Reviews

This involves a soccer team, but mostly as a vehicle for exploring what it means to be an outcast (or the new kid) in middle school, and figure out how to make and keep friends.

katiegrrrl's review against another edition

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3.0

I liked this but it seemed a bit all over the place. I hope there is a second one and focus on developing the characters a bit more.

tangleroot_eli's review

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This book's cute art style makes it look like it should fall in the Lumberjanes school of "girls supporting each other and having awesome adventures." Reader, it does not.

The Bulldogs (even the ones who are supposed to be friends) are mean to each other for no obvious reason but then are suddenly and unearnedly bffs. Johnson tries to follow everyone's story, with the end result that she hardly follows anyone's (also, "a cavalcade of adolescent drama" =/= "a coherent plot"). And I'm pretty sure that's just not how team jersey numbering works.

Unlike others, I appreciate that the big "coming-together moment"

wasn't "underdog team pulls together and Does A Good Sport" but rather "underdog team remembers they all hate this sport (except the one who likes it and only plays on this team because her dad is the coach) and kicks it to the curb." That feels like my kind of sports book. Still, one moment of collective walk-out doesn't justify a happily-friender-after ending full of pizza and team bonding.

Also, maybe middle school was just way too long ago for me to remember it correctly, or kids are just that much more mature now, but a lot of these alleged junior high kids sure look and act a lot more like high schoolers.

Content Warnings

whitecat5000's review

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emotional fast-paced

3.0

A bit more deep than I was expecting. Although it felt weird because I felt like all the reveals at the end were rushed and I wanted to sit in the reveals a bit more.

jwinchell's review

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3.0

Grades 5-8. Faith starts middle school with an immediate invitation from the most popular girl in school to join the soccer team. Amanda promptly ignores her while Faith gets initiated into the personalities on the team and the reality of her low-level C team. Through no shortage of middle school tropes, Faith and her teammates go through drama as they become friends on the soccer field and off. As the C team is not very good at soccer, there are many middle school moments: a bra strap showing, drawing on one’s body and not paying attention in class, making fun of an emotional teammate, mean nicknames, middle of the night revenge, starting a band, fights over a boy, friend breakups, a kiss, and coming out. Characters of different colors, with varying lengths of hair, skin health, personalities, hairstyles, head coverings, language, family structures, and body sizes demonstrate a radical inclusivity. Transitions to a pretend world with Faith’s fairy tale drawings are sudden and short-lived; though they echo Faith’s coming of age, these make believe episodes quickly jar the storyline. Narration doesn’t always follow Faith; small scenes from the perspective of teammate Huong and Jennifer and others make for disconcerting breaks. VERDICT: Uneven storytelling but needed diversity in the graphic literature world means this is a solid choice for most middle grade libraries. --Jamie Winchell, Percy Julian Middle School, Oak Park, IL

malmark's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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