I have always been impressed by how much third and fourth graders liked Dan Gutman's The Million Dollar Shot, which I agree is a pretty good book. I assumed that this book was just a take-off on that book, and wouldn't be as good. When my student MG convinced me to read it, though, it knocked my socks off! 
This is the story of Whisper Nelson, a grumpy seventh grader who hates sports, who somehow ends up in a contest to win a million dollars. Against all odds, she wins the contest, and the money will all be hers... if she can score a penalty kick against one of the greatest soccer goalies of all time. Unfortunately, the only goal Whisper ever scored was in her own team's net during the one soccer game she played in her life. Will Whisper find a way to win the money? You will read the book to find the answer, but you will fall in love with the book for the quality of the writing and the story. This book will hold you captivated from the first page to the very end, and will become a favorite of many readers. It's not really about soccer, it's more about... life. Things don't always happen like we want them to, and sometimes the only thing to do is just go with it and see what happens. Grab your own copy of this book, and see what happens when Whisper does just that.
This book will appeal to sports fans, those readers who enjoy great realistic fiction and a bit of suspense, and any fan of Dan Gutman. I'm not a big fan of his Baseball Card series, but I'm really coming to appreciate his work, and he's becoming one of my favorite children's novelists (and that's saying something!)
