THE SHUTOUT GIRL

In this inspiring YA novel, a teenage girl discovers her talent as a hockey goalie but finds she must battle the wariness of her family and community.

Fourteen-year-old Katherine has grown up skating around her homemade rink with her four older, hockey-playing brothers, yet the thought of playing the sport herself never crossed her mind. One day in 1980, they find that Katherine has a natural-born talent for blocking even the toughest shots on goal, and she soon finds herself the starting goaltender for the local juvenile team. She quickly earns a reputation for shutouts against the most challenging foes in the league. She even strikes up a friendship—and a flirtation—with the team’s cheerful backup goalie, Iggy, who refreshingly respects Katherine for her talent instead of resenting it. However, her success earns her the jealousy of two of her brothers, and her mother worries that her only daughter will be injured on the ice. Eventually, Katherine finds herself torn between leaving town to play for a higher-level team or staying behind with her family and friends. This debut novel, despite its occasionally stilted prose style, succeeds in creating a funny, smart and confident main character that people of all ages, and both sexes, may admire. One of the best things about Katherine is that she isn’t the stereotypical tough tomboy seen in many other YA sporting stories; if anything, she balks at that label. As such, the novel effectively lets young girls know that they don’t have to be like boys in order to play with them, and it brings welcome diversity to sports fiction’s relatively short roster of female protagonists.

An entertaining YA sports story that aims to inspire readers to buck stereotypes.