After losing her parents in a car crash at age 8, life just hasn’t been the same for Cassie Murphy. Now a fifth grader at Magruder Elementary, Cassie and her three friends, Zee, Toni and Bryant, have been trying to make the best of the same old routine of school, but somehow all the fun has been sucked out of it, and especially at recess. Between a dwindling number of students on the blacktop and Marcus Mackey’s need to bully away any games that might be had, Cassie and her crew are on the verge of giving up on their formerly beloved recess. The four friends get help from an unexpected place when an “angel-on-probation” named Clarence is sent to earth to help them fix recess. Clarence’s crusade gains new importance along the way, as Cassie learns that it’s alright to take the risk and care enough to try to change things for the better.
Recess is just starting to be fun again when the Superintendent visits and unveils his plan to eliminate recess altogether. Cassie and her friends are devastated, but they realize they have just one shot to convince the Superintendent that recess is important. Determined as they are, a bizarre set of events including two suspensions, a visit from a news crew, and a food fight threaten to derail their plans and ruin recess for good. Will Cassie and her friends be able to convince the Superintendent that it’s worth the risk to care about recess, too?
Also available via Amazon and select New Balance Retail stores and local independent bookstores beginning November 7, 2013
All proceeds from the book sales go to Playworks.
Meet the author
Jill Vialet is the CEO and Founder of Playworks. Playworks is a national nonprofit that transforms recess through play and physical activity. Jill has won a number of awards for her work with Playworks, including the Ashoka Fellowship, the Forbes 30 Leading Social Entrepreneurs, the James Irvine Award and the Women’s Sports Foundation’s 40 for 40. Jill grew up in Washington, DC where she played in epic games of Capture the Flag as a child. She now lives in Oakland, California with her family. Recess Rules is her first book.
