Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen! by Sarah Kapit

 By Nate Feldman

Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen! is a story about Vivy, a young Jewish autistic girl who aspires to become a baseball player.  The book is written as a series of emails between Vivy and VJ Capello, a Cy Young Award winning pitcher for the San Francisco Giants.  

Vivy admires VJ because he is great at throwing knuckleballs, something she is exceptional at.  However, because she is a girl, and she has no desire to play softball, she hasn't played organized baseball.  That changes when Coach K, a coach for a local little league team called the Flying Squirrels catches Vivy practicing with her brother Nate at a baseball diamond one days.  The coach is impressed with her abilities and offers her a spot on the team.  

Vivy faces many challenges.  First of all, her overprotective mother doesn't understand why Vivy wants to play baseball in the first place.  Also, many players on the team, especially Kyle, the coaches son, taunt her and try to encourage her to quit.  

There are some good things happening as well.  Vivy forms a close friendship (her first real friend as she puts it) with Alex, her catcher.  VJ Capello also begins corresponding with her on a regular basis, something she didn't expect but is delighted to have happen.  He gives both baseball advice and how to deal with some of the challenges she faces off the field as well. 

Vivy perseveres and begins playing for the team and doing reasonably well.  Things take a turn for a worse when she is knocked out by a line drive during a game, leading her mother to try and keep her daughter from playing baseball again.  

I loved this book for many reasons.  It gives a voice to both young girls trying to break into the world of boy's sports as well as people with Autism.  Vivy is an unlikely protagonist in a baseball story and reading about her quest to make it in the baseball world is moving.  The story also successfully blends in feel-good moments with realistic challenges that someone in Vivy's situation would definitely face.  So, I would give this book five out five stars!