second volume of Reynolds' Track series for middle graders.Reynolds tells readers almost all they need to know about Patty in two opening, contrasting scenes. In the first, Patty misjudges her competitors in an 800-meter race she's certain she should have won. Running well but second is not enough for the ferociously competitive Patty. In the other, she braids her little sister's hair before church, finishing off each of Maddy's 30 braids with three beads. She does this every Sunday because their white adoptive mother can't ("there ain't no rule book for white people to know how to work with black hair") and because their birth mother insists they look their best for church. Their father dead and their birth mother's legs lost to diabetes, the two girls live with their father's brother and his wife, seeing their mother once a week in an arrangement that's as imperfect as it is loving and necessary. Writing in Patty's voice, Reynolds creates a fully dimensional, conflicted character whose hard-earned pragmatism helps her bring her relay team together, negotiate the social dynamics of the all-girls, mostly white private school she attends, and make the best of her unusual family lot. When this last is threatened, readers will ache right alongside her. Another stellar lap—readers will be eager to see who's next. (Fiction. 8-12)

School Library Journal Starred Review (Tue Jan 03 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Gr 5-8Twelve-year-old Patina Jones not only loves to run, she needs to runand win. She's a gifted athlete, and since the death of her father and her mother's life-altering health problems, Patty's track club has become the focal point of her life. Running helps her to navigate the changes she and her younger sister, Maddy, are experiencing. They have left their urban neighborhood to live in a different part of the city with their uncle Tony (who is black like Patty and Maddy) and their aunt Emily (who is white) and attend a new school, Chester Academy. In this follow-up to Ghost, the award-winning author continues to display his mastery of voice. Patty's observations about her new classmates are pointed: "a whole bunch of rich girls whose daddies own stuff." Over time, Patty begins to understand that her success depends on teamwork. Her changing views are sparked by two collaborative projects. One is based on the life of Frida Kahlo. Working with classmates, about whom she had formed erroneous assumptions, gives her opportunities to widen her perspective. The second and more central catalyst is being selected as a member of the 4x800 relay on her elite track team. With the encouragement of her loving family and supportive coaches, Patty ultimately becomes the anchor of her team, both on and off the track. Patty's story is an invitation to grapple with the need to belong, socioeconomic status, and the dangers of jumping to conclusions. VERDICT This "second leg" of Reynolds's series is as satisfying as its predecessor and a winning story on its own.Shelley Sommer, Inly School, Scituate, MA

Horn Book (Tue Jan 03 00:00:00 CST 2023)

First introduced in Ghost, Patina ("Patty") and her younger sister live with their godparents after their father's sudden death and mother's double amputation from diabetes. Track-and-field scenes (and drama) are interspersed with home and school scenes (and drama), with excellent insights into the life of an African American middle schooler; Patty's interactions as the new girl at an elite academy are especially humorous and authentic.

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

African-American track phenom Patina Jones takes the baton from Ghost (2016) in the second volume of Reynolds' Track series for middle graders.Reynolds tells readers almost all they need to know about Patty in two opening, contrasting scenes. In the first, Patty misjudges her competitors in an 800-meter race she's certain she should have won. Running well but second is not enough for the ferociously competitive Patty. In the other, she braids her little sister's hair before church, finishing off each of Maddy's 30 braids with three beads. She does this every Sunday because their white adoptive mother can't ("there ain't no rule book for white people to know how to work with black hair") and because their birth mother insists they look their best for church. Their father dead and their birth mother's legs lost to diabetes, the two girls live with their father's brother and his wife, seeing their mother once a week in an arrangement that's as imperfect as it is loving and necessary. Writing in Patty's voice, Reynolds creates a fully dimensional, conflicted character whose hard-earned pragmatism helps her bring her relay team together, negotiate the social dynamics of the all-girls, mostly white private school she attends, and make the best of her unusual family lot. When this last is threatened, readers will ache right alongside her. Another stellar lap—readers will be eager to see who's next. (Fiction. 8-12)