Theres a Girl in My Hammerlock [Hardcover]

Jerry Spinelli (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2007 | Age Level: 9 and up | Grade Level: 4 and up

Thirteen-year-old Maisie joins her school's formerly all-male wrestling team and tries to last through the season, despite opposition from other students, her best friend, and her own teammates.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

When eighth-grader Maisie Potter decides to try out for the wrestling team, she has no idea of the repercussions that will follow. Legally, the school must allow her to participate, but there are a lot of hard feelings and she quickly becomes the center of a media blitz. Thoroughly modern Maisie is an eminently likable character, and her trials and triumphs make for a highly satisfying tale. Although Newbery Medalist Spinelli ( Maniac Magee ) doesn't break any new ground here, he tackles a meaty subject--traditional gender roles--with his usual humor and finesse. The result, written in a breezy, first-person style, is a rattling good sports story that is clever, witty and tightly written. Ages 10-14.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8-- Maisie Potter knows what she wants, she knows why, and she knows how to get it. So when her teenage hormones begin acting up around Eric Delong, she abandons girls' field hockey for cheerleading. And when she doesn't make the squad, she patiently waits for next season's sports to begin, and to the horror of almost everyone in the school, tries out for wrestling. Of course, this is an all boys' team, and Eric Delong is one of those boys. Maisie makes the team and surprises everyone with her endurance and skill. She also makes more than her share of enemies, including Lizard Liz Lamply, Eric's aggressive girlfriend, and Holly, her fickle best friend. But Maisie has heart and determination--she's a female Maniac Magee with an intact, nurturing family, and she picks up more well-wishers along the way, as pockets of strength appear in refreshingly whole supporting characters. Maisie's is an original and vibrant adolescent voice--curious, confident, and very alive. She tells a story of sexism and challenges that is fresh from the headlines and perfectly integrated into the everyday events at a suburban junior high school, rich with nuance and melodrama. Kids will eat it up. --Susan Knorr, Milwaukee Public Library
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9 and up
  
• Hardcover
• Publisher: San Val (April 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1417822317
• ISBN-13: 978-1417822317
• Shipping Information: View shipping rates and policies
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Growing up, Jerry Spinelli was really serious about baseball. He played for the Green Sox Little League team in his hometown of Norristown, Pennsylvania, and dreamed of one day playing for the major leagues, preferably as shortstop for the New York Yankees.

One night during high school, Spinelli watched the football team win an exciting game against one of the best teams in the country. While everyone else rode about town tooting horns in celebration, Spinelli went home and wrote "Goal to Go," a poem about the game's defining moment, a goal-line stand. His father submitted the poem to the Norristown Times-Herald and it was featured in the middle of the sports page a few days later. He then traded in his baseball bat for a pencil, because he knew that he wanted to become a writer.

After graduating from Gettysburg College with an English degree, Spinelli worked full time as a magazine editor. Every day on his lunch hour, he would close his office door and craft novels on yellow magazine copy paper. He wrote four adult novels in 12 years of lunchtime writing, but none of these were accepted for publication. When he submitted a fifth novel about a 13-year-old boy, adult publishers once again rejected his work, but children's publishers embraced it. Spinelli feels that he accidentally became an author of children's books.

Spinelli's hilarious books entertain both children and young adults. Readers see his life in his autobiography Knots in My Yo-Yo String, as well as in his fiction. Crash came out of his desire to include the beloved Penn Relays of his home state of Pennsylvania in a book, while Maniac Magee is set in a fictional town based on his own hometown.

When asked if he does research for his writing, Spinelli says: "The answer is yes and no. No, in the sense that I seldom plow through books at the library to gather material. Yes, in the sense that the first 15 years of my life turned out to be one big research project. I thought I was simply growing up in Norristown, Pennsylvania; looking back now I can see that I was also gathering material that would one day find its way into my books."

On inspiration, the author says: "Ideas come from ordinary, everyday life. And from imagination. And from feelings. And from memories. Memories of dust in my sneakers and humming whitewalls down a hill called Monkey."

Spinelli lives with his wife and fellow writer, Eileen, in West Chester, Pennsylvania. While they write in separate rooms of the house, the couple edits and celebrates one another's work. Their six children have given Jerry Spinelli a plethora of clever material for his writing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 2 thumbs up to Spinelli!, December 22, 1999

By 

"psychosue84" - See all my reviews

This review is from: There's a Girl in My Hammerlock (Paperback)

I read this book soley for the reason I needed someone to related to. I'm a female wrestler (last year was my first year) and I was never so happy as when I found this book! It was such a great book! It dealt with the real problems of a young teen, without getting to soap oprahish... I recommend all young girls and guys read this book. It kind of helps put an end to stereotypes.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I really liked this book!, February 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: There's a Girl in My Hammerlock (Paperback)

This was a great book because it appealed to every kind of reader. It had suspense, romance, violence (to a certain degree), and humor. At first when I started reading this book, I thought it was just going to be about some wrestler who has a hard time. However, the author really does a good job of putting you in the main characters place. She also used very descriptive words that gave you a mental picture of what was going on in the story. If I had to recommend one book I would recommend There's a Girl in my Hammerlock by Jerry Spinneli because I know it would entertain whatever style of reading that person had. The genre of this book was contemporary realism.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Challenging the System, April 17, 2007

By 

A. Luciano (Lowell, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: There's a Girl in My Hammerlock (Paperback)

Maisie Potter has a huge crush on Eric Delong. It developed over the summer when they bumped into each other in a pool. Unfortunately, he is dating Liz, an evil cheerleader. Maisie decides to do whatever she can to get his attention, so she tries out for cheerleading. She is cut from the team.

When winter season arrives, Maisie doesn't try out for basketball, which she played the year before. Instead, she is the only girl to try out for wrestling--the team Eric is on. Maisie soon learns that there's a lot more to wrestling than she's seen on television.

As Maisie discovers that she actually likes the sport of wrestling and it's no longer all about getting Eric's attention, she also realizes something awful--everyone seems to be against her. Her coach doesn't seem to want her on his team, her teammates don't accept her and they treat her badly, the fans seem to be rooting against her, and the boys from other schools who are supposed to wrestle her in competitions forfeit the matches, giving her an automatic win in order to avoid wrestling her.

It started off as just something to get a boy's attention, but when things get really tough will Maisie actually stick with the team?

I liked that this book didn't have the classic happy ending. As a result of her decisions Maisie didn't end up getting everything she ever wanted, but she seemed to be satisfied. I really liked Maisie's parents and the way they treated her and her siblings.

I found that many of the characters were far too predictable, though. There were few who were able to surprise me.