• Age: 10 to 13
• Grade: 4 to 8
• Reading age: 7 to 10

Victoria Miller is a hard-working member of a Montreal swim team, who has been training six days a week for four years. That's what it takes to keep up with her teammate and rival, Svetlana. Most of the other swimmers are spurred on by their parents -- but not Victoria. In fact, her mother doesn't seem to be interested in much of anything these days, and her father has buried himself in work. When the family situation takes a grim turn, Victoria finds help -- in and out of the pool -- from the person she least expects.

Previous title: Different Strokes

MONIQUE POLAK écrit régulièrement pour le Montreal Gazette et a été publiée dans de nombreux autres quotidiens de renom tels que le Globe and Mail, le National Post et Newsday. Dans la collection SideStreets, elle a écrit All In et On the Game, ainsi que Flip Turn pour la collection Sports Stories. D’ailleurs, ces deux derniers ouvrages ont figuré sur la liste des meilleurs livres pour enfants du Centre du livre jeunesse canadien. Monique enseigne l’écriture ainsi que la littérature anglaise. Elle vit à Montréal, au Québec, avec son mari et sa fille.

MONIQUE POLAK is the author of 26 novels for young readers, as well as two non-fiction titles and a board book. Her books Hate Mail, Room for One More, and the historical novel What World is Left, which was inspired by her mother’s experience during the Holocaust, were all winners of the Quebec Writers’ Federation Prize for Children’s and YA Literature.

Her books have also been nominated for the Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People and the Arthur Ellis Award, and several have been selected as Best Books for Children and Teens by the Canadian Children’s Book Centre.

She is also a freelance journalist whose work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Macleans, and Postmedia newspapers across the country, and is a columnist on ICI Radio-Canada’s Plus on est de fous, plus on lit Monique lives in Montreal, Quebec, where she teaches English and Humanities at Marianopolis College.

Monique Polak's profile page

• Winner, Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice Selection

"Polak seems to have mastered the pre-teen voice to a tee. Flip Turn will keep young readers going right through to the last page."

The Suburban