A determined girl athlete deals with food insecurity in this upper middle grade coming-of-age story from author of The First Magnificent Summer, R.L. Toalson.

Running the 400-meter dash as the star of the girl’s track team is where Leta “Lightning” Laurel shines. She’s not popular—tormented for her smelly old track spikes with the super-glued soles that her mom can’t afford to replace—and she skips lunch every day rather than deal with being made fun of for being in the lower cost lunch program. But she has running, the one thing that makes her feel special.

Leta’s biggest inspiration is her elderly grandpa, Pop, who runs miles and miles every day even though he’s really old. He also helps out by bringing Leta and her mom fast food dinners because even Mom’s two jobs isn’t enough to always keep food in the pantry. Leta struggles to keep up with the demands of running on no fuel but seeing the way her mom only picks at the unhealthy food makes her think maybe she should do the same…after all, light is faster, right?

As Leta struggles with her top spot on the track team being challenged by a new girl at school, she’s also sidelined by an injury to her foot from training too hard. She refuses to admit to anyone how much pain she’s in with a big track meet coming up. After all, if she can win something, she’ll prove to everyone that she's not so forgettable after all.