This is a great realistic middle grade story about the hard work that goes into being a young competitive figure skater as well as the hard work that goes into being strong in the face of microagressions at school. I really loved Maxine's arc and especially the way she deals with her own jealousy of a new skater compared to the way the racist mean boy at school deals with his issues, and I appreciated that it's a story about bullying where the moral isn't "but also the bully was sad and what about his feelings"?