Roller Girl

Roller Girl is a fictional graphic novel written by Victoria Jamieson. Jamieson is a passionate roller derby girl, who goes by the name Winnie the Pow when she plays. Jamieson felt that roller derby served as a strong representation for boldness and strength for women and wanted to create a character who discovered that in herself. Roller Girl was originally published in 2015 by Dial Books for Young Readers. It received the Newbery Honor Award in 2016.

This guide uses the 2015 Dial Books for Young Readers edition of the graphic novel.

Plot Summary

At the beginning of the summer, before sixth grade and the start of junior high, Astrid and Nicole are best friends. They do everything together and Nicole is a very supportive and kind friend to Astrid. Astrid’s mother regularly carts the girls around to various activities or what she calls cultural enlightenment, and one of these excursions involves going to see a roller derby game. Nicole takes little interest, finding it scary, but Astrid is absolutely amazed. She is especially enthralled by the star player, Rainbow Bite, who is the jammer of the team and scores the points.