In These Girls, Hope Is A Muscle
Madeleine Blais
Pg. 204

I would say the major theme is this book is to always have hope. This theme is shown through all of the girls on the Amherst basketball team. They want to win that state championship that every team in the whole state is going after. They have hope that they will win and also much desire and drive to make them win. Their coach has hope for them to win as well. Their coach ensures them that they will win the state championship and he has high hopes for them in the future. All the girls think about and they are excited to finally play in that championship game. They believe that without any hope they would not have gotten to this point if hope was not with them. Jamilia is a girl who does not have the best grades, but she believed that she could push through her obstacles and with a little bit of hope she was able to get her grades back up to where they should be. Hope is the main aspect throughout their whole basketball season, because if anyone does not have hope for their team they just set themselves up for a loosing season. Hope is very important to have, not just for sports but just for life in general, and that is what these girls learn while learning new things on and also off the court. The whole plot is around them winning the state championship, if these girls did not have any drive they would have not made it as far as they did. Hope is a muscle these girls have within them, that could potentially get them to win the state championship!