Soar
56 pages • 1-hour read
Joan BauerSoar
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Themes
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.
Redefining Winning Beyond the Scoreboard
Joan Bauer’s Soar opens inside a pressure-filled town that values winning above everything else and then steadily challenges its rigid standards. The novel shows how a win-at-all-costs mindset leads to moral shortcuts and empty rewards. Through the middle school Eagles, the novel replaces that narrow idea of victory with a model built on personal growth, community strength, and steady character, no matter the score. The gap between the champion Hornets and the losing-but-progressing Eagles underscores how the way a team plays the game outweighs the final tally.
The town of Hillcrest and the high school baseball team, the Hornets, illustrate what happens when success is measured only by the scoreboard. The welcome sign for the town declares, “TO THOSE WHO SAY IT ISN’T IF YOU WIN OR LOSE, WE SAY IT MATTERS” (31). Immediately, the priority of winning is established. The team’s six state titles, however, rest on steroids supplied by Delmar Perkins, and the scandal that follows Hargie Cantwell’s death reveals the rot beneath their trophies. Once the truth comes out, the suspension of the team, the threat to their championships, and the town’s embarrassment expose how cheating empties every win of meaning. The Hornets leave Hillcrest burdened by shame, and their collapse sets the stage for the Eagles’ slower, steadier path.
The ragtag middle school team, the Eagles, move in the opposite direction, piecing together victories through small steps and personal growth rather than dominance on the scoreboard. El Grande makes that idea concrete when he tells the team about a painful loss in his own career. He recalls deciding “to play the last part of a losing game the best I’d ever played,” and he concludes, “My team lost bad. But I won” (154-55). His words are echoed in Donald Mole’s story. Donald shifts from a player who cannot catch a ball to someone who pulls in a final-inning grab that seals an Eagles’ win. His moment grows out of effort, not talent. For these players, showing up, trying hard, and backing one another results in victory that supersedes a spotless record.
Jeremiah’s MVP award cements this new way of thinking. Even though he cannot take the field, his leadership and vision hold the Eagles together and help repair the town. When El Grande explains that a player is simply “a person who takes part in a sport or a game. And, son, you took your part, and because you did, we’re all here” (294), he affirms that the award celebrates character rather than athletic output. El Grande asserts that Jeremiah’s contributions to the team’s growth are just as valuable as how the athletes perform on the field. Through the Eagles’ progress, including Jeremiah’s, Soar argues that victory grows out of steady effort and shared purpose, which matter more than being first.
Finding Strength in the Face of Adversity
The characters in Soar experience situations, like medical emergencies and public disgrace, that test their bodies, reputations, and resolve. In these moments, strength emerges from the decision to push forward rather than in the absence of hardship. Jeremiah, his baseball team, and Hillcrest face their limitations directly, and their choices reveal a resilience grounded in adaptability and determination.
Jeremiah Lopper embodies perseverance long before he arrives in Hillcrest. After a heart transplant, he must accept strict physical limits, including a ban on playing baseball. His response centers on what he can still offer. When he says, “My heart’s not strong, but my vision makes up for it” (27), he resets how he sees his condition. Then, once Jeremiah arrives in Hillcrest, he pours his knowledge into coaching the middle school team, and this shift gives him a way to stay connected to the sport he loves. This mindset pervades everything he does, not just his participation in baseball. When he was younger, his Aunt Charity assigned a three-paragraph essay on not giving up. Instead of writing a full essay, Jeremiah penned a concise, straightforward response: “I will never give up because I have too many cool things to do to waste time being negative” (29). Jeremiah’s focus on what he can do helps him sustain a resilient and positive attitude. Because of this, once he arrives in Hillcrest, he can help the Eagles do the same.
The town faces a different kind of adversity when the Hornets’ steroid scandal breaks open Hillcrest’s pride. The sudden shame leaves many residents ready to walk away from baseball. Voices like Mac Rooney’s mother, who demands honesty, and the Hillcrest Herald editor, who calls for courage, push Hillcrest toward accountability. As the community turns its attention to the Eagles, it begins to piece together a new identity. When a reporter from out of town arrives at a practice and asks the team what they think of baseball now amid the scandal, Terrell replies that “giving up is stupid” (148), highlighting that it is not only Jeremiah that has embraced this mindset. Additionally, the joint practice that happens later between the Eagles and the remaining Hornets marks a turning point, since it brings two wounded groups together and helps them reclaim their love of the sport.
Individual players echo this resilience, especially Donald Mole. Introduced as someone who “can’t hit, run, catch, or field” (132), Donald also carries the history of surviving cancer, and his “big wish was to play baseball” (196). He asks Jeremiah for help, works through his limits, and eventually becomes vital to the team. His winning catch grows out of steady effort rather than natural ability. Donald’s arc reinforces the notion that strength comes from continued effort in the face of hardship, and that this kind of strength is accessible to anyone.
The Healing Power of Found Family and Community
In Soar, fractured families and shaken trust shape the lives of many characters. Jeremiah grows up without his biological parents, Franny’s father leaves her household, and Hillcrest reels from the Hornets’ betrayal. Bauer shows how healing develops when people build chosen communities rooted in steadiness, loyalty, and acceptance. Those bonds begin with Jeremiah and Walt, extend to the Eagles, and eventually stretch across the town.
The relationship between Jeremiah and Walt Lopper anchors the connection between found family and healing. Walt finds Jeremiah as a baby and chooses to raise him alone, and his support during Jeremiah’s long illness defines their bond. When Jeremiah worries that his medical needs weigh on Walt, Walt reframes those challenges by saying, “I couldn’t be a good father to some run-of-the-mill, ordinary kid. […] I work on complex systems, Jer” (83). His words give Jeremiah a sense of safety and reinforce their connection. Walt cares for Jeremiah because he loves him and wants to be his dad, not because of obligation. The family grows again when Walt marries Sarah Dugan, who herself was adopted. Although not biologically related, Walt and Jeremiah, and eventually Sarah, provide each other the love and support they need.
The Eagles become another version of a chosen family that has the power to heal. At first, they resemble a scattered group of kids discouraged by a former coach and the town’s fixation on trophies. Jeremiah draws on what he has learned from Walt, specifically that “when someone decides not to give up on you, it's proof positive that you'd better not give up on yourself” (215). His leadership and encouragement turns the team into a unit that celebrates steady improvements and protects its members, including the moment at Junk Ball Pizza when they rally around Jeremiah. Franny, who carries her father’s absence, finds a sense of belonging inside this group. Their practices give the players a way to rebuild their trust in baseball and in one another.
The town, too, eventually figures out how to move past shame and begin healing. After the steroid scandal breaks open Hillcrest’s pride, new support rises from adults like El Grande, Dr. Selligman, and Rabbi Tova, who step forward to encourage the Eagles. When former Hornets players join the Eagles for a practice game, Jeremiah notices that “these guys are playing for real. But they’re adding something more” (261). The something more is a love for the game and encouragement and advice for the younger players. This practice game allows the high school players to begin to reclaim their love for the sport, and ultimately, they represent the healing of the entire town and how a community can recover through steady acts of connection. In Soar, healing grows through chosen bonds that give each person a place to stand.
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