Alfred C. Martino

Alfred Martino captures the world of high school soccer and the alpha males who dominate it. The narrator and protagonist, Jonny Fehey, is the second banana to Kyle Saint-Claire, the star of Millburn High's team. While friends, their connection is torn when disturbing actions taken by the team on an innocent girl cause cover-ups and denials.

Having just learned some of the ins and outs of soccer and thoroughly enjoying the World Cup, I was excited to listen to this novel about a young soccer player, Jonny.
This book not only highlights soccer, but the social hierarchy that can form in a high school. We feel Jonny's pain when he isn't invited to the parties, we feel his pain as he only wants to be a part of the in crowd.
While the story is engaging and truly captures teenage angst, I felt the ending was more than disappointing.

Alfred C. Martino’s PERFECTED BY GIRLS is a fascinating young adult novel revolving around girls and sports.

Melinda Radford just wants to wrestle for her high school team, but getting onto the team seems the beginning of her troubles. The boys either don’t want to wrestle her or feel her up when they do. The captain and her own brother don’t seem pleased to have her there. Then, a comment to a reporter put her at odds with the entire team. She has to find a way to bring her life into show more control while continue doing what she loves.

PERFECTED BY GIRLS has a wonderful, fairly authentic female teen voice. The characters and conflict seemed realistic. I love how the simple act of being a female wrestler showed people’s character, whether they supported her or not. I found it interesting to learn about the Greco-Roman style wrestling, how there are women’s teams, and how a woman deals with being on a predominately male team. The novel is fast-paced, and I wanted to keep reading until the very last word.

If you’re looking for a great contemporary young adult novel, then look no further than PERFECTED BY GIRLS by Alfred C. Martino. It’s a great read that’ll wrestle you to the page and keep you reading until the end. show less

Although I no-longer wrestle, this novel was a great display of how one must desire to be a champion. Martino is clearly an expert on the subject of high school sports, particularly wrestling, because he was able to show this through his knowledge of the many wrestling moves and the conditioning necessary to succeed in the sport. I am personally a fan of most sports books, but this is up there with some of the best I have ever read.