Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is so cool.
This graphic novel reminds me of the best of the middle-school graphic novels, such as Smile, which are very much about making friends, and keeping friends, and growing up and apart.
Astrid, the main character, goes with her best friend, Nicole, to see a Roller Derby show, and falls in love with it. Astrid hopes that her friend will share her desire to take a Roller Derby summer camp, but Nicole wants to do Ballet Summer Camp.
And so, Astrid gets to learn how hard it is to really skate, make new friends, and be a derby-girl.
Very realistic dialogue, normal reactions to life, and I loved it. This is one of those stories I thought I would just glance at, when I really should be working, and ended up reading it instead of doing my work.
This book is for people who have had to try to learn something hard, for people who have had to make new friends, for people who do something that might not fit into what other people think they should do.