Roller Girl

LoveReading4Kids Says

Roller derby, a contact sport played by teams, isn’t very well known in the UK but boy, it looks great fun in Victoria Jamieson’s graphic novel. A rough-and-tumble sport, unusually it is mostly played by girls; Astrid is hooked first game she sees, and signs up to train at summer camp. Her best friend, who prefers ballet, can’t understand this new passion and the two grow apart.

In her efforts to become a real roller girl like her hero Rainbow Bite, Astrid gets knocked down countless times, but she always gets up again. She makes a new friend, and over the course of this roller skating summer discovers lots about independence and working out who you are. This is as much about friendship as roller skating, and both are depicted brilliantly in Jamieson’s bright, action-packed cartoon strips. Terrific! 

Reviewed by Andrea Reece
Andrea Reece has spent almost her entire working life in children’s books, first as publisher, latterly as consultant, project manager and critic.
More reviews by Andrea Reece

About Roller Girl

The Newbery Honor Award Winner and New York Times bestseller Roller Girl is a heartwarming tale about friendship and surviving junior high through the power of roller derby-perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier's Smile! For most of her twelve years, Astrid has done everything with her best friend Nicole. But after Astrid falls in love with roller derby and signs up for derby camp, Nicole decides to go to dance camp instead. And so begins the most difficult summer of Astrid's life as she struggles to keep up with the older girls at camp, hang on to the friend she feels slipping away, and cautiously embark on a new friendship. As the end of summer nears and her first roller derby bout (and junior high!) draws closer, Astrid realizes that maybe she is strong enough to handle the bout, a lost friendship, and middle school… in short, strong enough to be a roller girl.In this graphic novel debut -- now adapted for audio -- that earned a Newbery Honor and five starred reviews, real-life derby girl Victoria Jamieson has created an inspiring coming-of-age story about friendship, perseverance, and girl power!Performed by Almarie Guerra, with Jesse Bernstein, Ron Butler, Abigail Caro, Robbie Daymond, Giordan Diaz, Em Eldridge, Christopher Gebauer, Kim Mai Guest, Kirby Heyborne, Hillary Huber, Rachel Jacobs, Jorjeana Marie, Kathleen McInerney, Alex McKenna, Cassandra Morris, P.J. Ochlan, Adenrele Ojo, Georgette Perna, Kate Reinders, Tara Sands, Monika Felice Smith, and Bahni Turpin

Read the full description

Find This Book In