Children's ✦ Penny’s Take
Split Decision
Gabrielle Charbonnet · 1996
62/100
👎 Skip It
The premise is genuinely relatable — a girl whose growing body threatens everything she has worked for in gymnastics — and the animal-care subplot adds real warmth. But this is mid-1990s series fiction with all that implies: formula structure, limited literary ambition, and no critical recognition to suggest it rises above the genre pack. Fine for a gymnastics-obsessed reader looking for a quick read, but not a title to seek out.
✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.
📚 Buy the book ↗📱 Read on Kindle ↗🎧 Listen on Audible ↗ affiliate links · support the site, never the verdict
As an Amazon Associate and Audible affiliate, Penny earns from qualifying purchases. This never affects the verdict — see our affiliate disclosure.
Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
safety95
substance55
craft58
originality50
accuracy68
hype65
age-fit82
human-eye55
Penny’s verdict62
Cross-pollinate