SHAKEN will be available in paperback, featuring this new cover, on March 17th.
i just read your book shaken and i am a huge soccer girl and i love reading this book i love how she had a hard thing in her life and kept going on what she loved and i love how much she tried
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thank you its hard i had a concussion too it was hard so i loved how i could relate to this book
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T____, 6th grade
pls answer back if you can
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I replied . . .
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T,
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I’m very glad to read your kind note. While I hoped to write a book that was more than “just” a soccer story, I did very much want the approval of “huge soccer girls” like you.
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My daughter Maggie played soccer until knee surgeries forced her to quit (three ACL surgeries and done). One unexpected thing she told me was about the first few minutes of practice, how warm and friendly they were, everybody touching base and connecting before the work begins. I tried to capture that small moment in the book. That feeling of being a team.
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Another moment in the story was inspired by an actual USWNT soccer star, Claire Hutton, who attended our local high school in Bethlehem, NY. Everyone who followed local sports knew about Claire from a young age. I only met her once, she may have been 15-16 at the time, when I was out walking my dog Echo on a summer day by the high school. Claire was out on the football field, alone, practicing with an assortment of orange cones. Running sprints, ball drills, and so on. I stopped and we chatted amiably for a few minutes. But that scene — a determined athlete, all alone, driven by some inner flame — was all I needed for Chapter 1 of my book. I wanted my character, Kristy Barrett, to have a little bit of the fire that burned inside Claire.
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How do you not root for a kid — now a young woman — like this?
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I’m sorry but not surprised to hear that you experienced a concussion. Hopefully your recovery went well and you can avoid another incident. The health of your brain is everything. And yet if you are playing the game, and competing, it’s impossible to go halfway. It’s hard to be careful when you are fighting for the ball.
My most recent novel, Shaken, ages 10-14, will be out in paperback on March 17th. That’s less than two weeks from now.
In the book, an awesomely talented 7th grade soccer player, Kristy Barrett, experiences a serious concussion.
I more or less pull the rug out from under her. That’s what writers do. We make awful things happen to perfectly decent characters. In the rest of the book we find out what Kristy’s made of. In the first few pages, I needed to quickly establish that, for Kristy, soccer was everything. Her social currency, her primary source of self-esteem, friendship, and identity.
If “Soccer is my life!” what happens when that hat blows away?
But before the “inciting event” of Kristy’s concussion — which is the engine of our story — I needed to establish the current situation.
Here’s a few paragraphs from pages 3-4, where we learn something about this young athlete:
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By the time she played her first organized practice at U4, anyone could see that Kristy Barrett was a special player. She was simply quicker and more focused than any other four-year-old on the field. Of course, half of them were clinging to their parents’ legs, or slurping on oranges, or plucking dandelions while Kristy raged up and down the grass like a creature possessed. Amazingly, that dynamic continued on through rec ball and travel, even when they let her play on the boys’ team. In seventh grade, Kristy was starting for the varsity high school team. She was special. That was the word, over and over: a special kid.
But wasn’t everybody?
Kristy didn’t much care what people said. She loved to play. That was all, the whole shebang. But after a video of one of her goals went viral — and was included on ESPN’s “Amazing Plays” Sunday feature, along with a thirty-five second interview — everyone, absolutely everyone, knew. Not long after, a coach from the USA Development Program called, saying, “It wouldn’t surprise me if one day Kristy represents the United States in international play.”
Maybe even a future Olympian.
Altogether not bad for someone who hadn’t, at that time, turned thirteen. But that’s how it works at the highest levels of sports. When you know, you know.
I’m happy to share that Shaken (ages 10-14) has been named one of the Best Children’s Books for 2025 (of books published in 2024) by the Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature!
And now there’s a new cover — so much better, more appealing, and accurate than the original cover — with a low, low paperback price.
I don’t know Claire Hutton, a standout local soccer player, but I’ve long been aware of her ability on the field. I heard she was special. A kid to root for, a good family. I know some coaches and people involved in the sport, and they all have nothing but praise for her attitude, dedication, talent, kindness. A great kid. I heard that over and over.
I think every town, sooner or later, has some young athlete who breaks through. The shortstop who gets drafted in the 11th round by the Washington Nationals, the kid who is skating in the Olympics, a running back who signs with a D-1 powerhouse.
For me, here in Delmar, NY, one of those kids was Claire Hutton. She went to the same schools as my three children.
I met Claire briefly, just once. I was walking my dog near Bethlehem high school early one morning. It must have been a weekend or the summer; no one else was around, not even on the nearby tennis courts. I spied a young woman — she must have been 16 — setting out orange cones near the track. She looked strong-legged. I guessed that it might be Claire Hutton and, curious, I wandered over to say hello. We chatted for a bit. Claire was articulate and friendly, comfortable talking, happy to take a short break, and she liked my dog. Claire told me how she was going to play on the Boys Team that coming season (I later got to watch her play). She explained her drills after I asked what in the world was she doing. I shared with her how my very athletic daughter, Maggie, about five years older, suffered from three ACL surgeries and had to give up soccer (and basketball!) after 7th grade. She had already made JV soccer that season. Claire understood what that loss might feel like. I wished her luck and good health, told her I was rooting for her, and went on my way.
A couple of years later, when I wrote a book called Shaken about a 7th-grade athlete who suffers from a severe concussion, derailing her soccer activities, I was largely inspired by Maggie’s experience. Loving something and having it taken away. Kurt Vonnegut’s notion of making awful things happen to your characters in order to reveal what they are made of. And I thought about Claire, too. Or more accurately, I imagined what someone like Claire would think. The drive and the talent and the huge ambition. That’s the writer’s job, after all. We make things up out of life’s raw material. I wanted my character to be like that.
So I guess I put a little of Claire — the imaginary Claire — into the main character of my book, Kristy Barrett. But to be fully transparent, I don’t know anything about Claire and I doubt she would remember me. I know “of” her. I was just a benign dad type with a cool black-and-white rescue dog named Echo. We were alone on the edge of a football field, beside the track. And she was with her orange cones and workout gear, inching toward her big dreams.
Today it is so gratifying to see Claire, off in the distance, realizing those same dreams. Scoring a goal for USA soccer! And crazy as this sounds, it’s not the least bit surprising.
Great kid, I thought.
I used that inspiration for the first few pages of Shaken, introducing the character of Kristy Barrett.
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Kristy alone on a soccer field. The sun barely up above the trees. The turf damp from yesterday’s rain. It was cold. She went through her warm-up routine.
High knees, side shuffles, Frankensteins, butt kicks, hip flexors, etc. No ball. Not yet. Fitness first, always.
Today was a game day; she wouldn’t overdo it.
Kristy walked off the paces, set out small orange cones in different configurations. Soccer was a game of changing speeds, spurts, sharp cuts, quick accelerations, and periods of rest. This morning’s plan was designed to replicate a game situation. If it does not challenge you, it doesn’t change you. Kristy heard her mother say those words so many times she now thought of it as her own original idea. She jogged the shape once, then began working in a pattern of slow jogs and sprints. At the end of the first set, Kristy waited, winded, shook out her legs, counted to thirty. She began a second set. And so on. Fitness wasn’t the fun part of soccer. But it helped win games. It made her a better player. And, at thirteen, Kristy was determined to become the best in the state.
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This was her happy place. No matter what else was going on in the world, Kristy found peace and pleasure alone on the field. Even during a game, surrounded by teammates, crowded by opponents — pushed, knocked down, high-fived and cheered — Kristy felt gloriously alone. Bubbled, sheltered, secure.
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Here’s a quick one-minute interview with Claire.
But be warned: if you watch it, you’ll be rooting for her, too. It’s an affliction!
Addendum: Maybe Claire will see this someday. If she does, I hope she doesn’t mind that, in a circuitous way, I put something of her in a book. Or that I wrote this post.
A great kid, yeah. And an inspiring one, too.
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SHAKEN was listed by Bank Street Center of Children’s Literature as one of the “Best Children’s Books for 2025.” Ages 10-up.
I’m heartened to share that my middle-grade novel, Shaken (ages 10-14) has been named one of the the Best Children’s Books for 2025 (of books published in 2024) by the Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature! It’s a nice honor. Thank you to my publisher Jean Feiwel, who has been there since forever, including my first book in 1986; and my talented editor of almost 20 years, Liz Szabla. And also, of course, thanks to the good folks at Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature.
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A number of people generously helped me during the research for this book: Dr. Todd P. Giombetti; Jessica Van Wormer, licensed clinical social worker,certified school social worker; Christoffel Janse Van Rensburg, licensed clinical social worker; Piera McGaughan, girls junior varsity soccer coach, Bethlehem High School, New York; Tracy Gilbert, board certified art therapist, licensed mental health counselor; Maria Lupo, doctor of medical and health humanities, board certified art psychotherapist.
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And for personal insights and shared experiences, for your time and thoughtfulness and generosity of spirit: Jennifer Healey, Olivia Healey, Mark Lane, Amelia Shaw, Erin LaDue, and Erin Svare.
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Special shout out to these books and authors: Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls by Lisa Damour, PhD; Healing Days: A Guide for Kids Who Have Experienced Trauma by Susan Farber Straus, illustrated by Maria Bogade; and The Art Therapy Sourcebook by Cathy A. Malchiodi.
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