The Derby Daredevils are back. The fifth-grade roller derby team of friends Kenzie, Shelly, Bree, Tomoko, and Jules return in this third volume of the series. This one is told from the perspective of Tomoko, and begins as the team prepares for a summer derby camp. Tomoko isn’t as excited about it as her friends, however; she is more comfortable with old friends than new, and is disappointed when it doesn’t even involve camping, an activity she’s good at, but is held at an urban convention center.
Not only that, but Tomoko is harassed about her Asian identity and her higher-than-average weight, making the whole experience miserable. Her teammates don’t seem to notice.
When the team gets lost in the city, however, Tomoko finds she can put her camping/hiking skills to use to help them get home. She also finally confronts her team about the harassment she’s been experiencing. Bree, the only other person of color on the team, identifies the harassment as “microaggressions,” something she has discussed with her father. The team discuss how they can be better allies. The main perpetrator of the microaggressions at camp is also made to apologize, and Tomoko speaks out for herself there as well.
The theme of microaggressions feels a little more serious than the themes introduced in the previous volumes, but it it still handled lightly and without being pedantic. It’s also lovely to see Tomoko coming into her own as a leader. The novel, like the rest of the series, remains full of fun, with expressive illustrations on many pages (though this is an early middle-grade read, not a picture book). The girls also represent a range of racial identities: Kenzie, Shelly, and Jules are White; Bree is Black; Tomoko is Asian, and Camila is Latina.
Kenzie’s crush on Bree is mentioned briefly, but this volume is Tomoko’s story, not theirs. I’m also tagging this book as having a trans man parent, Kenzie’s dad. He actually doesn’t appear in this volume, but does in the first, so consider it a tag for the series.
