Skates on. Fangs out. Let’s roll. This perfectly paranormal graphic novel about a 13-year-old ice skater who embraces the dark side and finds her light when she joins a vampire roller derby team is to die for.Ice-skater Mina is on a one-track path to Olympic gold and glory—that is, until she totally wipes out at her biggest competition, and is kinda-sorta-kidnapped by undead kids on roller skates. Sucked into the high stakes world of Paranormal Roller Derby, she finds herself "recruited" by a squad of vampires who need a human player to complete their team—just in time to save the league from losing it all.
Between learning to play derby well enough to kick butt on the track, crushing hard on the dreamy team captain, and navigating the spooky rules of the supernatural, how can Mina go from striving to be a ten alone, to becoming one of nine chaotic bodies forming a perfectly-imperfect team? Forget being the best. Will she be enough to help her new friends survive the season?
On sale: April 9, 2024
Age: 8-12 years
Grade: Grades 6-8
Page count: 192 Pages
ISBN: 9780593485699
Reading level: Lexile: GN400L | Fountas/Pinnell: X
Veronica Park (VP) Anderson (she/they) is a neurodivergent, queer, feminist millennial writer with a resume that Victor Frankenstein would disown for being “a bit much.” V’s previous job titles include: award-winning community theater actor, professional lecturer on cruise ships, indie film producer, literary agent, and creative project manager; however, “writer” is the title that always fits. V plays competitive flat track roller derby as “Scarlet Five” #55 and prefers the pivot role, aka “surprise jamming.” Born in Alaska and raised in Oregon, she currently lives with her partner in Upstate NY and has two cats named Skeletor and Bo-Catan.
Tatiana Hill (she/her) is a Black and Latina illustrator by day and roller skater by night. Her art journey began alongside her love for anime in the early 2000s and culminated with a BA in Animation. Receiving awards for Best Art Direction, she would later apply her skill set in color and design to illustration. Born in Los Angeles and a member of the roller skate community there, Tatiana enjoys participating in a space that celebrates diversity, identity, and found family. She illustrated The Roller World Tarot deck and
Blood City Rollers, her debut graphic novel as an illustrator.
★ "In this high-octane double graphic novel debut, Anderson expertly captures the supernatural complications of tossing a human into a creature feature rivalry and the struggles of finding one’s place in the world....
a refreshing balance between spectral sports romp and queer found family narrative." —
Publishers Weekly, starred review
"
Relatable and sweet." —
Booklist
"This hybrid-genre graphic novel rolls by on raucous wheels, its anarchic and camp tone perfectly suiting Mina’s coming-into-herself as a rebel in the queer community of paranormal-derby....
Defiant and joyful."
—The Bulletin
"
An entertaining story about a teen finding her own place in life and starting down her own path. Recommended where paranormal graphic novels are popular."
—School Library Journal"Dialogue is snappy and fun, and their comedic timing is on point. Paired with Tatiana Hill’s highly-saturated, action-packed, meme-referencing illustrations, the pages of
Blood City Rollers feel alive. Or perhaps, given the subject matter, undead?….
a delightful, queer, middle-grade romp about doing what you love and finding your people.”
— The Beat
