Balancing Act (The Heights #1)

Organic prose centers Black teens in a juicy high-stakes sports drama with soapy twists. An athletic scholarship allows high school sophomore Chyna Thomas—living in fictional Maryland metropolis Diamond Falls—the opportunity to forgo “broke kids gymnastics camp” and attend elite charter school the Heights. But between navigating her mother’s kidney failure, keeping “Miss Thinks She All That” gymnastics cocaptain Alicia Swanson in check, and grieving the murder of her secret boyfriend Jacquees Henderson, Chyna struggles to find her footing both on and off the mat. Meanwhile, Jacquees’s younger brother Jamaal is ready to represent his “blackity-Black” Southside roots as captain of the Heights’ basketball team. Then his congenital heart condition threatens to sideline him from an important game, his cozying up to Alicia estranges Chyna, and the truth about his brother’s death surfaces. And thanks to “online venom” posted by an anonymous social media account bent on seeding tension between rival communities, Heights players find that much more rides on this season’s outcome than potential scholarships or bragging rights. In this scintillating series starter told via Chyna and Jamaal’s alternating perspectives, Chase (Keeping It Real) deftly examines issues of classism and systemic racism amid Gossip Girl–style glitz. Ages 13–up. Agent: Jennifer Carlson, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary. (Oct.)