Review Detail

4.7 1

Eva to the Max

Middle Grade Fiction 394

Fresh look at interesting sport

May 05, 2026 (Updated: July 12, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

Eva Rummell is determined to preserve her father's racing and stunt legacy by riding in motocross races. Her older brother Dustin has no interest in the sport, nor does her best friend Toby, who used to race but quit after he wiped out and got a concussion. Now he makes sculptures out of found materials. Eva's mother isn't wild about her racing, and definitely wants Eva to be more ladylike. School is difficult. At a previous school, Eva was bullied for liking motocross, so now doesn't share her interest with anyone, and doesn't have any friends other than Toby. When Dustin points out to her that the family is struggling financially and that Eva's sport takes a lot of resources, she decides to try to qualify for the AMA National Championship at Loretta Lynn's ranch so that she can get a sponsorship. Her father was injured in a stunt when Eva was four, and is in a wheelchair. He and Toby's dad, Gray, run a repair shop and help train Eva. Eva has a 1967 Mustang that she got for free and is trying to repair. When a new girl, Cameron, starts at her school, Eva befriends her, but is very surprised when she sees Cameron competing in a motocross race. Since Eva doesn't want anyone at school to know about her sport, she insists that Cameron keep it quiet as well. When Eva gets angry during one race, she has an accident that ruins her bike. In order to replace it, she decides to sell the Mustang, since her parents don't have the money, and she would have to step away from racing otherwise. Eva is a fan of Evel Knievel, but Dustin points out that he wasn't the nicest person. There is some tension with Toby, since Eva rarely asks about his art, and also because his father spends more time helping Eva with motocross. Eva's dad agrees to train Cameron along with Eva, and the two practice together a lot. When the girls find out that the qualifying race for their division has been cancelled, they ask the organizer if it can be put back in if they sell 200 tickets. They manage to do this, even though it means letting people at school know about Eva's involvement. The qualifying race is crucial to Eva's continued participation in the sport, and she finishes third to Cam's first in the first race. In the second, Cam crashes, and Eva stops to help her. Both girls not only end up qualifying, but because of their teamwork, also get a sponsorship from FZL. The end of the book includes information about the history of girls and women participating in motocross.

Good Points

I can't think of any other books about motocross except Christopher's Dirt Bike Racer or Jake Maddox's Motocross Double Cross, so this was a fun book to see. Eva is an interesting character, and her relationship to the sport is very complicated. Her mother runs a consignment shop and has taken another job at a pharmacy; there's a lot of tension in the relationship, mainly because the mother is so worried that Eva will get injured. I loved Dustin, and his devotion to applying for college and studying for the SATs! The information about training and races was fascinating. I do have one student who spends a lot of time racing dirt bikes, and he recently broke his arm in a race, so Eva's injuries (including- eek!- chipped teeth!) are very realistic. This novel in verse is much more poetic than many I have read; it's not just prose cut up into shorter lines. The information about Evel Knieval and women's motocross added extra depth to the narrative.

On a personal level, motocross racing seems like a bad environmental choice, and is so dangerous that I can't imagine letting any of my children or grandchildren participate in it!

This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Farid's Wave (which is also a novel in verse), Roe's Air, Copeland's Drive, or Englefried's Learning to Fall. Caprara has a number of titles, all different from each other, including The Ripple Effect (2025), Mission Multiverse (2018), and The Magic of Melwick Orchard (2018).