Going for the Record

by Julie A. Swanson

Seventeen-year-old Leah Weicynkowski is on the brink of realizing her dream—playing soccer for the under-eighteen national team, her gateway to the World Cup and the Olympics. Everything she’s worked for has been about this moment. She can’t wait to tell her dad, her biggest fan and her faithful chauffeur to games and practices.

Unfortunately, her dad has news of his own. News that will make Leah reconsider everything that matters most to her. He has pancreatic cancer, and maybe only a few months to live.

Loosely based on the author’s own experiences, this coming-of-age story portrays Leah’s passion for her sport, her love for her father, and her struggle to define herself in the shadow of an uncertain future.

Genres: Sports, Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Family, Soccer, Contemporary

217 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2004

About the author

Julie Swanson grew up on Michigan's "Little Finger", the Leelanau Peninsula, where many of her stories are set, but has lived in Wisconsin, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, California, and Virginia. For the past twenty-five years she's lived in Charlottesville, VA. Julie writes middle grade and young adult novels and enjoys sports, the outdoors, "making things" (almost any type of art or craft, woodworking), reading, writing, eating, planting trees, and spending time with family. She suddenly has 6 grandchildren! Good thing she loves kids...

Reviews

[Maggie Bishop · Rating 4 out of 5]

choice book #2 quarter 1
Going for the Record - by Julie A. Swanson

Going for the Record takes place in Leah's house in the northern peninsula of Michigan. Leah is the main character in this book Leah. Leah is a high schooler about to go to her senior year. Leah is an athlete and loves to work out, run, and play soccer. Leah has a best friend named Clay and he helped Leah train and work out. Leah is a kind girl and wants to go to the Olympics.
Clay is a good kid and has a good amount of money and likes to play soccer and helps practice with Leah. Clay is Leah's best friend and tries to help her at all times. Leah's mom Rita is a kind and respectable person and really cares about her family. Leah's dad is a really cool person and owns a restaurant, he also drives Leah around to all her practices and matches. Most of these people help Leah go through a tuff time and help her get over it too.
Leah's problem in this story is when she finds out that her dad has cancer and knows that there is little to nothing that she can do. after trying to get her dad treatment he refuses and stops after the first round. this really gets Leah upset that he won't have a chance to see his first grandchild and all the things that she was hoping to do with him. Getting over his illness is the biggest mountain to climb for Leah because it means that she is showing that she has given up but she gets over it with the help of her family.
Leah had dreams to go to college and go to the Olympics and have her dad there to watch. Leah just had gotten into the under 18 team for the region all her dreams are taken away when she finds out that her dad has cancer. Left with no choice she decides to try to help her dad get better when there is no hope. After one month Leah can really see how thin and frail her dad is and can´t help know that he won't get better, knowing this she stops playing soccer and tries to help take care of her dad and help around the house. after only two months after Leah found out about her dad being sick Leah´s dad has gone to a different place, Leah finally sees what her dad was trying to teller her about the other place and is trying her hardest to get over all her sadness.
I really like this book because I really like all the detail that the author puts into this and you can see how hard she worked. My favorite part of the book is at the end when one of Leah's dad employs asks her to play soccer with her and his friend, you can see how happy she is even though she went through a big loss around that time. This book is somewhat similar to the books that I like to read and I enjoyed it a lot and it was really nice to read about Leah and what she went through. I really think that other people that like drama and action will really like this book.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first picked up this book because every time i went to my school library I saw it so i decided why not! I put it off reading it for a month because the cover made me believe it was going to be about soccer which really didnt appeal to me but one day I had a catch up day in my math class and I had just finished my only other book so I went ahead and finally grabbed this one out of my locker, and with much reluctants and hesitation I started reading it. But real quick I have only cried two other times reading a book and it was just a tear or two, though this book changed all of that soon in the very beginning it had me balling I mean like never ending tears streaming down my face, mascara and makeup ruined, funny looks from classmated like did she just go insane crying! And when my classmates found out it was over a book well I am still not hearing the end of that and that was 2 months ago!

This book was amazing I love how she has a strong bond with her dad because it very much reminds me of my father and I. But there are a couple of things that I don't quite like about this book such as how her uncles take to her father being sick and frankly in the beginning from what little she talks about her brother I did find myself hating him at times.
But over all this is one of my favorite books and I found myself trying to read it during class instead of taking notes. It is really sad so if you don't like sad books don't even bother with this one but its amazing and even though I just kinda knew how the book was going to end from the first chapter I couldn't help but hope that it would turn out different. But it kept me reading and crying throughout the whole book and I recommend it to every one and do not do what I did for some time and JUDGE IT BY ITS COVER!


Oh! and one last thing although I would have rather had a happy ending... I do love how she ended this book its amazing and very realistic and I think if I were her I would do exactly what she did.

[SBY Youth Services Rencsko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leah Weiczynkowski is a dedicated soccer player who is determined to make the Olympic trial team the summer before her senior year. She spends most of her days with Clay, her coaching partner working on drills and believes that just a little sacrifice will take her all the way. After making the first cut of the Olympic Trials and getting calls from various college coaches her father reveals to her that he has pancreatic cancer and only three months to live. Realizing that this very well could be her father’s last summer Leah must find a balance between her future and making memories that will last a life time.

Throughout this first person narrative Leah reveals a series of emotions that include: sadness, guilt, hope, and anger as her father’s illness progresses. Through this intimate portrait we see how loosing the ones we love takes its toll not only on the main character but also those living around her. The hardest part of the novel was allowing the main character to come to a place where she could accept her father’s dying condition. The author did a wonderful job of not sugarcoating the symptoms, changes, and emotional strain which may be hard for some readers but also making the book that much more real or accessible.

This story is a fantastic coming of age piece where the main character learns that there is more to life than soccer and that making a difference in the world, and creating positive relationships with those that mean the most are what makes the world go round.

[Stephanie A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I used to pass this all the time on the college library shelves, but was never compelled enough to check it out. Finally picked it up at the public library, and HOW DID I NOT READ IT SOONER. High school soccer player, a father with fast-acting cancer... I pretty much bawled my way through the second half but wanted to hug the book's incredible story for comfort afterward.

[Meagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really true about life. Teens get really sucked into their activities that they lose sight of what is most important.

[Alessia CV · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I love soccer, the smell of the grass, the feet connecting with the ball; I don't wear high heels, I use cleats; I don't need a crown, I have a headband; I am not a princess, I am a soccer beast." The novel “Going for the Record” by Julie A. Swanson is about this girl named Leah Weiczykowski, she is 17 years old and she will be attending next year, her senior year of high school. This summer, Leah is one step for achieving her goal, playing soccer in the Olympics and the World Cup. She had entered the Regional National Team U18 but sadly her biggest fan had been diagnosed pancreatic cancer. The setting of the story is very important in this book, it follows Leah in her daily life and in her adventures such as working in her father’s restaurant, which serves delicious food, and the hospital. Julie A. Swanson, the author of this novel, shows a lot of emotions that actually affected my feelings come while I was reading. Sometimes, it happened that while I was reading it, I felt so much in common with Leah, the protagonist, and I sensed a connection between us. Also, for a moment it shows us the real world; how sometimes we think winning a game is the most important thing in our life, however, we don't think in our health and enjoyment, and also we forget about our family and persons we love. I felt very sad about Leah Weiczykowski because it is not easy to go through what she is living during that time. I know from experience, that the decision she will take is one of the hardest obstacles she will face during he life face us during humans careers. While she accompanies ¨Pops¨ she learns from different people and perspectives which makes¨Weaz¨change her point of view and set new goals for herself. These new goals and intentions make her a dynamic character in the book. Finally, I will recommend to read this book by heart, because it shows us a message that really impacts us in our daily life. This could happen to every one of us when we are one step to obtain the dream we work hard all our life, but life isn't easy. When we are faced with difficult decisions, we need to be ready to take them and I believe that if we do the right thing and we put our best effort, good things will happen to us. Cancer is a horrible disease that could separate your family and make a hole in your life, but there will always be a light to go forward if we follow our dreams with faith and effort.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leah Weiczynkowski has spent her seventeen short years of her life waiting for this moment, Her name on the Us under eighteen national team is everything she had trained for in her years of kicking an old black and white around a plot of short grass.
Leah (Weasel), knows her mother and her older, grown-up siblings, will be so excited to hear the news, but though they will jump for joy she knows her pops will be so proud he may not keep it in. He had trained her ever since he had passed a small rubber with his foot. Through Leah, he had learned to adore the sport along with his youngest daughter. She expects him to throw the largest party he could but turns out, he has news of his own.
He has cancer, Pancreatic, the worst kind there is. All he can do is sit around on the world letting the disease eat away at his body and his pride.
Leah has the wind knocked from her perfectly fit body as the news sinks into her head. The disbelief hits her first, then sadness, anger, than the overwhelming case of sadness rushes over her and wraps around her like a blanket. How come it had to be him? It's to soon! Leah did not want to believe this was happening, not to her strong, confident father who had never shed a tear across his now pale, bony face.
Suddenly the three months he has to live seem to go faster and faster, challenging the Weiczynkowski's bravery.
Can Leah bear to continue her livelong dreams of going to the soccer camp she finally was accepted to, or will she stay home with her dying father, pregnant sister, strict brother and frazzled mother while he breathes his last breaths here on earth?
This book was awesome. It was very sad and heartbreaking due to her dads disease but Julie Swanson mixed in happy feelings, too. This book shows how the effects of cancer show very clearly on the patient and their family also. I really recommend this book for anyone that loves to laugh and to cry with good books,and to truly be IN the book with the characters.

[Nicole C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read Going for the Record because it really influenced me on life and I could relate to it because she played soccer and I play soccer and really have a passion for soccer. Julie, the main character of Going for the Record was a hard working girl who wanted to make the regional’s team for soccer. She didn’t let anything get to her even when something bad was going on in her life. Julie would go work every day and she would progress her soccer skills by the minute. Many people encouraged her and helped her push through life because one day a tragic happened. Her dad was diagnosing with cancer that was not able to be cured. This really changed my point of view on life and encouraged me to keep trying and not let things get to my head. Even though she found out about her dad having cancer she managed to keep trying and not let that get to her until one day. She had a strong relationship with her parents as well her best friend which was a guy. I learned to never let the hard times get to you and to always be there for your friends and family because they will always be there for you. In the end, her father was not doing well at all and it was right around the time she was suppose to go to her regional’s camp to play soccer. Even though that could’ve been the last time she saw her dad she still went to the camp because her father told her to. The reason why this book is called Going for the Record is because every day they would drive home from soccer he would try to hold her hand and she wouldn’t let him but the day he told her he had cancer they went for the record and she held his hand longer than ever before. From reading this book, I will always be there for my parents because I think every day how much they have done for me and I know they will always be there for me so I respect them as much as I can.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! For people who like to read sports books this was definitely a book I would recommend for sports people especially soccer players. So in this book a girl named Leah Weiczynkowski a major soccer player makes the Region II U-18 ODP team only the best players from the Midwest region of the country under 18 get to go. This year Leah is one of the twenty that get to go. When her dad comes to pick her up Leah notices that he isn't the normal dad she sees. He seems down and in pain kinda Leah doesn't know what is wrong until her dad finally tells her..he has cancer. The kinda cancer her dad has is Pancreatic cancer there is no cure for this cancer and its already spreading through his liver her dad has three months to live. Now from Leah's perspective she keeps thinking that he will be ok he can get treatments he will live and survive this. Now later on in the book Leah has a fight with her closed friend Clay. Now her dad is starting to feel worse than ever. Having these long pains once and a while, not being able to move as much, dazing off and forgetting who your talking to or what is going on that is the kinda thing Leah's dad is going through and the worst part is he wont even eat a thing! In the end Jesus ends up taking Leah's dad and everyone is so sad, Leah though is thinking of giving up soccer. Everything she has ever worked for is just gone she has given up. But in the end she ends up getting he mojo back starting to think that just because her dad is gone doesn't mean that soccer has to go to.

[Megan W · Rating 4 out of 5]

In “Going for the Record” by Julie A. Swanson, Leah Weiczynkowski loves soccer. She even has dreams of someday going to the Olympics, and even the World Cup. Everything is going perfect until her dad is super late for picking her up from her tryouts for the Region II U-18 ODP team. Which is basically the Olympic Developmental Program for the best soccer players in the Midwest, under 18 years of age. When her dad finally comes to pick her up, Leah is excited, because she thought that she did very well at the tryouts. Except her dad doesn’t look so well- he has tear stained cheeks and his eyes are swollen. He had been crying. Where had he been and why had he taken so long? Next he gives Leah the news. It is bad news, that I would never want to get from either of my parents. Slowly, her dad’s condition worsens. He loses lucidness. Leah wonders every night if that goodnight would be her last. Leah gets to go to Colorado to see if she gets eliminated for the ODP team. Her dad’s condition worsens, but she is able to go. “Well, this is it- the biggest game of my life. And it’s my favorite kind of day. Overcast. Easy on the eyes. No squinting or losing the ball in the sun.” (pg. 110). Will Leah’s dad survive? I really liked this book because it was sort of like The Fault in our Stars, and Leah shows that you can overcome anything. It is like the perfect mix of genres- sports, romance, and realistic fiction. I’d recommend this book to most people who like The Fault in our Stars, and that are in middle school.

[Billie Mottet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julie is going in to her senior year, She has everything that she could ever ask for she is a god at soccer she has college after college calling and has just been recruited on one of the best teams in the U.S. But sadly it wont last much longer after her try out she finds out that her father is really sick and drops everything she possibly can to be with him in is last few months. I recommend this book because it is a very inspiring book about a girl in high school who drops everything just to be with her father. She quits soccer the one thing that was on her mind every minute of every day to now never being on her mind. Her father is the only thing she can think of no more soccer no more school and no more friends. I rate this book 5 out of 5.

[Farah M.J. Elmajdoub · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was just.. WOW. I recommend this book for EVERYONE! Its so weird how this book isnt known alot, because really? It was AMAZING! It was very touching. When i got it, i couldn’t put it down. It taught me how to be strong, and have hope, and never give up. I cried alot, and it is one of my FAVORITE books i have read, and i read alot of books. It was a book, that never left my mind. I have never read any book that was more touching, or beautiful as this. Im speechless about what to say, because to understand my true feelings about it, you HAVE to read it. I loved it, and it always has a place in my heart.

[Holly Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julie Weiczynkowski has had a great life, and is the best soccer player that her coach has eve seen. She qualifies for the Olympic developmental regional team. But on the way home from finding out she made the team, she was crushed by bad news that hurt her reall bad. Even though she is tring to work through her own grief, she has to help a lot more around the house. Everhing in their life and world changes, and Julie starts looking at all of the negaitve stuff about life, and ends up quitting soccor and totally ignoring her best friend. But eventually she gets back in the swing of things beause of her mother, and her friend.

[Madi Muell · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the book, Going for the Record, the plot is based on a girl named Leah who loves playing soccer. She goes to a try out and makes the national team. On the way home from the nation try out her family breaks the ice and announces that her father has cancer. The story is about how she deals with her fathers sickness and how it changes her life. I would recommend this book because it is a great book for people who love sports. Also, I really would recommend this book because it shows you how much you should value things in life when they're there because once they're gone, they're gone. I would give this book a 4.5/5 stars.

[Lauren Coty · Rating 4 out of 5]

17 year old, Leah Weiczynkowski lives, breathes, plays soccer. She has been playing her entire life. She is from Michigan. This summer she has been invited to go to the U.S. Under -18 National Camp. This is her ultimate gateway to the World Cup and the Olympics. Her father, Pete, has just been diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer and only has 3 months to live. Her dad is her best friend, chaeuffer to games, practices, and club teams downstate, and her biggest fan. Leah is tied between staying with her father until he passes, while she misses the opportunity of a life time.

[Angelina]

I think that this book is amazing i really liked it. My favorite part is when she gets the scholarship to soccer college. I liked that part because she was happy because she made it into the college. But the part that i dident really like because it was sad was when she finds out her dad has cancer and close to the end of the book when her dad dies and that was really sad. but otherwise this book is really good I would definitely recommend this book to everyone because this book is a 9/10 because it was really good.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was on my son's summer reading list. I got it for him from the library, started looking at it and ended up reading it in two sittings! It was very a very engaging story about a rising soccer star whose father is suddenly dying of cancer. The authors allows you to experience the emotion and hardship of this life-changing experience as you learn about the stages of grief and what is really important.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love soccer and suspense this is a book for you. The girl in this book loves soccer but her dad is very sick. She has just made a team that she has wanted to make forever. I loved this book because it always made you ask questions. You could never guess what happened next. Once you start this book you will never want it to end. It is defiantly one of my favorite books. So, if you love soccer and suspense this is defiantly a book for you.

[Viviana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. It made me realize to enjoy life and cherish whatever I have.

As leah finds out that she has made the regional Olympic Development Team and is a sure recruit for the best women’s college soccer programs in the country, her dad has terrible knews for her. As she copes with the information she tries to cherish every moment she has with her father with the few months he has. She no longer finds soccer, her friends or school important to her.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going for the Record is a really good book. The only drawback for me is it's very sad. At first i thought all this book was going to be about is soccer and i didn't want to read it, but my mom made me. I read it and i loved it.

[Lisa Nagel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a real tear jerker. SO have your kleenx nearby when you read it. Leah is a high school soccer star who has a bright future ahead when her dad, and biggest supporter, is diagnosed with cancer. The book follows her struggle to cope with his illness and death, as well as her own future.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. Although it was somewhat depressing, it makes you think. And it makes me realize how important the relationships I have with my family are and to focus on the important things in life and not stress about the little things that don't matter in the long run.

[Kirstin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this years ago; it has stuck in my head. I will probably end up reading it again! Warning it is hard to put this book down. I could not put it down! This was one of the books I read the fastest!

[Ibrahim Aldachach]

I think this book is kinda sad but it is also interesting because it's about soccer and kind of life lessons also because it talks about depression and anxiety and i would recommend it because some people can relate to hard times in life.

[Camrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was sad. =[

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

so far this book is sad and it keeps you wondering whats going to happen on the next page you should read it if you like soccer or any kind of sports and a heart warming story

[Mariana · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was soooo sad. But it was good

[Montse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is so amazing this book! aljlsdjaljsd i already finished!

[Justine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was really well written. It made me think of all the things that i may take advantage of.

[Brittanyh · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite books! It really hits home with me!