Judy Blume meets Mike Lupica in this heartfelt and humorous coming-of-age story-now in paperback-about a girl who must learn to balance basketball, school, friendships and family.

Nikki wants to be a basketball star. but between school stress, friend drama and babysitting woes, will she be able to make it in the big leagues?

Thirteen-year-old Nikki Doyle dreams of becoming a great basketball player like her WNBA idol, Mia McCall. Nikki has always been the best point guard in her county league and her dreams feel within reach when she's selected to play on an elite-level club team. But in a league with taller, stronger and faster girls, it turns out that Nikki is no longer the best point guard. In fact, she's no longer a point guard at all, which leaves her struggling to figure out who she is and how she fits in.

The stress piles on as Nikki's best friend spends more and more time with another girl on the team and when her science teacher assigns a family tree project that will be impossible to complete unless Nikki reveals the most embarrassing secret on the entire planet: her biological father was a sperm donor. As if that's not enough to deal with, to cover the costs of her new team, Nikki has agreed to take care of her annoying younger brother after school to save money on childcare.

As the stakes rise on the basketball court, at school and at home, Nikki's confidence plummets. Can she learn to compete at this new, higher level? And how hard is she willing to work to find out?

With a brilliant voice, fast-paced action and characters who feel as if they live and breath, Nikki on the Line heralds the arrival of a brilliant new voice in contemporary middle grade fiction.