Fourth Annual Quidditch World Cup

It's true.

NPR ran a story a few days ago about several colleges around the country who will be participating in this years Fourth Annual Quidditch Cup. Abso-freakin'-awesome. Not only are these schools dusting off their broomsticks and quaffles in hopes of coming home the champion but they are also ultimately hoping the sport will eventually achieve NCAA recognized status.

However since all players don't have actual flying broomsticks, the rules have been altered. My favorite? The section on the snitch:

The snitch, otherwise known as the "Snitch Runner," is a guy with a sock hanging out of the back of his shorts. According to the official IQA rule book, "The Snitch Runner evades both Seekers at all costs, doing everything he can do to prevent the Snitch from being caught."

I seriously hope this guy is in amazing shape.

Frankly if you are a prospective college freshman, I'd take a good long look at my schools extra-curricular activities and make sure that Quidditch makes the cut. Cause that's a deal breaker.

spotted via Shelf Awareness.

Front and Center by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

The first half of D.J. Schwenk's junior year found her one, playing linebacker for her high school football team, two, featured in a People magazine article, and three, caring for her brother Win after he suffered a career-ending injury during one of his nationally televised college football games. For the past five months D.J. has lived and breathed in the spotlight of her small town and it's the last place she ever wanted to be.

Thankfully, D.J. couldn't be happier with the prospect of basketball season just around the corner - a chance to lie low and simply play the game she loves - but it seems like everyone has expectations and plans in store for our hometown hero. Again. Her coach wants her to step up her game, Win wants her to start calling college coaches (like right now), and a certain Hawley quarterback keeps popping up (who she has forgotten all about, thank-you-very-much). The pressure is on and D.J. can't fathom how she will be able to handle it all.

Opening the pages of Front and Center was like sitting down with an old friend that you haven't seen in ages (Hi Kris!) but every time that you do, it feels like no time has passed at all since you were last together. You know their past and their sensitive spots and no matter what, you know you are in for a good time. I'd like to think D.J. Schwenk and I are such friends. She practically leaps off the pages in Catherine Gilbert Murdock's trilogy about a teenage farm girl who dares to play football and wows everyone (including some Division I school coaches) with her mad b-ball skills. Simply irresistible as a shy, talented teenager who hasn't quite figured out how to come out of her shell, D.J. is one of those honest girls who you can't help but cheer for.

No weak or filler characters are present in D.J.'s honest narrative. Even minor characters like her hilarious younger brother Curtis - who probably has only 10-12 lines in the entire book - feel completely real and present. From her neurotic, sports-crazed family to her best friend Amber, each one brought something special to D.J.'s story, each one giving just a bit of themselves as they help her find her way.

I also adore the fact that D.J. is so totally, completely focused on basketball and just surviving school that she has no clue whatsoever when it comes to music or movies or heck, let me go out on a limb here and just say, current events even. They Might be Giants, Elvis - every music reference goes right over that girls' head and she couldn't care less. I just love her to pieces and couldn't be happier with Murdock's conclusion to such a perfect trilogy.

series reading order:
~ Dairy Queen
~ The Off Season
~ Front and Center

Because Everyone Likes a Second Opinion:
Book Aunt review
Em's Bookshelf review
Kidliterate review
Steph Su Reads review
The Story Siren review

book source: my local library