Penny Draws a Team Sport

Penny Draws #5

by Sara Shepard

The fifth book in the humorous, heartfelt, highly illustrated series about a girl who doodles to cope with her anxiety, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sara Shepard.

When fifth grader Penny Lowry's school announces an upcoming charity pickleball tournament, she doesn't know what to think. On the one hand, all her friends are joining the team and she doesn't want to feel left out. But on the other hand, Penny's never been particularly athletic. What if it turns out she's terrible at pickleball? What if she lets her teammates down?

Things get even more stressful when a local news channel announces they'll be covering the tournament, giving Penny something new to worry about: what if she embarrasses herself on live TV?

It's all a lot to handle, but luckily Penny has her right hand dog Cosmo, her best friends, and her love of drawings to get her through!

Genres: Fiction

224 pages, Hardcover

Published March 4, 2025

About the author

Sara Shepard graduated from NYU and has an MFA from Brooklyn College. She has lived in New York City, Brooklyn, Tucson, Arizona, Philadelphia, and now lives in Pittsburgh, PA. Sara's Pretty Little Liars novels were inspired by her upbringing in Philadelphia's Main Line.

Reviews

[Spasticnontastic · Rating 4 out of 5]

A read with the little ❤️

[Chloe (Always Booked) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a cute enough novel with comic elements. It's about a girl named Penny who joins the brand new school pickleball team, but shes awful. She gets paired with her best friend who happens to be freakishly good at the sport. She's nervous to let him down, but then he gets hurt and she gets a different partner. There is some friendship conflict but they work it out and it was done in a pretty kind way with good communication. I personally thought this was too drawn out and pretty redundant. I also thought the comic elements had such small font it wasn't pleasant. That being said, I will pass this on to my daughter and would read another in this series.

[Sadie-Jane Huff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 286 of 350 ~ 2025

🌟🌟🌟🌟

Poor Penny can't seem to catch a break.

She is so adorable and innocent plus she has so much feels..

Love her!

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[Bob McBob the Farmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An amazingly adorable Penny Draws book, as always! This book depicts friendship struggles really well and I loved how anxiety attacks were so realistically and authentically covered. So cute and funny, I love all of the characters, even the sometimes mean Riley. A great middle grade book series!

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars
Everyone at Penny's school is now into pickleball! Penny does not think she will be any good at Pickleball but she and Roscoe make a plan to try. Roscoe happens to be an excellent pickler, while Penny is not.

[Greygirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

~5 Stars~ Read by myself and I love this series. I’m really excited to read the #6 book Penny Draws a Crush and I think it will be the best one yet!