REDWOOD AND PONYTAIL

Tessa Netting and Cassandra Morris offer up youthful voices and emotionally connected performances to deliver Holt's novel in verse about two middle school athletes. Netting portrays Kate, the "perfect" ponytailed cheerleader, and Morris portrays Tam, the tall, stellar volleyball player, who meet and fall in "like." Alternating between introspective and breathless pacing, Netting and Morris accurately portray seventh-grade agitation, confusion, and eagerness while expertly capturing Holt's echoing verse. Taylor Meskimen, Katie Zieff, and Tomasina Sanders function as an amorphous Greek chorus that provides classmates' commentary on feelings and situations Kate and Tam can't always see or acknowledge. This 2020 Odyssey Honor production heightens the intensity of a story that beautifully characterizes the struggle to discover one's rightful place in the world. S.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2020]