In this early middle grade graphic novel, 12-year-old Sol is a model student and athlete, much to the dismay of her goth-y older sister. Lately, however, she’s finding herself distracted by Lily, the captain of the Hillside Valley Middle School soccer team. She tries to ignore her growing crush, which is throwing her off her game and could endanger the team’s chance to win the championship.
Sol’s focus on the team, however, is causing her to ignore her non-soccer friends. Her quest for perfection and the exhaustion it engenders even threatens her long-standing best-friend relationship with artist and classmate Willie. Can she learn to manage her expectations for herself while also embracing her new feelings and balancing both old and new friendships?
It’s probably not a real spoiler to say that the answer is yes. I particularly like that older sister Luna, who at first comes across as an angsty, sullen teen, is the first person Sol tells about her crush, and is completely unfazed by the fact that it’s on another girl. Luna also offers Sol some relationship advice applicable to all genders: “You want someone to be into you for who you are, not who you think they want you to be.” It’s an important message, but Luna’s brusque attitude keeps the scene from cloying.
The introduction by Author Julio Anta notes that Sol is bisexual; this isn’t entirely clear from the story itself, although one scene shows her casting admiring eyes on another student whose gender is ambiguous (at least to this reviewer), but might be intended to be a boy.
Anta includes enough soccer action, from practice drills to games, to appeal to sports-minded readers, but the book is less about sports per se than about the harms of always striving for perfection. Gabi Mendez’s illustrations are bright and engaging, whether capturing on-field action or close-ups of the characters’ emotions.
Upbeat and affirming, and showing a sweet, budding queer relationship without being “about” queerness, this is a highly recommended book with particular appeal to sports lovers.
Sol and her family are Nicaraguan American; other characters reflect a range of racial/ethnic identities.
The book is a standalone second volume in the Hillside Valley series, each focusing on a different student in the school; the first has no significant LGBTQ content.
