An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars (released in PAL territories as American Girl: Shooting for the Stars) is a 2012 American family drama film starring actress Jade Pettyjohn, Ysa Penarejo, Cathy Rigby, Nia Vardalos, and Ian Ziering. This film is based on the McKenna books in the American Girl series written by Mary Casanova. The film is also the second in the series to feature a Girl of the Year character, the first being Chrissa Stands Strong, and is the sixth film in the American Girl series overall.
The film is about the life of McKenna Brooks, as she struggles to balance her time at school and in her career as a gymnast. The screenplay was written by Jessica O'Toole and Amy Rardin. The movie was directed by Vince Marcello.
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Plot
Nine-year-old McKenna Brooks competes for Shooting Star gymnastics alongside her best friend Toulane Thomas. They both dream of competing in the 2016 Olympics. For now, their goal is to make the regional competitive team. McKenna practices back handspring dismounts for her balance beam routine. However, her coach Isabelle Manning tells her that the move is too advanced for her and she should stick to the easier dismount for now. McKenna and Toulane discuss the new girl Sierra and a girl from another team who is guaranteed to get one of the three spots on the team.
After practice, McKenna learns from her parents that her grades are slipping and Mr. Wu, her teacher, recommends she get a middle school reading tutor. McKenna's parents believe that she's spending too much time on gymnastics and not enough on school. McKenna refuses a tutor and promises to bring her grades up as there's going to be a science quiz the next day. She starts to read the science book, but doesn't understand it and quits.