Roller Girl

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

Five paw prints

Let me first begin by saying...what an awesome and fun book.  It begins with two girls watching their first roller derby game. Nicole is unimpressed but Astrid is hooked and she insists that her mother sign her up for roller derby camp during summer vacation.  Astrid is allowed to sign up for camp if Nicole goes with her but Astrid is afraid to tell her mother that Nicole is going to Ballet Camp.  So what's a 12 year old supposed to do?  Lie (of course) and (of course) this leads to a long summer of trying to keep up the lies without getting caught, learning a new sport, making new friends, while trying not to loose the old friends.  Life can be very complicated when you're getting ready to start middle school.  On the surface this could be just another story about elementary school friends starting to go their separate ways with the start of middle school while using the graphic format to stand out in a crowd of “growing up” books but I LOVE the use of the roller derby to help show the differences growing between the best friends. I'll be honest, after reading about roller derbies I want to learn more!  If you want to learn more then visit https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_derby or even the team mentioned in the book http://www.rosecityrollers.com.  Better yet, visit the websites of teams in our area http://www.hellionsoftroyrollerderby.com and http://albanyallstars.com to learn about our own hometown teams.