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

When Gracie is suddenly moved from the life she loves in Cochrane, Alberta, to the big city of Calgary, she feels lost. She leaves behind her school, her friends, and worst of all her synchronized swimming team.

So things start to look up when she finds a new team in the city: she's excited to be training with some of the best swimmers in the province. When Rosalyn, the star of the Calgary team, starts driving Gracie to shape up fast or quit, she's relieved to see the familiar face of Christy Aldredge, the top swimmer at her Cochrane synchro club. Talking with Christy, Gracie finds allies in her stand against Rosalyn's unfair bullying.

Pool Princess is a story about the pressures of competitive amateur sport, and about how friendship can help overcome them.

Michele Martin Bossley was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but grew up in Calgary, Alberta. Her sixth grade teacher encouraged her to write down the stories she enjoyed creating, but it wasn't until high school that Michele really began to consider writing as a career. She graduated from the University of Calgary in 1991, and began working seriously on writing children's books.

Michele is the author of eighteen novels for young people. Ten of her books have been chosen by the Canadian Children's Book Centre for the Our Choice list. Others have been nominated for the Manitoba and Alberta Reader's Choice Award, and she was runner-up for the 1997 Writer's Guild of Alberta R. Ross Annett Children's Literature award.

Many of Michele's books focus on different sports. As a former athlete, she was involved in synchronized swimming in her teens and competitive swimming in university. She has also coached young swimmers, in addition to coaching her twin sons' soccer and hockey teams, and draws on much of that experience for her books.

A frequent speaker at writing conferences and schools, Michele divides her time between writing and parenting her four sons. She lives in Calgary, Alberta.

Michele Martin Bossley's profile page

• Short-listed, Golden Eagle Children's Choice Book Award
• Winner, Canadian Children's Book Centre Our Choice Selection

"Pool Princess is natural in voice and flows well. The novel provides strategies for dealing with bullies in the form of straightforward advice from Gracie's family and friends."
"... highly recommended."

Canadian Materials

"The author has done a good job of documenting the progression of the conflict with all its complications, manifestations of fear and guilt, and the various attempts by the protagonists to work out a solution by themselves. The plot is well-structured, fast-paced and has depth. The confrontations supply a build-up of tension."
"...realistic; not perfect, but hopeful and encouraging."
"The characters and their relationships are believable. You'll see them in any school. Any young reader who is being victimized will relate to Gracie's pain and Zachary's terror. The dialogue is natural, well-written and brings the characters sharply to life."
"Both characters are likeable. Watching them go through the change to more confident personaities by the end of the story is rewarding."
"This book will appeal equally to both genders, and is a fine edition to a lengthy list of Lorimer Sports Stories with its authentic insights into the highly competitive world of synchronized swimming."

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