The Best Worst Summer of Esme Sun

*Signed Bookplates*

Esme absolutely doesn’t care about winning or trophies or the kind of praise her sisters get from her mother. Nope. Not at all.

But when she discovers that her growth spurt has made her a really fast swimmer, it turns out that maybe does care (just a little bit). In fact, it turns out that she wants to break the freestyle record at a swimming competition.

Her newfound competitive streak comes with all kinds of complications. She worries that she’s hurt the feelings of a new girl at school, Taya. And to make matters worse, Teagan, Esme’s cool, popular friend has made her promise not to be too intense and babyish about things — especially swim team.

Now she finds herself stuck between the desires of her mother and her friend, and asking herself: Is winning really as important as she thinks, even if it means being unkind? Or is there another way to compete, to be a good sport and a good friend?