Jump Serve

by Jake Maddox, Bob Temple

Ella and Laura can't believe it when two of the meanest girls from a rival volleyball team switch to their team. Before long, it's clear that the new girls don't plan to be good teammates. Is there any hope for a championship, or was the season ruined before it began?

72 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Who is Jake Maddox? Athlete, author, world-traveler–or all three? He has surfed in Hawaii, scuba-dived in Australia, and climbed the mountains of Peru and Alaska. His books range from the most popular team sports to outdoor activities to survival adventures and even to auto racing. His exploits have inspired numerous writers to walk in his footsteps–literally! Each of his stories is stamped with teamwork, fair play, and a strong sense of self-worth and discipline. Always a team-player, Maddox realizes it takes more than one man (or woman) to create a book good enough for a young reader. He hopes the lessons learned on the court, field, or arena and the champion sprinter pace of his books can motivate kids to become better athletes and lifelong readers.

Reviews

[Josiah]

What I like about the sports novellas written under the name Jake Maddox is their combination of uplifting stories, realism, and the fact that they're tailored to a younger audience of sports fans than even Matt Christopher's books. Jake Maddox athletic adventures also focus on a wide variety of sports, as we see in Jump Serve, a book about a girls' volleyball team. Nothing comes easy to the talented, goodhearted members of the Rockets volleyball squad with their inexperienced core of stars in the making, but sports is all about climbing towering mountains to attain unlikely summits. If you can weather great adversity to reach your goal, you've passed a character test most do not.

The Rockets are a formidable volleyball team, but have yet to reach their peak. The Lakers are undisputed champions, stacked with proven players and a winner's pedigree. Laura and Ella are a tremendous setter/hitter combo for the Rockets, though, and when they come into their own, even the Lakers are going to have a hard time defeating them. The Rockets nearly pull off the upset in this year's championship, but the Lakers' superior depth and a serious in-game knee injury to Laura prevent them from taking the top spot just yet. Now it's a long offseason recovery from surgery for Laura while Ella practices diligently to refine her own game, but catching up to the Lakers may be easier than Ella and Laura expected: Beth and Gretchen, two outspokenly derisive girls who played for the Lakers last season when they beat the Rockets, have switched school districts and are now Ella and Laura's teammates, bringing their power volleyball game with them.

Ella and Laura swallow their pride to kindly welcome the new girls, but the former Lakers quickly demonstrate they aren't interested in fitting in with the team. Working as a tandem and mostly ignoring the other girls, Beth and Gretchen are good enough to beat some opponents, but they're no match for teams that utilize the abilities of every player on the roster. As championship season approaches and the Rockets go on a losing skid, Ella has to convince Beth and Gretchen to assimilate as true members of the Rockets, or none of them will have a chance at beating the Lakers. But how can Ella do that when Beth and Gretchen mock her and won't listen? Perhaps she can by proving in a way they can't ignore that she regards them as teammates. With the Rockets a cohesive unit at last, will their skills be enough to triumph over the haughty Lakers?

There are stiff challenges for Ella and Laura to face in Jump Serve, from coping with the news of a significant injury, to committing to extensive rehabilitation to get back to full health; from accepting losing graciously, to acting as a model teammate toward people who don't reciprocate; from handling the complex chemistry of new team dynamics, to coming through in the clutch and playing to win without being paralyzed by fear of failure. Jump Serve offers a solid treatment of these issues, if a somewhat superficial one due to its brevity. I'd probably give the book one and a half stars. It fits well with the rest of the Jake Maddox library of titles, and you don't have to be a volleyball fan to enjoy. Young fans of any sport should have fun with this book.

[Tierra M]

The book I read is called Jump Serve by Jake Maddox. The book is about this girl named Ella who is on her schools volleyball team with her friend Laura. Ella and Laura and their other teammates had just finished their volleyball game when two girls from another team told them to watch their backs because they were going to get beat the next day. The next day, Ella and Laura and their other teammates had their final volleyball game before the championship games against The Rockets. In the middle of the volleyball game Laura went to set the ball and got hurt. When Laura went to the doctor, the doctor told her that she tore some ligaments in her knee. The doctor also told her that she couldn’t play for the rest of the season but she should be able to play next season. When the new season started 2 girls from the Rockets team joined Laura and Ella’s team. The season wasn’t very good for Laura and Ella because the 2 girls were so mean to them. But by the end of the season they started to get along.

I think the theme of the book is that sports can only be fun when everyone has a good attitude and puts in their best effort and even though you get hurt still be their for your friends to cheer them on.

I would recommend this book to someone who likes sports books. I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone one who like hard to read book because this book is pretty easy to read and if you put your mind to it, this could be a really good book for you.

[Mckenzie]

I loved it!!! it was really good i loved how the rockets became bestfriends at the end of the book because of ella being very nice to them even though those girls were very rude to her and her friend. And once they became friends they all played volleyball as a team and not just 2 people.

[Amanda Harris]

Ella and Laura, teammates on a volleyball team called the "Rockets", are the perfect pair! Laura is a setter and Ella is a hitter. Their team is pretty successful, however, they fall short of a victory against the best team in the league, the "Lakers". Part of the reason was that Laura injured her knee and now she isn't able to play until the middle of next season!

The start of the new season rolls around and guess what? 2 new players have joined the team and they used to be "Lakers". Tensions threaten to destroy the team, however, Laura makes her return and the story takes a harmonious turn while the girls destroy the competition! Lesson learned: there's no "I" in team!

This book is super-fast. I read it in less than 30 min. There is no characterization and is set in a school gym. I thought it was a basic, well-rounded, simple book. I would suggest this book for kids, in 1st/2nd - 4th grade, who love sports or who play on a volleyball team. I would also hand this book to reluctant readers.

Read-a-likes:
The other books in the "Jake Maddox Sports Stories series" because they are all going to be very similar in content.

"The Ball Hogs" by Rich Wallace (Kickers series), because both books tell a story about teammates being left out and what it's like to be sportsman-like. They are both short chapter books.

[Elijah]

I really like this book. I read it because my mom used to play so I read this. Its about this girl who tryed out for the volleyball team and theres girls that dont like her and then when signs went up to see who made it she did and so did the other girls. They won every single game amd then when it was state it happened. The championship game was close and then next point wins the girl was the server she served it and aced it and they won state.

[Lexi Tischman]

I just read the book jump serve by Jake Maddox. I like volley ball and sports so this is a good book for you if you like volley ball this is a good book for you. I rate this book 4.5 out of 5. If you like volley ball or sports you should read this book.

[Tyra]

Its a good book but i lost it and i need to look for it because its the school libary's

[Maddie]

I think that the authors purpose of this book is that you have to be confient in yourself. if you dont think you can accomplish something, you wont.

[Caroline]

i loved it its perfect for girls who like volleyball and other sports!