Roller Round-Up: Books About Roller Derby We Love!
Blog alter-ego, Dr. Liz, has been hard at work launching a new neuroscience education and community outreach initiative, the NOLA Books & Brains program. With the goal of improving access to neuroscience content in the community, with the support of the IF/THEN Initiative, the Tulane Brain Institute, and the Dana Foundation, and with the help of a krewe of dedicated Tulane University undergraduates, Dr. Liz is donating a series of childrens’ and adults’ neuroscience books to the New Orleans Public and Free Lending Library systems. So, inspired by this incredible program, and in support of one of the goals with this blog, to amplify this awesome sport and empower badass athletes everywhere, for a slight change of pace from the typical posts, I thought it would be fun to do a round-up of great roller derby reads* I am enjoying right now. Who knows, you might find a few copies scattered about in a library near you, courtesy of Brains and Bruises!
*Disclosure: the recommendations listed here are based on my own experiences reading each of these texts; my opinions are my own. The books were purchased with my own personal funds; I receive no compensation, neither financial nor in-kind, for making these suggestions.
Roller Derby Basics
Derby Life: a crash course in the incredible sport of roller derby by Margo Atwell
This book was one of the first books I picked up after my first day of freshmeat bootcamp and let me tell you, I desperately wish that this had been one of the first books we had picked up BEFORE my first day of freshmeat bootcamp. In the time since it was published, a number of rules changes have taken place, including the move away from minimum skills testing, so some of the specific information contained in it is a bit out of date as rules have changed over time, but that doesn’t take away from the wealth of knowledge contained within its pages. The author, Margo Atwell, covers just about everything a fledgling skater needs to know about the sport and offers some great tips for training, derby diet, and learning skating skills necessary to crush it on the track. This is a great first resource to get you started on your derby journey.
History of Roller Derby
Rollergirl: totally true tales from the track by Melissa ‘Melicious’ Joulwan
Rollegirls: the story of flat track derby by Felicia Graham, Melissa Joulwan and Dennis Darling
This recommendation is actually a two-fer! Though the events described (or depicted) took place less than 20 years ago, I am classifying these as ‘history’ books because they document the people, pageantry, and growing pains that took place in the early 2000’s beginnings of modern flat track roller derby. In an edgy and colorfully written memoir of this era, Melicious, one of the founding members of the Texas Rollergirls, recounts this time in her life with flair. She documents all manner of experiences from attending her first bout as a spectator, to developing her skills and her sense of self, to being challenged on the track by rivalries (both scripted and in real life), to the time she and some of her teammates were invited to appear on national television and more! There are a few photos in Melicious’ book but the companion book we also recommend is a full-blown photo-documentary of this exciting era and I am recommending it because it really brings to focus all that Melicious describes in ‘Rollergirl’. It’s true that as a skater now, though I cringe a little now at the overt sexualization the skaters of the time embraced (no more fishnet rink rash, please), at the sheer quantity of serious injuries described, and at the dreaded penalty wheel punishments for rule-breaking infractions, this book is an easy, engaging, and informative read about how the passion, hard work, tenacity, and downright stubbornness of a small group of fearless women brought us the sport we know and love today.
Favorite Fiction Roller Derby Read
Bruised by Tanya Boteju
Ngl. There are quite a few roller derby fiction books out there and I read a lot of them to find the one I wanted to recommend here. There are action-y stories, some roller romance novels, and even a teen vampire thriller. Were they entertaining reads? Yes. Were they easy to consume? Yes. Was there derby depicted? Yes.
But this book, Bruised by Tanya Boteju, was different in so many ways. First, it is one of the few that was actually about roller derby. The story follows the main character, Daya, as she grows out of a place of loss, isolation, and despair to recover and re-discover herself through roller derby. It chronicles what led her to attending her first bout, it documents her bootcamp experiences, it explores her struggles trying to integrate into the team. Though it took a few chapters of important character building to get there, once Daya sets off on her roller derby journey, skating scenes abound throughout the book and I found these engaging and a joy to read.
One thing that really set this book apart from the others I read was it’s depiction of a diversity of characters. Several of the characters are people of color supporting more “chocolate on the track”, mixed-race relationships, and a character with a disability, to name just a few examples. As well, I appreciated the inclusion of not just one but several characters with varied pronouns. In an era of where LGBTQ issues in athletics and racial justice issues broadly are garnering a lot of both positive and hateful attention, and in the context of a sport that has strived towards inclusivity, I really appreciated the author’s unapologetic and unpatronizing efforts to feature diverse characters and seamlessly integrate their preferred pronouns into the story.
A final aspect of this book that I found very meaningful given the goals of this blog, to promote mental health, emotional well-being, and resilience was the attention paid to the issues of grief, suffering, depression. Indeed, this book did a good job of highlighting the heterogeneity of how individuals become emotionally distressed and the coping mechanisms (some productive and some not) they deploy to handle it. Importantly, this book really showcased the scope of the positive impact that roller derby can have for the people who practice it.
Derby For Kids
Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson
This graphic children’s novel one hits a bit of a soft spot for me because not only is it a cherished book my roller derby daughter and I poured over together, this was her first big girl chapter book and was the book that took away her fear of reading. You see, Sara Bellum (like the brain region, cerebellum) struggled with reading her first few years in school. The moment her first-grade teacher called me for a Parent-Teacher conference to tell me Sara Bellum was somehow reading two grade levels behind (She was only in first grade, how?!?!) absolutely floored me as a mother. I felt like we had done everything we could to prepare her, reading books, telling stories, watching television with subtitles, playing word board games, and yet hearing this left me feeling like a failure to my child. So, we went back to basics, waaaaayyyy back, to books ‘One Fish Two Fish’ . Sara Bellum worked really hard for months and her amazing teachers tutored her intensely to get her caught back up with her class so that by the end of the year, she was reading on grade level. But still, she had a confidence challenge to overcome, a fear of chapter books with many words. This engaging book, a book of MANY words and chapters but also MANY pictures, helped give her the confidence she needed to tackle chapter books. And for that, the author, Victoria Jamieson, will always have my sincere appreciation.
In addition to the sentimental reasons why I have such a fondness for this book, I just love this classic coming of age story with a derby twist. The main character, a tween named Astrid, is navigating a number of transitions on her path to solidify her own identity, and there are many lessons learned along the way. Lessons about risk in trying something new, and in persistence in the face of challenge. Lessons of how friendships change over time and some people fall out of our lives as we grow apart. Or lessons about the importance of doing right by people we care about, even when it means self-sacrifice. Lessons many women have had to learn in our own ways at some point in our lives. And even though most of us did not learn these lessons on the track, this heart-warming tale of a junior derby skater finding her way in life somehow transcends the tweenage girl experience in a way that we can all relate to.
Bonus recommendation: we aren’t all the way through them yet, but every night before bed, Sara Bellum and I are loving reading the ‘Derby Daredevils’ three part series by Kit Rosewater and Sophie Escabasse!
Roller Derby Adult Coloring Book
Be your Own Hero: an adult coloring book for the roller derby enthusiast’ by Alisson Addessi and illustrated by Ali Cali Designs
There is demonstrated evidence that coloring imparts at least some short-term emotionally stabilizing therapeutic benefits to its practitioners (see article examples below for more information and remember that you can always email the authors to talk more about the project!). So of course I would be remiss if I did not recommend at least one option here, ‘Be your Own Hero: an adult coloring book for the roller derby enthusiast’ by Alisson Addessi of Ali Cali Designs. Ngl, I am absolutely behind the positive messaging of the title and that is what drew us to this book in the first place. In fact, it is a direct quote from the very fun (banked track) derby movie starring Elliot Page, ‘Whip It’, which is worth a watch if you haven’t yet. At any rate, as I turned the pages, even though it is marketed as an ‘adult’ coloring book, I found that anyone can get enjoyment out of coloring in this books’ 26 derby-themed illustrations. We just loved coloring in the action scenes of jammers juking around the track or a blocker landing an epic hit. It was a fun departure from the geometric shapes contained in most adult coloring books. How could you not feel empowered and uplifted after bringing life with color to these fierce badass skaters absolutely crushing it on the track?
Ali, 2018. Are Adult Coloring Books Actually Helpful. Psychology Today.
