FAIR GAME

Amanda Harkins is fed up. The Lanier boys’ basketball team has been getting all the attention and money for way too long. The boys barely even won a game last season while the girls’ team almost made it to State.

But here she is again, fighting to practice in the good gym with the girls’ team, even though they signed up for it and the boys did not.

Amanda and her friends—Maddie and Dot—decide it’s time to take action. Amanda’s an aspiring activist and this is one wrong it’s past time to right. They challenge the boys to play a game for rights to the good gym. But Amanda wants to do more than just win. She wants revenge and she’ll go all-out to get it. One game. Boys against girls. The losers agree to quit the team and give up their whole season.

But has Amanda gone too far? Maddie’s got a dangerous secret that Amanda’s quest for revenge threatens to reveal. A missed season could cost Dot an athletic scholarship, her only chance to escape her family’s troubled past. Amanda thinks it’s justice she wants, but is she really trying get back at the boy who ditched her to become one of the popular kids? The three girls leave it all on the court to settle the question—what does it really take to be equal?

Book cover with "Fair Game" and the image of a young woman who's just show a basketball
BUY IT ON AMAZONBUY IT AT BOOKSHOP.ORGBUY IT AT VILLAGE LIGHTS BOOKSTORE

”“Robyn Ryle has created a gift of a novel that tells the story of three girls from different walks of life, all coming together to use their collective passion and power to raise each other up. Emotional and empowering, FAIR GAME is full of the kind of heart and humor that will have you cheering for the girls from the first page to the very last – I cannot recommend this book highly enough!”

Amber Smith, NY Times bestselling author of The Way I Used to Be

”"..engaging and unique...FAIR GAME...grabs my heart and my mind."

Ellen Airgood, author of Prairie Evers and The Education of Ivy Blake

”Fair Game by Robyn Ryle is an engaging and in-touch exploration of the problems facing a talented girls’ basketball team. They are seeking equal treatment and equal practice time at a school where the boys’ team receives all the attention and perks despite their less-than-stellar record. Like the game of basketball itself, the story is fast-paced and changes direction at a moment’s notice, which makes for a deeply absorbing reading experience sure to keep any young adult turning the pages. Ryle captures the essence of teenage angst, hyper-focus, and often-flawed decision-making with uncanny accuracy, which makes this book a standout accomplishment in young adult literature.

In Amanda Harkins and her teammates Maddie and Dot, Robyn Ryle has created characters that seem to exist in real-time and in three dimensions, with issues relevant to the actual lived experience of teenagers today. Ryle does not shy away from the opportunity to infuse real social issues into the plot line in sensitive and thoughtful ways that young readers will reflect upon long after the story has finished. Fair Game is a rare commodity in young adult literature. It is a story that will satisfy active and reluctant readers alike. The book succeeds equally well as a sports narrative. It is full of basketball terminology and a point-by-point description of gameplay but never leaves the reader feeling left out of the action. One does not need to be a basketball expert to understand the sequence of events or the concerns of the players. This is a remarkable, emotionally engaging, and unfailingly accurate chronicle of teenage life that will leave readers cheering.

Rich Follett for Readers' Favorite