Braced

Rachel Brooks is excited for the new school year. She's finally earned a place as a forward on her soccer team. Her best friends make everything fun. And she really likes Tate, and she's pretty sure he likes her back. After one last appointment with her scoliosis doctor, this will be her best year yet.

Then the doctor delivers some terrible news: The sideways curve in Rachel's spine has gotten worse, and she needs to wear a back brace twenty-three hours a day. The brace wraps her in hard plastic from shoulder blades to hips. It changes how her clothes fit, how she kicks a ball, and how everyone sees her--even her friends and Tate. But as Rachel confronts all the challenges the brace presents, the biggest change of all may lie in how she sees herself.

Written by a debut author who wore a brace of her own, Braced is the inspiring, heartfelt story of a girl learning to manage the many curves life throws her way.

Alyson Gerber wore a back brace for scoliosis from the ages of eleven to thirteen, an experience that led directly to Braced, her first novel. She received her MFA in Writing for Children from the New School, and her essays have been published in everything from Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Mothers & Daughters to romance-advice websites. She lives with her husband in Brooklyn, New York. Please visit her on the web at alysongerber.com and on Twitter at @alysongerber.