40 Fun Facts About Roller Girl

Which lifelong best friend does Astrid expect to join her at roller derby camp in Roller Girl?

Nicole picks a different camp instead, opening the first real rift the two friends have ever known.

Which star skater becomes Astrid's idol on her first night watching roller derby in Roller Girl?

Rainbow Bite later turns the tables, telling Astrid that she is a hero too for taking hits for her team.

What colour does a derby camp friend dye Astrid's hair partway through the summer in Roller Girl?

Blue is only on loan, though: Astrid is allowed to keep the colour until the end of summer and no longer.

Which Pacific Northwest city, where Victoria Jamieson moved in 2009, is the setting of Roller Girl?

Portland shows up in familiar bridges and street scenes, and a few of the city's real derby athletes appear in the pages too.

Which space-themed derby name does the twelve-year-old heroine skate under in Roller Girl?

Asteroid is a play on her own first name, in a sport where skaters compete under pun-filled aliases.

Which runner-up prize for American children's books did Roller Girl earn in 2016?

Newbery Honor status went to three books that year, while the medal itself went to a picture book.

In Roller Girl, what does Astrid's best friend choose to study instead of joining roller derby camp?

Ballet camp also means spending the summer with a girl Astrid cannot stand, which makes the split hurt even more.

Which storybook-inspired derby name did Roller Girl author Victoria Jamieson skate under?

Winnie the Pow beat her runner-up idea, Encyclopedia Frown, because she wanted a name linked to children's books.

Which scoring position does Astrid chase in Roller Girl, only to see a friend picked for it instead?

Jammer is the one skater on each team who can score, earning a point for every opposing blocker she laps.

Roller Girl draws one of Astrid's clothes-shopping trips as a whole-page visit to which grim place?

Hell gets a lurid full-page panel, one of the flights of fantasy that show just how frustrated Astrid feels.

Which new friend, one of the few campers her own age, does Astrid make at derby camp in Roller Girl?

Zoey meets Astrid while both are collecting rental gear, and the two pair up for most of the drills that follow.

Which longtime rival of Astrid becomes her best friend's new sidekick in Roller Girl?

Rachel openly bullies Astrid whenever they meet, yet she shares the interests Astrid's oldest friend now cares about.

What grand name does Astrid's mother give the outings that lead to roller derby in Roller Girl?

Evenings of Cultural Enlightenment usually mean places the girls find boring, which is why the derby night comes as such a shock.

Which coach with a playground-game pun for a name greets Astrid at derby camp in Roller Girl?

Heidi Go Seek is the coach who pushes Astrid to keep trying when she wants to give up after one wobbly lap.

Roller Girl follows Astrid through the last summer before she starts which new stage of school?

Junior high looms over the whole story, and by the end Astrid decides she is strong enough to face it.

What lie does Astrid tell her mother when roller derby camp begins in Roller Girl?

Her best friend is going too, she claims, so Astrid ends up walking home in the heat rather than admit there is no ride.

Where does Astrid's mother run into another mom and finally learn the truth in Roller Girl?

Grocery store small talk undoes weeks of fibbing, but an honest conversation between mother and daughter follows.

Which real derby league, the one Victoria Jamieson joined herself, does Astrid watch in Roller Girl?

Rose City Rollers skaters gained the author as soon as she moved west: joining was her first priority after finding an apartment.

What does Astrid's oldest friend hand her after watching the big bout at the end of Roller Girl?

Flowers come with a dinner invitation, which Astrid politely turns down so she can stay with her team.

What peace offering does Astrid give her old best friend and her rival late in Roller Girl?

A ticket to her bout is how Astrid calls a truce, after she has already gone to her friend's house to say sorry.

Which fierce skater, eager to tear down any rival, does Astrid meet at derby camp in Roller Girl?

Braidy Punch is the skater Astrid ends up facing in her first bout, and the alias is one of the book's many puns.

What does a furious Astrid throw, splashing two other girls, in Roller Girl?

A soda goes flying in one of the failures that Astrid, who narrates the book herself, owns up to with real candour.

Which Roller Girl drill has each skater weave up a line of teammates showing her fiercest look?

Warface starts badly for Astrid, who giggles her way up the line until her coach demands to see more fire.

How does Astrid secretly ask her roller derby hero for advice in Roller Girl?

Notes left at her locker win replies full of encouragement, which give Astrid fresh hope just as she is ready to quit.

Where does Astrid land unhurt after losing control on a downhill outdoor skate in Roller Girl?

In a bush, and without injury, because she remembers the lesson about falling small; she comes away proud of herself.

After the truth comes out in Roller Girl, where must Astrid go with her mother every day after camp?

The library is her only real consequence, and Astrid uses the hours there to reflect on the kind of friend she has been.

Which made-up word does Astrid use in Roller Girl for her mixed feelings about an old friendship?

Shad sums up what Astrid notices that summer: feelings are getting complicated, and she can hold more than one at a time.

Which skating skill still troubles Astrid in Roller Girl after her hitting and falling improve?

Stopping stays her weak spot, yet she grows more confident each day and starts skating home after practice.

Roller Girl's publisher pitches it to fans of Smile, the dental-drama memoir by which cartoonist?

Raina Telgemeier's Smile follows her own years of dental procedures and struggles to fit in, from sixth grade to high school.

Which Drew Barrymore film came from the novel that first introduced Victoria Jamieson to roller derby?

Whip It, Barrymore's first film as director, was adapted by Shauna Cross from her own 2007 novel Derby Girl.

Victoria Jamieson helped coach the Seedlings, a training program for which real youth derby league?

The Rosebuds and their beginners showed Jamieson young skaters conquering scary physical challenges, which inspired Astrid's story.

The Hangar, the derby venue drawn in Roller Girl, sits right behind which historic attraction?

Oaks Amusement Park opened in 1905 and still keeps a roller rink open all year round.

Which picture book beat Roller Girl to the top US children's book medal in 2016?

Last Stop on Market Street follows a boy named CJ who learns to see the beauty in everyday things during a bus ride.

In which city was Victoria Jamieson living when she watched her first roller derby bout?

New York was home when she saw a Gotham Girls Roller Derby bout; she bought skates and began practising the next week.

Victoria Jamieson's When Stars Are Scattered follows two brothers in a refugee camp in which country?

Kenya is the setting for the true story of co-author Omar Mohamed and his younger brother Hassan, who are adopted by an older woman.

Which things did Victoria Jamieson's father make her rate, a childhood memory behind the outings in Roller Girl?

Classical music records had to be scored from 1 to 10 before playtime, and she found a thoughtful 8.3 usually got her off the hook.

In roller derby, the sport of Roller Girl, what is the main group of blockers from both teams called?

The pack has to stay together: skaters must keep close to one another, and blockers may only roam a short way ahead or behind.

The sport in Roller Girl began its modern, women-led revival in the early 2000s in which Texas city?

Austin skaters relaunched it as an all-female amateur sport, and by August 2006 there were more than 135 similar leagues.

In the sport of Roller Girl, what marks the helmet cover of the player known as the pivot?

A stripe marks the pivot, the one teammate allowed to take over the scoring role if the starred cover is handed to her.

How does Astrid support a nervous teammate at the big bout in Roller Girl?

Gets the crowd to cheer her, with Astrid's own derby idol joining in, and the gesture finally earns her teammate's forgiveness.