Roller Girl

The Newbery Honor Award Winner and New York Times bestseller Roller Girl is a heartwarming graphic novel 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 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!

Jody Feldman's popular, award-winning novel about a group of kids playing the Gollywhopper Games—the fiercest toy company competition in the country—will appeal to fans of The Amazing Race and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Gil Goodson has been studying, training, and preparing for months to compete in the Gollywhopper Games. Everything is at stake. Once Gil makes it through the tricky preliminary rounds and meets his teammates in the fantastical Golly Toy and Game Company, the competition gets tougher. Brainteasers, obstacle courses, mazes, and increasingly difficult puzzles and decisions—not to mention temptations, dilemmas, and new friends (and enemies)—are all that separate Gil from ultimate victory. An interactive and inventive page-turner perfect for young readers who love to solve puzzles!

Escape into the thrilling world of roller derby with Astrid, as she faces new experiences and the loss of a friend. The activities in this resource are geared for a mix of small group, partner and individual work, allowing teachers to determine student comprehension of the book’s content and vocabulary. Students make predictions about key plot points before reading the chapter. Answer multiple choice questions about Astrid’s time at roller derby camp. Determine the reason behind Astrid’s motives for lying to her mother. Identify synonyms of key vocabulary words found in the story. Imagine what it might be like for Nicole to be friends with Astrid. Put yourself in Astrid’s position and come up with a plan to apologize to Zoey. Describe and compare the different settings depicted in the story. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, our worksheets incorporate a variety of scaffolding strategies along with additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key. About the Novel: Roller Girl tells the story of 12-year-old Astrid, who discovers that people change as they grow older. Astrid is best friends with Nicole. They do everything together. One day, Astrid’s mother takes the girls to a roller derby bout. Astrid falls in love with the sport, and suggests she and Nicole sign up for the summer camp. However, Nicole doesn’t want to do roller derby; instead, she wants to go to ballet camp. Because of this, Astrid and Nicole start to drift apart. Astrid has high hopes for roller derby, but soon finds out that it’s a lot harder than she imagined. As she practices day and night, trying to get better, she learns valuable lessons on managing expectations and friendships. In the end, Astrid learns that there’s nothing wrong with friends growing and following their own path. Roller Girl is a graphic novel depicting the journey every young girl finds themselves while growing up.

Annie and Tyler are going out! Okay, he can be a bit controlling sometimes, but Annie's never had a boyfriend before so she assumes that's what they're like. Her roller derby team, the Liberty Belles, are in top position in the league, but are they getting over-confident? Annie misses a few practice sessions so she can spend time with Tyler. As punishment, she gets left on the bench at a big bout. The whole team needs to refocus, especially Annie.

The 1950s phenomenon of Roller Derby is back in full force, and it's definitely not your grandma's game anymore. With leagues in more than one hundred cities across the country, a national tournament, and major sponsors, the new wave of the sport has gone mainstream. No one is better qualified to tell the story of Flat Track Derby's astronomic rise than Melissa "Melicious" Joulwan. As a founding member of the Texas Rollergirls -- the league that launched the sport and the reigning national champions -- she has helped redefine what it means to be stylish, sporty, and sexy. With her mouthy, tough-as-nails style, Melicious recounts her best tales from the track: her fierce rivalries with The Wrench and Ivanna S. Pankin, the scene at the annual national tournament, the thrill of a bout, and the infractions that so often bring her to the penalty box. From the minute she first laced up her skates and wrapped herself in her alter ego, Roller Derby has given her a confidence boost, and she shares the positive impact the sport has also had on girls -- young and not-so-young -- who tack posters of her on their bedroom walls and lace up their own skates. Complete with photos and suggestions on how to develop a Rollergirl name and persona, this unprecedented tell-all comes from the woman who's watched the sport evolve from an underground Friday-night event to a bona fide national phenomenon.

"A graphic novel adventure about a girl who discovers roller derby right as she and her best friend are growing apart"--

A complete introduction to the exciting world of roller derby including how to play the game, strategy, training, fitness and nutrition. Roller derby is a unique, fast-paced, female-dominated sport that is taking the world by storm. It originated in the USA in the 1930s but it is the revival that began in 2001 that has inspired this new book. Roller derby has become one of the world's fastest-growing new sports and there are now more than 1000 leagues worldwide - in the USA, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, Latin America and Asia - with new adherents coming to the sport all the time. As the popularity of roller derby has grown, the demand for information about the sport and how to play it has grown too. As leagues become more experienced, and players more advance, tactics and game play have grown in sophistication. There are many online forums and social networking sites devoted to training, tactics, fitness and nutrition, but up till now, no single source which gathered all the information together. Chapters include: - An introduction to the game, its history and rules - How to play the game - strategy and tactics - Fitness requirements - strength, endurance, and plyometric exercises for balance - Training - practical training programmes both on and off skates - Nutrition - what to eat before and after training, meal suggestions and supplement - The female athlete - specific training advice for women - Profiles of well-known roller derby players who share their top tips in all the above categories The introduction has been written by Suzy Hotrod, one of roller derby's most renowned players and there is plentiful advice from many of the sports leading players.

Since 1935, roller derby has thrilled fans and skaters with its constant action, hard hits, and edgy attitude. However, though its participants’ athleticism is undeniable, roller derby has never been accepted as a “real” sport. Michella M. Marino, herself a former skater, tackles the history of a sport that has long been a cultural mainstay for one reason both utterly simple and infinitely complex: roller derby has always been coed. Richly illustrated and drawing on oral histories, archival materials, media coverage, and personal experiences, Roller Derby is the first comprehensive history of this cultural phenomenon, one enjoyed by millions yet spurned by mainstream gatekeepers. Amid the social constraints of the mid-twentieth century, roller derby’s emphasis on gender equality attracted male and female athletes alike, producing gender relations and gender politics unlike those of traditional sex-segregated sports. In an enlightening feminist critique, Marino considers how the promotion of pregnancy and motherhood by roller derby management has simultaneously challenged and conformed to social norms. Finally, Marino assesses the sport’s present and future after its resurgence in the 2000s.