Ken Reed

Sara's Big Challenge: Who's the Real Me? A Sara Thompson Sports Book Ken Reed

Things are going great for Sara Thompson. She's doing well in school, she loves the competitive soccer and basketball teams she's on, and she has the three greatest friends in the world, Erika, Paige and Brecken.

But then her dad tells her the family is moving to a new town because his company has transferred him. Sara's world quickly falls apart.

In her new hometown, Sara misses her old friends desperately. She mopes around and spends most of her time alone in her bedroom. She hates feeling lonely and wants to make new friends more than anything in the world.

Her loneliness drives her to start hanging out with kids she has nothing in common with. She knows it doesn't feel right - she wakes up with a nervous stomach every morning - but she thinks it's better than being friendless in a new town at a new school.

Things start to change for the better for Sara when her language teacher begins to take a personal interest in her. Mr. Hoffman shares his experience of having to move to a new town and go to a new school when he was a kid. He talks with Sara about how his decision to role play -- act like somebody he wasn't -- in order to become part of a group made his situation worse. He stresses the importance of being true to yourself with Sara. He also pushes her to pursue her passion for sports and sets up a meeting for her with a local girls basketball coach.

Sara begins to flourish with her new basketball team, the Greeley Hoopsters. Her confidence soars to the point where she ends up helping her best friend on the team, Shawna Jones, follow her heart away from basketball and into the world of music - but not before Shawna helps the Hoopsters win the state championship.

Sara's Big Challenge is a story about the importance of being true to yourself and finding the courage to do it. It delivers a critical message for budding teenagers who - on a daily basis - must contend with the double whammy of peer pressure from the outside and the incessant desire to belong from the inside.