"Nate thinks things can't get any worse when his least favorite teacher pairs him up with Gina for a class project, but then Gina ends up on his fleeceball team, right when he's set to win his first championship ever"--Title verso page.

"Lace up your shoes and get a good stretch in. We're about to learn why basketball ranks among the...TOP HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS" --

"Bring your ball and head for the pitch. We're about to learn why soccer ranks among the...TOP HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS" --

Lori Block and her best friend Sophia are dedicated to their Fourth-Grade basketball team, despite being relegated to the 5th quarter, an extra period before the real game starts, where the not-so-good kids play, and the points don't count. That doesn't matter to Lori though, because basketball is a place where working hard and getting better gives her hints of self-confidence. At school, she is awkward and unsure, and at home Lori's parents are consumed...

"A work of fiction inspired by a true story, Matt Tavares's debut graphic novel dramatizes the historic struggle for gender equality in high school sports. It is 1975 in Indiana, and the Wilkins Regional High School girls' basketball team is in their rookie season. Despite being undefeated, they practice at night in the elementary school and play to empty bleachers. Unlike the boys' team, the Lady Bears have no buses to deliver them to away games...

Text and photographs explore the often adversarial relationship between academics and athletics.

"¡Nate el Grande superará a todos los demás! Per no le será fácil. No puede librarse de Gina, esa eterna enemiga que ¡siempre está dispuesta a echarlo todo a perder! ¿Ganará Nate, o tal vez perderá? ¿Aprobará a suspenderá? ¿O quiza¿s acabara¿ castigado otra vez?"-- Sixth-grader and self-proclaimed genius Nate Wright faces his all-time enemy, Gina, when they are paired to work on a research paper together and she also gets a position...

A BALANCING ACT explors the often adversarial relationship between academics and athletics.