With Tryouts, Sarah Sax writes and illustrates a graphic novel for middle school readers about the power of teamwork, self-advocacy, and voice. As a young athlete, Alexandra Olsen (aka Al) has played baseball for a rec league, but the baseball team at her middle school is for boys only. With the help of her friends Milo and Viv, Al not only discovers that “gender-inclusive teams have led the way in Brinkley sports history” (58) but that Title IX says she has to be allowed an equal chance to play if there is no equivalent girls’ team. Hoping for a fair shot to play, Al triesRead More →

Hoping to be the next great foreign correspondent, Viola Wynne Li plans to attend New York University Abu Dhabi when she graduates from Liberty Prep School in Seattle.  Intent on being a voice for the powerless and the homeless, Viola envisions herself as a truth-teller in a conflict zone, one who covers “the forgotten issues, the ones more convenient to ignore” (117). Also passionate about comics, Viola especially loves Firefly, and considers her own super power to be researching.  Not only does knowledge empower, but data prepares a person to make a good decision in difficult circumstances.  She and her friends Aminta and Caresse areRead More →