Eighth grader Delia is adept at hiding her big secret: she can't read. Nevertheless, she does well enough in school to keep her grades up so she can compete in the big Double Dutch competition with her best friend (and incurable fabulist) Yolanda. Delia's good friend Randy, assistant to Double Dutch coach Bomani, also has a secret: his dad, a truck driver, hasn't been home in nearly two months, and money is running out. Furthermore, both Delia and Randy are worried about the ominous Tolliver twins, new students who intimidate everyone - but haven't actually done anything.

A realistic story about young teens dealing with big problems, and about rumor and truth.

See also: Ghost (Track series) by Jason Reynolds, Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt ( )

This is a Cincinnati-set book, part of my goal to read all the novels set in my hometown. Double Dutch is by Sharon M. Draper, a Cincinnati-area high school teacher; the book's main characters are eighth graders on a local Double Dutch team. Their dream is to qualify for the state competition and then compete in nationals in a year where the national competition is being held in Cincinnati. There's not a lot of local color to be honest: quick mentions of things like the Cincinnati Post are basically it.

Other than that, it's an okay book. Some of the characters are fun, the central dilemmas (a girl who's managed to make it to the eighth grade without being able to read, and a boy whose dad has abandoned him) are interesting, but some of the dialogue is very awkward and a couple of the happenings are incredibly contrived, even melodramatic. The resolution to the bullying subplot grates the most. It is aimed at middle-schoolers, though, so I'm not exactly its target audience.

Jump Rope, Teammates, Champions ( )

Narrated by Patricia Floyd. Booktalk: p 35: Down in the valley where the green grass grows...Delia loves Double Dutch jump-roping. For her, it's more than just exercise. It's the magic of feeling the rhythm of the ropes, the jumping and stepping; hearing the pop and the whip of the ropes on the floor during a competition. Double Dutch also keeps her mind off of things. Like school and homework and the scary Tolliver twins who everyone swears are going to blow up the school one day. But most of all, it keeps her mind off the fact that, although she's already in 8th grade, Delia still doesn't know how to read. And with the 8th grade state proficiency tests coming up, it looks like the one thing she cannot do might keep her from doing what she loves most.

The secondary storylines are not as compelling as the double dutch one, but still an inside look at double dutch. ( )