Tryouts [Brinkley Yearbooks]
by Sarah Sax; illus. by the author
Intermediate, Middle School    Knopf    288 pp.
5/24    9780593306925    $21.99
Library ed.  9780593306932    $24.99
Paper ed.  9780593306918    $13.99
e-book ed.  9780593306949    $8.99

This addition to the Brinkley Yearbooks graphic novel series (Picture Day, rev. 9/23) stands on its own. Alexandra Olsen — or Al — loves baseball. Her middle school’s team has won nine back-to-back championships, and they are shooting for a “full decade of baseball dominance.” With encouragement from the new coach, Al tries out and makes the cut; she becomes the only girl on the team. When the school’s attention-obsessed athletic director calls in a news crew to report on the gender-inclusive baseball season, Al’s teammates end up resenting her for hogging the spotlight despite her best efforts to share it. Meanwhile, the school’s girls’ basketball team is crushing it on the court, but their record-setting season is all but ignored. As Al tries to rebuild teamwork and trust on and off the field, her best friends are also branching out, joining the art club and resurrecting a retired school mascot (a goose called “The Brinkley Beak”). These friends are part of Al’s stellar support system, which buoys her spirits as she reclaims and reframes her story. With bold black outlines, striking color work, and dynamic layouts, the art adds further depth to the well-paced plot, memorable characters, and well-realized setting. In one impressively delineated scene, characters converse clearly while playing a chaotic game of dodgeball. Rollicking and tender, this comic knocks it out of the park. ELISA GALL

From the July/August 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.