The Girl, the Ring, & the Baseball Bat

by Camille Gomera-Tavarez

Overview

Rosie: Capricorn. Does great in class. Wants nothing more than to get into the prestigious Innovation Technical Institute and kiss this awful school goodbye. Her talisman: a magical jacket from her mother's past that gets people to do whatever she says.

Caro: Taurus. Rosie's older sister. Always been closer to their estranged father – and always butted heads more with their strict mother. A trip to Dominican Republic for her father's wedding leads her deep into family history that clears up any illusions about her parents she's ever had. Her talisman: a baseball bat that fixes whatever it breaks. 

Zeke: Certified Triple Pisces. Up in cold-ass Jersey City living with his aunt after his grandmother dies and his father moves to London to take care of his mother. He crushes on EVERYone – he knows he'll find happiness in love, and maybe a way out of this depression. His talisman: a manifestation stone that will make anyone fall in love with him.  

Rosie, Caro, and Zeke – and their talismans – find themselves intertwined in a magical, hilarious, and whip-smart Outsiders for the modern day, written by Camille Gomera-Tavarez, a 2022 Publishers Weekly Flying Start.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781646143405
Publisher:	Levine Querido
Publication date:	02/06/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	12 - 18 Years

About the Author

Camille Gomera-Tavarez is an Afro-Dominican graphic designer, illustrator, and authoress from Clifton, NJ. She graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design and a minor in Creative Writing from the Maryland Institute College of Art.

Her first book, High Spirits, was a Publishers Weekly Flying Start, earned three starred reviews, and called a "soulfully crafted debut."

Visit her at www.cgtdesign.net.

Editorial Reviews

[STAR] “Dazzling.” – Booklist (starred)

“Skillfully and chaotically represents the ups and downs of high school… a singularly compelling experience for readers.” – Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

[STAR] “A hilariously great time… A perfect addition to any teen collection.” – School Library Journal (starred)

“Gomera-Tavarez offers a fast- paced plot with relatable characters… While the story touches upon various types of trauma and abuse, it does so in a way that can help readers identify tactics for recognizing and processing pain and suffering, especially with the help of loved ones.” – Horn Book

“The Girl, the Ring, the Baseball Bat is a quick read and the characters are especially enjoyable… We all could use friends like this group of teens, and reading how they come together is a nice way to spend an afternoon.” – Locus

From the Publisher

2023-11-17
Gomera-Tavarez’s sophomore novel brings three New Jersey teens together with talismans that are seemingly tailor-made for their struggles.

Dominican Caro seeks to escape from Mami’s constant critiques by defying her standards at nearly every turn, while her younger sister, Rosie, seeks an out through academic success. When Zeke, the new Jamaican kid from Miami, tags along on the sisters’ covert trip to Queens, he finds his own outlet through their burgeoning friendship. The first-person narrative shifts among all three protagonists, highlighting each one’s perspective on shared events, their particular struggles, and the discovery of their magical powers through the enchanted objects they find—a jacket, a baseball bat, and a pink stone. Rosie wrestles with her sense of justice and expectations of meritocracy as her dream of transferring to elite Innovation Technical Institute is stolen. Caro seeks to reform her rebellious ways but struggles with finding her own identity rather than one rooted in opposition to her mom. Though Zeke seems the most sure of who he his, his queer identity, and his ethos of living in the moment, he too struggles with a complicated maternal relationship, grieving the mom he felt never truly knew him. Though a coming-of-age quest for identity is at the heart of the unfolding drama, family challenges, generational trauma, and critiques of carceral systems and the underfunding of public schools are woven throughout, adding deep subplots leading up toward the ultimate climax.

An original voice spins an urban, magically realistic, modern tale. (Fiction. 13-18)

Kirkus Reviews