Seton Girls

Seton Academic High prep school’s varsity football team attributes tradition to their 12-year winning streak, and they’re not about to let anything get in the way of another victory in Thomas’s high-stakes debut. Though Aly Jacobs and her boyfriend J, both Black and 16, often feel out of place in their affluent, mostly white high school, they believe that Seton, despite its occasionally classist atmosphere, is the key to better future opportunities. J, the first Black quarterback in Seton football history, is on track to make the varsity team, but tensions run high when white Parker, the current quarterback and younger brother of the QB who led Seton to victory 13 years ago, believes that J is infringing on his territory. After Aly learns the football team’s darkest secret, she must reckon with the possibility that exposing them could unfairly and disproportionately hurt her and J’s futures. Thomas skillfully employs alternating past and present chapters, going as far back as Seton’s first win, to illustrate the sinister ways in which the school’s traditions were formed and maintained. Poignant conversations examining the lack of accountability for wealthy, well-protected men in power permeate this thought-provoking story. Ages 14–up. Agent: Ann Rose, Prospect Agency. (Aug.)