Roller Girl: 02/16/17

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson is a graphic novel inspired by her experience as a skater with the Rose City Rollers, a roller derby league in Portland. As it's written for a middle school audience and is chuck full of details, it reads like Reina Telgemeier's Smile.

Astrid Vasquez in the summer before middle school and she's fallen head over heels for roller derby. She's enrolled in a summer camp with the Rose City Rollers — the Rose Buds. She's assumed her best friend will be joining her and is disappointed when Nicole choses ballet camp instead.

The cover art is the perfect summary of the book. Astrid — whose name means stars — is shown wearing the jammer diaper. The jammer is the only team member who can score. The others try to keep the opposing jammer from scoring. But being a jammer is hard work requiring strength, speed, and stamina. At the start of Roller Girl, Astrid can barely stand up in skates and she spends much of the book falling down.

This book is inspirational and entertaining. Roller Girl is like Tomboy but for a younger audience.

Five stars

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