Marisol is sure to have a terrible time when her gym teacher announces that their next unit of study is kickball. Marisol is so worried about not being able to play well that her stomach is in knots. Can her friends and families – and most importantly, herself – help her get over her fear?

This book is the second in a series about Marisol Rainey. In the first book, Marisol is worried about climbing a big tree in her backyard before finally succeeding in doing so. This book is in a similar vein with her concern now being about sports; her father and her brother are good athletes but Marisol didn’t get those genes.

Marisol’s plight here can be very relatable to young elementary school-age children (aka the intended audience of this book). For some – like me as a child – the real concern of not doing well during a team sport in which other children in your class excel is exactly relatable. For others, it might be more the general idea of having to face a fear or feeling not good enough, especially compared to others.

A side subplot is about how another classmate insists he can talk to animals and understand what they say in response, which makes Marisol wonder if she could also learn to communicate with animals, especially her own pet cat Beans.

Although this book is technically a sequel, it reads fine as a standalone story. I’m actually quite glad to have picked it up because I didn’t love the first book as much as I hoped I would, but I was pleasantly surprised to like this one much better.

The illustrations are a nice touch. They aren’t exactly necessary to tell the story, but they add in fun extra little tidbits. For example, at one point, Marisol and another classmate try to talk to their cats to test out a theory. The illustration shows the classmate having a long, breathless conversation in a dialogue bubble as her cat stands by looking perplexed.

Marisol is noted to be half Filipino-American in the text, and her best friend Jada is illustrated as Black. Other classmates may be Latinx based on naming conventions. Marisol’s father has a long-distance relationship with the family due to his work on an oil rig. Jada’s parents are divorced or were never married, as Jada splits her time between their two homes. So, the book does show a diversity of folks and lifestyles. ( )

I received an advance reader copy from Netgalley.

While the artwork was not all there in this arc, the adorable story was worth the read! It was lovely reading more about Marisol 's adventures. This deals a lot with Marisol's friends and kickball at school.