Really enjoyed this one! It had heart and an excellent narrative voice. You don't even have to be knowledgable about baseball to understand this one. ( )

Gemma Hopper's self assessment: "I'm six feet tall, I'm thirteen years old, and no, I don't play basketball." And despite what you might think from the cover, she doesn't play baseball either. But she does help her superstar brother practice his batting by pitching to him every minute he can wrangle out of her. Gemma's more concerned about middle school stuff, like sitting at the popular kids' table and not losing her best friend to those same popular kids. But unfortunately, everything else takes a back seat to being family housekeeper, cook, and nanny to her younger twin brothers in the absence of her runaway mother and perpetually working father.

The baseball angle gives a nice boost to an otherwise ordinary bit of middle school angst, but the family tree class report that frames the story is dull and heavy-handed and forces a dumb big speech finale that feels out of place and unnecessary.

Still, I enjoyed the art and characters and look forward to what the author might do in the future. ( )

Fox Point's Own Gemma Hopper is an excellent addition to baseball (and sports generally) literature featuring girls, women, and lgbtq+ individuals. The story is uplifting without being overly sweet. ( )

Gemma‘s family life is a bit of a mess. This is illustrated best through her inability to complete a family tree. Her mom walked out on the family a year ago and has left her playing mom to her younger and older brothers. The one thing she has going for her is baseball. She doesn’t play. She just pitches balls to her big brother, who is the towns biggest sports star. He’s headed out to a fancy sports team that travels in Florida. That’s going to be a big change from living in Rhode Island. This book is lovely and one can feel the love of the sport. I think, even non-baseball lovers will find the story of t Gemma, on the brink of womanhood, an interesting read. We see her come to terms with life and realize that certain things are not as bad or as good as she thought they were, and that she is OK with that. ( )

Fox Point’s Own Gemma Hopper is a fantastic middle grade graphic novel about growing up and finding yourself. It is a beautiful story about siblings’ love and a shared passion. It also highlights the pressure that parents can sometimes put on their children’s shoulders. Even if I am not particularly a baseball fan, I was really interested in Gemma’s strength and her quest to find what makes Gemma, Gemma. ( )