Review: "Get a Grip" by Alyson Shelton

Get a Grip by Alyson Shelton
Published October 2026 via West 44 Books
★★★

Kelly's life is a happy one, filled with gymnastics, supportive parents, a brother she's close to and a brother she tolerates. But when her brother Michael, the one she's close to, dies in an accident, everything is turned upside-down.

This is a novel in verse, written for a hi-lo audience—which is to say, high interest level for teenagers who have relatively low reading skills. Think complex themes (in this case, grief and the complexities of friendship) but simpler language. I'm not the target audience here, but I like seeing what's out there (and also...I like gymnastics stories).

This one flies by. I like the mix of themes, and that the book is set in the 80s; it was a different world for gymnastics then, and also a different world in terms of how quickly you could contact other people and so on. Kelly can't just look up her new gymnastics teammates on Instagram; she has to get to know them slowly.

At times I would have liked certain plot points to have a bit more room to breathe. We never do find out what exactly happened to Michael, for example, and when another character gets engaged his father has to ask who the fiancée is—can you imagine a parent you live with (and have a reasonable relationship with) not knowing who you might be getting married to? Maybe that would have felt more normal in the 80s (though i have my doubts), but to my 2020s eyes it's anything but.

All in all, though, I think younger readers will appreciate this one—it'll be an especially good one for school libraries the next time the summer Olympics rolls around.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.