LOT TO TACKLE

Product DescriptionThe Tigers have made it to the state championship in the ninth book of the It Takes Two series!Alex has just gotten the worst grade of her life in French one of her best subjects! As she studies like crazy to make up for the terrible grade she ends up missing an important student council meeting leaving her more frustrated than ever. Alex begins to wonder why she should even care about her grades and extra curricular activities if she isn’t doing well…Meanwhile Ava’s football team lost their last playoff game leaving them out of the finals. Even though she didn’t play particularly well Ava knows she wasn’t the only one so she doesn’t understand why some of the boys on the team are blaming her. Her teammates are also saying that if the Tigers don’t win the state championship her father will be out of a job…and he isn’t denying it! Ava is horrified by the idea of leaving Ashland behind for good but Alex doesn’t seem to care. With so much going on at once can Ava get her twin to snap out of it so they can rally around their family and cheer the Tigers on to victory?ReviewForA Whole New Ball Game: The twin device is effectively deployed as each girl seeks to understand herself independently in relation to her twin and in the context of her new town; there's also appeal in the plot's sitcom elements of overheard conversations secret observations and all the uncertainty that comes with being a new place. ―The Bulletin of the Center for Children's BooksAbout the AuthorBelle Payton isn’t a twin herself but she does have twin brothers! She spent much of her childhood in the bleachers reading-er cheering them on-at their football games. Though she left the South long ago to become a children’s book editor in New York City Belle still drinks approximately a gallon of sweet tea a week and loves treating her friends to her famous homemade mac-and-cheese. Belle is the author of many books for children and tweens and is currently having a blast writing two sides to each It Takes Two story.Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.A Lot to TackleCHAPTERONE“State! State! State!” The chant filled the crowded restaurant echoing off the wood-beamed ceilings. Fans pounded the rhythm onto the worn tables. People just walking in immediately started stamping their feet to the beat in the aisles dodging the waitresses balancing trays of steaming ribs and steaks.Ava Sackett chanted so loudly that her throat hurt. The Ashland Tigers football team was going to the State Championships!She felt dizzy with excitement. Everyone in town was celebrating tonight but Ava was sure that she was the happiest of all. This past summer her family had moved from Massachusetts to Ashland Texas just so her dad could coach the high school team to victory. A lot of people had doubted him-but not Ava. She’d known Coach would lead the team all the way to the play-offs. And she knew he would win State too.Ava watched her twin sister Alex weave her way back from the bathroom at Fighting Tiger BBQ through the mass of fans. Strangers called out their congratulations. Alex beamed as she slid onto the bench next to Ava.“Perfume much?” Ava teased holding her nose. As usual her twin sister had overly spritzed herself with the honeysuckle body mist that she carried in her navy cross-body bag.“You should try it” Alex teased back knowing that unlike her Ava refused to wear makeup and perfume. “Besides I can’t handle smelling like cooked cow.”“You don’t have to put it that way!” Ava cried. Alex had become a vegetarian this year so she wasn’t a huge fan of the many barbecue restaurants in Texas.Their older brother Tommy pushed in alongside Alex squishing the twins closer together. Tommy had bulked up since he’d started playing high school football. The three of them barely fit onto the booth’s bench.The restaurant grew louder than other Friday night postgame celebrations.