The Million Dollar Kick by Dan Gutman

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Age Group: Middle Grade
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Publishing Date: September 15th, 2006 by Disney Hyperion

 Summary:  Goodreads ~ Whisper Nelson hates sports--all sports--with a passion! So when by a fluke she wins a chance to kick a goal past a professional soccer star for a million-dollar prize, she is torn. Should she try it and risk humiliation, or just forget the whole thing and save what dignity she has left? But the Million Dollar Kick might be Whisper's big chance not only to win a million dollars, but to regain confidence in herself.

What I Liked: First off, what I liked about this book is that Dan Gutman managed to pack all the good stuff for a middle grade novel into around a hundred pages. So I think that even for those who don't like to read at all, not only is it a good book, it's also a good book that will take around thirty minutes to an hour to complete. To elaborate on the "good stuff", I do like the whole build up to the kick. It was really cool to see this sport-hating girl not only get her confidence, but find a love for the game of soccer as well.

What I Didn't Like: Other than "I want more!", I'd have to say this was another classic cliched plot. Now in the words of Stuart Gibbs "There's always going to be a defined structure to a book" (or something like that), I agree, there will always be an expository, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. But I'm not talking about that. I'm referencing to the classic "kid gets lucky and then something happens which makes him unlucky but then he perseveres and is lucky again" I don't know if I'm the only one who sees a lot of books like this (or for the matter understood what the quotes even meant), but even though I am, I still found this book's actions pretty similar to other books, which made me a little bored.

Rating 8.2 out of ten.

Why? It's a great book, but you can't be the best book in only a hundred pages.


The Million Dollar Kick (The Million Dollar Series, #2)

Comments

  1. Greg PattridgeMarch 6, 2017 at 8:20 AM

    I haven't heard of this one so thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ms. YinglingMarch 6, 2017 at 10:41 AM

    I do love most of Gutman's work. TO be perfect in my world, a book will have about 200 pages!

    ReplyDelete
  3. JenniMarch 6, 2017 at 1:23 PM

    It does sound a bit short, and I am disappointed to hear it has a cliched ending. But--I do love the set up of the sports-hating kid getting a chance to kick a million dollar goal. As someone who's not into sports (and was a horrible soccer player), I could totally relate to this character.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sue KookyMarch 6, 2017 at 5:10 PM

    I wish something like this would happen to me! Sad too hear that it's cliched though...:/ Thanks for the rec!

    ReplyDelete

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