 | For the second Weekend Picks of 2025, our new Weekend Picks editor, Dr. Amanda Stearns-Pfeiffer, is once again our contributor. She is an Associate Professor of English Education at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan where she has taught courses in ELA methods, YA Literature, grammar, and Contemporary Literature since 2013. Prior to earning her Ph.D., Stearns-Pfeiffer was a high school English and Biology teacher and also coached basketball. Her current research interests include YAL featuring girls in sports and investigating the representation of those female athletes. |
Kisses and Croissants by Anne-Sophia Jouhanneau
 | Basketball, boxing, ballet, soccer, and romance. Wait, romance? Yes, that’s right. If you’re new to the sports-themed YAL genre, you will soon learn that in this market sports and romance tend to go together like peas and carrots. In this weekend's pick we have the perfect combination of sport and love. While the title gives away the prominence of romance, Kisses and Croissants (2021) downplays the rigor of the sport (ballet) that the novel highlights. Mia is a seventeen-year-old, high-caliber ballerina from New York City who has the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to train for a summer at the prestigious Institut de l`Opéra de Paris. Hardworking, yet fun-loving, Mia is tensed by the fact that her nemesis Audrey has also been accepted to the Paris ballet school for the summer. The perfect foil to free-spirited Mia, Audrey is the model meticulous dancer: disciplined, practiced, flawless. |
As the story unfolds in the beautiful imagery of Parisian streets and landmarks, the rivalry between Mia and Audrey intensifies; Mia, though, keeps her heart open to all that Paris has to offer. While her rival seems to have tunnel vision to the wonders of Paris around them, Mia spends time walking the streets, seeing the sights, and enjoying the flavors. And in walks floppy-haired, charmingly French Louis. He represents all that has been missing from Mia’s Parisian journey: excitement, adventure, baguettes, and French pastries. He is Parisian perfection.
 Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau | Author Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau expertly builds the tension between love and sport in Mia’s story of Paris, Louis, and ballet. And, true to reality, it takes a near-tragedy to sharpen the focus on what matters – and what should be prioritized – in life. Where Mia and Audrey saw strict boundaries between should and shouldn’t, focus and frivolous, life and sport prove more interesting in the grey areas in between. Kisses and Croissants is as fierce in its depictions of competitive sport as it is in its beautiful descriptions of Parisian museums, food, and famous landmarks. Spend the weekend transported to the streets of Paris alongside Mia, Audrey, Louis, and those French croissants. |
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