Patina

Elite runner Patina is a girl with a lot on her plate and she takes her responsibilities heartbreakingly seriously. After her dad died, her mum developed diabetes so bad that she had to have her legs removed and is so unwell that Patina and her adorable little sister live with her Uncle Tony and his wife Emily, who the girls call Mumly.

Patina takes responsibility for everything and everyone – even her school project with the posh girls at her new mainly white school. So how to do you cope when your life is at the limits of what you can realistically do?

At the heart of this novel is the message that you need to let yourself rely on other people and work as a team, whether that's on a running team or in real life, and to be proud of yourself and what you do achieve. It is a seriously great moral for all the over-achievers out there.

When you’ve finished reading the book, you’ll be as proud of Patina as if you knew her.

Jason Reynolds's writing doesn’t hit a single bad note here. The dialogue is crisp, the characters are believable, and it's a beautiful, flawless reading experience that will hook reluctant readers (especially those into sports).

This is book number two in the Run series (called Track series in the United States) and loosely a sequel to Jason Reynolds' Ghost. However, it can easily be read as a standalone text.