Roller Girl

Roller Girl

By Victoria Jamieson

Twelve-year-old Astrid has been best friends with Nicole since grade 2.  Nicole loves ballet and is starting to like boys, and Astrid just isn’t interested.  But when Astrid’s mom takes them to see roller derby, Astrid knows exactly what she wants to do.  

Immediately, she signs up for roller derby camp.  Much to her chagrin, Nicole does not, and Astrid must face this challenge on her own.  

Believing she will blow the other girls away with her skills, Astrid is surprised to discover that skating is hard, and working out for hours at a time is exhausting.  Walking home afterwards isn’t much fun either.  But she aspires to become the star of the roller derby like her hero, Rainbow Bite, and she keeps working away.

As Astrid struggles along at camp, she also drifts further and further away from Nicole. She wonders how two people can suddenly not be friends anymore.  Luckily, she meets Zoey at roller derby camp, but even their relationship can be a little rocky at times.  Meanwhile, Astrid hides all her feelings from her mother, and even lies to her.  She is becoming more and more unhappy. 

But when Astrid learns that the girls at roller derby camp will compete in a “bout”, complete with spectators, Astrid has to muster all her strength.  Can she do it without her best friend and her mom supporting her?

Roller Girl is a graphic novel about a girl who’s trying to figure out who she is and where she “fits”.  It’s also tonnes of fun!  Watching the girls race around trying to bump each other out of the rink is super exciting!  And learning the roller girl names like Braidy Punch, Draculola and Scream Soda is fun too.  If you like to read stories about friendship and tough girls who love to compete, try Roller Girl.

Highly recommended!