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WORK TITLE: All’s Fair in Love and Field Hockey
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WEBSITE: https://www.kitrosewater.com/
CITY: Albuquerque
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COUNTRY: United States
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Kirkus Reviews Dec. 1, 2019, review of Rosewater, Kit: KENZIE KICKSTARTS A TEAM.
Publishers Weekly vol. 267 no. 3 Jan. 20, 2020, , “Kenzie Kickstarts a Team (The Derby Daredevils #1).”. p. 69.
Booklist vol. 117 no. 1-2 Sept. 1, 2020, Pino, Kristina. , “The Derby Daredevils: Shelly Struggles to Shine.”. p. 87.
School Library Journal vol. 66 no. 10 Oct., 2020. Worley, Taylor. , “ROSEWATER, Kit. Shelly Struggles To Shine.”.
Kirkus Reviews May 1, 2021, , “Rosewater, Kit: TOMOKO TAKES THE LEAD.”.
School Library Journal vol. 67 no. 7 July, 2021. Strohecker, Lauren. , “ROSEWATER, Kit. Tomoko Takes the Lead.”. p. 64.
Kirkus Reviews Apr. 1, 2025, , “Rosewater, Kit: ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE AND FIELD HOCKEY.”.
Booklist vol. 121 no. 15-16 Apr., 2025. Thompson, Sarah Bean. , “All’s Fair in Love and Field Hockey.”. p. 102.
Kit Rosewater writes books for kids, teens, and adults. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with her partner and two small kids who are bent on destroying the universe. Before she was an author, Kit taught middle school theatre and high school English, then worked as a children's bookseller. She is the author of THE DERBY DAREDEVILS middle grade series and the sapphic YA romance ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND FIELD HOCKEY. Her sophomore YA, BURIED FEELINGS, is forthcoming from Delacorte Romance in Summer 2026.
Get to Know… Kit Rosewater!
April 25, 2020 ~ Jarrett Lerner
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My name is… Kit Rosewater! Some people think that’s a pen name, but it’s my real name too! My maiden name was Watters and my partner’s was Rose, and when we got married we legally combined our last names to be Rosewater! I wish I had a derby name to share… I trained to be a roller derby referee but never got an official derby name. In 2018 I was briefly on a breakdancing crew, and my crew name was KitKat. If I were to lace up my skates again as a ref, I think my derby name would be KitKat, and my roller derby motto would be “Break me off a piece!”
I am a… children’s book author! A shenanigans-starter! A dog-howling-instigator! I am many things, and have tried many things in my life. Before writing books became my career, I worked as a children’s bookseller. Before that, I was a middle school teacher in theatre and English! I have a master’s degree in Children’s Literature and once wanted to be a college professor. But being an author has been my dream from the start. Maybe one day I’ll add illustrator to that title!
As a kid, I was… always imagining new games. I loved letting my imagination build new friends and pets and secret hideaways. My sister and I worked on building a castle in our backyard after school and on weekends. We never got the walls higher than a few inches, but we made a terrific moat to keep intruders out! I had invisible friends who followed me around like Cloud Dragon and Rosie the Pink Dog. I was also constantly making books out of scrap paper. I loved holding my stories as real objects rather than just ideas floating back and forth across my brainfolds.
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Writing is… something I do to escape, to contemplate, to think critically. I need to write stories the way people need to eat food. Taking characters on journeys fills me with a rush of excitement and energy and passion. Writing is also something I wasn’t inherently “good” at. I’m always learning how to tell stories in new ways that compel readers. Writing is a lifelong journey for me. I hope I never stop improving and changing the way I make books!
Drawing is… something I do for fun right now. I like to draw portraits with colored pencils. My favorite parts to draw are hair strands whipping around in the wind! Right now I have a notebook full of drawings I keep to myself. I would like to learn more about how to draw figures for children’s books, and one day illustrate my own graphic novel or chapter book series!
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Reading is… something I loved from when I was little. Learning how to read the alphabet was like cracking the coolest code ever. I remember reading books like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Hop on Pop for the first time and feeling so powerful. I still feel powerful when I read. I’m amazed that I can be waiting in line at the post office, pull out a book, and suddenly be transported into another world! I recommend that everyone take a book with them when they go out. It’s so much more fun to read than scroll through phone messages while waiting for the cinema flick to start, or for your food to get to the table at a restaurant.
Books are… PURE MAGIC. Books are incredible. Books are everything. I wanted to write books from the beginning because I realized they could be portals, windows, and mirrors to anywhere. One of my favorite tropes in stories is when a specific book has powers… because I actually think that all books have powers!
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Did you know… that while I was growing up, I also wanted to be a wildlife conservationist? In middle school I would wander through the desert plains behind my house and catch horned lizards and snakes. My idol was Steve Irwin, known as The Crocodile Hunter. Steve didn’t hunt crocodiles though–he cared for them and helped relocate them when they were in danger. He passed away in an accident when I was a teenager, but I had always dreamed of meeting him and working at his zoo in Australia. Now I write about the adventures I thought I would go on way back when. And who knows, maybe I’ll still go on some of those adventures someday!
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You can find me… barking out the window with my dog Sadie. Or climbing up the Sandia mountain crest in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Okay, I’m not always on that mountain, or even at my office window. But I am always online. You can learn a lot more about me and my books at kitrosewater.com, and you can catch me on Twitter or Instagram at @kitrosewater!
Q&A: Kit Rosewater, Author of ‘The Derby Daredevils’
Mimi Koehler·Writers Corner·March 25, 2020·7 min read
Kit Rosewater Author Interview
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We’ve recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Kit Rosewater, whose debut novel The Derby Daredevils: Kenzie Kickstarts a Team, a charming #ownvoices middle-grade novel about a bunch of fantastic girls banding together to get into the derby junior league, released in March. Kit answered our burning questions about books, her upcoming projects, and derby!
Hi Kit! Thank you so much for making the time to talk to us! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hello! It’s a pleasure to chat with The Nerd Daily! I’m a debuting children’s book author with the first book in my series, The Derby Daredevils, out on March 24th, and the second book out on September 15th! Before I was an author, I taught middle school theatre and high school English for five years, then worked as a bookseller at an indie bookstore while balancing writing. I also have a graduate degree in Children’s Literature, though I mostly studied picture books for my thesis. I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and when I’m not writing or reading I’m either running at the park, barking at the neighbors alongside my dog, or cheering on my local roller derby leagues!
People often say that to become a writer, you have to be a reader first! What was the first book you remember reading? And what are some books that shaped the way you approach writing?
That is such a great piece of advice, and one I stand behind! The first book I remember reading and thinking ‘I want to write like this’ was Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary. Authors like Cleary and Judy Blume provided some of the staple books in my childhood. I love the comfortable feeling of settling into a relatable and funny character’s life, especially as that character goes through all the ups and downs and hoops of growing up. When I write now, one of my main goals is to emulate this same comfortable style while updating the contemporary world to be a bit more diverse than it was portrayed in the books I read as a kid.
If you had to describe Kenzie Kickstarts a Team in five words, what would those be?
Fierce female friends on wheels!
Now tell us a bit more about the book!
The fierce female friends are Kenzie and her best friend Shelly, who together make up the Dynamic Duo on the roller skating rink! Kenzie and Shelly learn they have a shot at joining the newly-formed junior derby league together… but only if they can fill out three more slots and form a whole team on their own. Each added player strains the notion of the Dynamic Duo, and while Shelly’s happy to meet new friends, Kenzie starts to worry about all the changes happening around her. And things turn especially complicated when Shelly decides that their final player should be Kenzie’s awesome neighbor… who also just so happens to be Kenzie’s secret crush.
Kenzie’s friends are a bunch of really vivacious characters. Did you draw inspiration for them from your friends?
Thank you! I did, actually! Shelly is based on my childhood best friend Holly, who is as fearless and friendly as her fictional counterpart. Tomoko is based on my adult friend of the same name who I worked alongside at the indie bookstore. Camila is based on a girl I knew from theatre camp who always had the most gorgeous, flowing hair. Jules is based on a wonderfully rowdy kid who I happened to be extremely close to in fifth grade. And Bree is based on a friend of the same name who I know from yoga now!
There is a quiz on your homepage where readers can find out which of Kenzie’s teammates they are the most like! Who do you get when you take the quiz? Follow-up question: beyond the quiz answer, who do you relate to the most out of the Daredevils?
I had to take the quiz again juuuuust to be sure, but I’m definitely Kenzie. The cool thing about the Daredevils is, I relate hardcore to all six girls. I deliberately put a piece of myself in each of them, in part because this is a rotating protagonist series, which means I’ll be telling each other their stories! But I also try to put myself into all of my characters because I want them to be relatable, and I have to start by relating to them myself. With Kenzie, I relate to her worries over losing her best friend with changing dynamics. One of my worst traits growing up was how fiercely I wanted ONE BEST FRIEND, which meant I was sometimes a jerk to new potential friends. I try to be a lot better about that now, but I still get what it’s like to want to be someone’s favorite person. At least I get to be my dog’s favorite person! …I think.
Let’s get to the good stuff! Kenzie and her best friend Shelly want to be on a Derby team more than anything. Can you tell us more about your connection to derby and what you like most about it?
At this stage in my life (I’m currently 33 weeks pregnant and a waddling blimp) I’m more of a bench-warming fan of roller derby than anything else. But when I first got into roller derby in 2017, I trained to be a player and then to be a referee. Training to be a referee was my favorite, because I loved learning about all the rules and specifics of the sport! My personal love and connection to roller derby comes from it being such an empowering sport that challenges the standard notions of who gets to be considered an athlete. Anyone can be an all-star on the derby track. And derby isn’t just about any one physical attribute. It asks its players to be creative and resourceful and wily… all great components for middle grade team shenanigans!
See also
Q&A: Andie J. Christopher, Author of ‘Unrealistic Expectations’
Fantastic illustrations by Sophie Escabasse complement your story about the Derby Daredevils. Can you tell us a bit about the process of working with an illustrator? What did working together entail to get the cast of characters just right? And do you have a favorite illustration of Sophie’s?
Such a great question!! I would say my favorite illustration from Book 1 is the final illustration, when the team is walking out from tryouts together. Though the illustration on page 105 also makes me burst out laughing every time knowing the context. Sophie was and is an absolute dream to work with. I am so grateful to my agent and editor, as well as to Sophie and her agent, for bringing us together on this project. I made a rookie author mistake of falling in love with Sophie’s work before she was officially signed on… and that month or so of negotiations was so stressful! Once everyone had signed contracts, I sent Sophie a short letter about how I thought of the characters… and that was it! 99% of the time her sketches seem right out of my own head. She always captures the exact moments I hope she’ll capture, and presents the characters with so much expression and emotion. I cannot say enough good things about Sophie, and can’t wait for Book 1 of her graphic novel series, The Witches of Brooklyn, which comes out this fall!
Kenzie and her friends’ story continues in Shelly Struggles to Shine (out September 15th!) – what can readers expect from the sequel? And may there be a hint of romance heading Kenzie’s way?
I am so, so excited for Book 2 of the Daredevils series to hit shelves in September! The sequel follows Shelly along with the rest of the Daredevils as they head to their first official derby tournament! Shelly’s story doesn’t have a romantic thread the way Kenzie’s does… but it poses the question of how creativity and art specifically can fit into a sports setting, which is something I’ve been wanting to tackle within the roller derby realm for a long time now! We do get some glimpses at Kenzie’s continuing relationship with a certain someone… but I also have big plans for that thread, hopefully to be revealed later in the series!
Lightning Round: What was the last book, the last movie, and the last song you read/saw/heard?
The last book I read was Nicole Melleby’s upcoming In the Role of Brie Hutchens, which releases on April 21st and is fantastic! The last movie I watched was Into the Spiderverse, which I’ve seen nearly twenty times now because it’s my favorite movie. And the last song I shimmied to this morning was “Start a Riot” by DUCKWRTH & Shaboozey… from the Spiderverse soundtrack!
And last but not least, do you have any book recommendations for our readers?
I probably have too many! But really, one can never have enough books. Loriel Ryon’s MG debut Into the Tall, Tall Grass comes out on April 7th and is phenomenal. Other upcoming MG releases I highly recommend include Nicole Melleby’s In the Role of Brie Hutchens, out on April 21st, Ash Van Otterloo’s Cattywampus, out on August 4th, and A.J. Sass’s Ana on the Edge, out on October 20th!
Will you be picking up The Derby Daredevils? Tell us in the comments below!
Interview with Author Kit Rosewater
By: Michele Kirichanskaya
Nov 5, 2021
Kit Rosewater has a master’s degree in children’s literature from Hollins University. The Derby Daredevils was her debut book series, illustrated by Sophie Escabasse, with three volumes currently available. She lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
First of all, welcome to Geeks OUT! Could you tell us a little about yourself and your series, The Derby Daredevils?
Thank you so much for having me on the blog! I am a queer, cis children’s book author and I use she/her pronouns. I currently live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but a few years back I lived in Austin, Texas and got the idea to write a middle grade series about a quirky junior roller derby team based in downtown Austin. That idea eventually grew into THE DERBY DAREDEVILS!
Where did the inspiration for The Derby Daredevils come from? Do you yourself have any personal connections to the sport of roller derby?
When I first moved to Austin, I quickly dove into the roller derby scene. I loved the chaotic energy and open acceptance in that world. I attended a lot of bouts (official roller derby games) and then started to get into the sport as a referee. I trained as a referee with a New Mexico team when we moved, but had to drop out due to health issues before our league got into the main bout season. I will never stop being a humongous roller derby fan.
What inspired you to get into writing for younger audiences? Were there any writers or books that made you think “I want to do this, too someday”?
Oh gosh! I’ve wanted to write for children for as long as I can remember… basically since I was a kid. The books I read when I was eight, nine, ten—those are the books that have stayed with me the rest of my life. I was obsessed with Louis Sachar’s HOLES and E.L. Konigsburg’s THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E. FRANKWEILER. Around that time, my mother quit her job as a paralegal to write a children’s book manuscript, and I thought that was super brave and inspiring. I knew I wanted to do that too someday.
On your website page, it says you’ve had some education in Children’s Literature. Could you discuss that a bit in detail?
You know, I was vocal about loving children’s books from the get go, but for some reason when I was in high school and college I lost my nerve when it came to creative writing. I was afraid someone would come along and tell me my writing was bad and then my one major dream would go up in smoke. So when it came time to hop into graduate school, I decided to take a critical analysis track and study children’s books as a scholar. And honestly I am so glad I did! Investigating themes and trends in the canon of children’s literature has made me a better writer, but even more importantly, it helped me discover a long history of radical queer themes in children’s books. I feel very close to this category of literature as both a queer writer, but also as a young queer reader.
Since Geeks OUT is a queer website, could you talk a bit about the queer representation/themes we can see in your books?
Absolutely! One of my main objectives with THE DERBY DAREDEVILS has been to create a setting and cast of characters that normalize and celebrate queerness. The books feature queer role models—a funny and loving trans dad in one, a great non-binary friend and mentor in another. The books also feature a young queer relationship, or really more of a queer crush that at least one character develops. It was important to me to not have the queer aspect be a source of tension in the narrative, but to simply exist and be visible to the reader. I think in a lot of ways I’m writing stories I wish I had access to as a kid when I was trying to figure myself out.
What advice would you have to give for aspiring writers, particularly for writing sports and other physical activities?
My advice to all writers is to keep learning and not give up. If you learn something new with each story you write, then no words are ever wasted. To sports or action writers in particular, my best writing advice is to tackle action scenes with lots of interiority. By this I mean that it’s important to really get into the heads of your characters, and allow the reader see and smell and taste and feel what it’s like to be in the middle of action rather than watching it from the side. Sometimes I’ll be working on stretching a two-minute long derby jam into four pages of text, and in order to keep things engaging for the reader, that means I need to get into the head space of what my characters are thinking and how they’re communicating and the way they’re interpreting the action going on around them.
What’s a question you haven’t been asked yet, but wish you were asked (as well as the answer to that question)?
I’ve been really lucky over the past couple of years, as young readers in particular have asked me some stupendous questions. Once a student asked me if I tested out all the Daredevils’ moves myself before putting them in stories. The answer is complicated, because technically I’m not supposed to be on wheels body-checking people left and right at the roller rink. But nearly every Daredevils move or play is something I did with my friends and cousins as a kid. There’s a move where the Daredevils join hands around their team’s jammer and squawk like birds to ward off the other team. I actually did that move in a flag football game! Turns out it was completely illegal, but it’s one of my favorite memories.
In addition to being a writer, what are some things you would want readers to know about you?
I love reptiles, especially snakes! I had a pink albino corn snake when I was a teenager and I named her Dina after Alice’s cat in ALICE IN WONDERLAND. My hero when I was young was Steve Irwin, a nature conservationist based in Australia who would go out and catch animals and give them loving little pats while explaining their importance to the ecosystem. If I wasn’t a writer, I’d want to be snuggling sloths and helping animals and the environment.
Are there any other projects you are currently working on and at liberty to talk about?
I am working on a couple of other projects, though I can’t talk about any in too much depth right now. I will say that I am definitely still writing books for young people and I am definitely still writing books that feature sports. ☺
Finally, what LGBTQ+ books/ authors would you recommend to the readers of Geeks OUT?
There are so many great authors out there!!! For middle grade I highly recommend A.J. Sass’s ANA ON THE EDGE and Ash Van Otterloo’s CATTYWAMPUS. In the young adult world, Brian D. Kennedy has a hilarious and swoony queer debut coming out next summer titled A LITTLE BIT COUNTRY.
Q&A: Kit Rosewater, Author of ‘All’s Fair In Love and Field Hockey’
Elise Dumpleton·Writers Corner·May 7, 2025·5 min read
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We chat with author Kit Rosewater about All’s Fair In Love and Field Hockey, which follows a high school field hockey star must choose between her love of the game and her new, distractingly beautiful rival in this queer YA romance, perfect for fans of She Drives Me Crazy and Cleat Cute!
Hi, Kit! Welcome back! It’s been five years since we last spoke, how have you been and what have you been up to?
Oh my goodness. Way to start this interview by making me cry! I’m kidding—mostly. What a strange whirlwind 2020 & 2021 was, with having three books come into the world, all within the shelter-in-place period. Those two years remain sort of hazy in my memory. I’m also going to blame the fact that my first child was born in May 2020. But I’ve been up to a lot since then! School visits, library visits, conference visits, festival visits. And thanks to 2020, I don’t take a single one of those opportunities for granted. I’m out on a small national tour this week to celebrate my YA debut, All’s Fair In Love And Field Hockey, and it is a dream come true four times over since I didn’t get to do this with my MG debut series.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
My mom really fostered a love of books for my sister and I at a very young age. I used to staple paper together and make my own books, then sneak them into my school classroom library. (As if they could pass as actual books… oh dear…) I LIVED for the Scholastic Book Fair coming to my school. But I think the biggest lightbulb moment for being a writer was when my mom decided to take a break from her job as a paralegal and spend the next six months writing and querying a full middle grade manuscript. That’s when I thought oh wow, this is a real thing I could do someday.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
The first book you ever remember reading: Dr. Seuss’ Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now! Apparently my dad used to hide this book from me because of how many times I asked him to reread it in one sitting.
The one that made you want to become an author: If You Were a Writer by Joan Lowery Nixon. I found this picturebook at a Scholastic Book Fair in third grade and it CHANGED MY LIFE.
The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Loves Me, Loves Me Not by Anilú Bernardo has been on my mind SO MUCH lately because it’s the first romance book I ever read and fell in love with as a young teen.
Your latest novel, All’s Fair In Love and Field Hockey, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Rival sports stars secretly dating.
What can readers expect?
Fun, swoony moments! Witty and tension-filled banter! Slapstick-level hijinks the main characters get up to as they hide their budding relationship from their respective teams! But also… more than the classic romance tropes, too. All’s Fair is a romance within a queer coming of age journey. There’s grief and academic expectations and complicated familial relationships. But hopefully, all of these elements come together in a whole and satisfying way. Reactions from early readers have been really promising on this front, so fingers crossed!
Where did the inspiration for All’s Fair In Love and Field Hockey come from?
My incredible agent Lauren Speiller had been pushing for me to consider writing YA for a while in the fall of 2021, and she directed my attention to an article in Them magazine titled: “Team USA and Team Canada Womens Hockey Players Keep Marrying Each Other.” That article was like a seed being planted in my head that I thought about off and on, until one day in spring 2022 the idea had grown into this swoony YA romance about high stakes field hockey, and I sat down and wrote it!
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
I love writing dialogue. Any time I get two interesting characters together, the pages zoom by and I have to pause and remind myself to describe setting, feeling, internalization, because I just want them to say witty things to each other forever. Thank goodness for my editor Ali Romig, because she’s the one who was able to direct these conversations into some amazing hijinks settings that elevated the dialogue to another level. I LOVED writing the mini golf scene. I LOVED writing the first “secret practice” scene.
See also
Q&A: Sara Ackerman, Author of ‘The Codebreaker’s Secret’
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
My mom was in the hospital battling cancer while I wrote this book, and the storyline with the protagonist Evelyn and her own mom provided some escapism for me during that time. But those moments were also really hard to write. I think I sobbed my entire way through Chapter Twenty-Four. But also, I’m so, so glad that it’s in there and part of this story.
What’s next for you?
I have another YA romance coming out from Delacorte summer 2026 called Buried Feelings, and I’m working on revisions for that project right now. It’s a contemporary story set in San Francisco about two ex-friends with a complicated past. They’re racing each other to solve a city-wide treasure hunt from the 1980s with clues embedded in LGBTQIA+ history (ala National Treasure, but for the gays.) I had to basically write a treasure hunt to be solved within the book itself, which was really challenging. But I love this book SO MUCH and I can’t wait to share it with readers next year!
Lastly, what books are you looking forward to picking up this year?
SO MANY BOOKS. ALL THE BOOKS. Matthew Hubbard’s The Rebel’s Guide to Pride. Alice Murphy’s A Showgirl’s Rules for Falling In Love. Becky Albertalli’s Amelia, If Only. Ashley Herring Blake’s Dream On, Ramona Riley. Rachel Lynn Solomon’s What Happens in Amsterdam. Jennifer Dugan’s Summer Girls. Dahlia Adler’s Come As You Are. Cale Plett’s Wavelength and The Saw Mouth. Charlotte Lillie Balogh’s Kill the Lax Bro. Jenna Levine’s Road Trip With A Vampire. ANYTHING Laura Piper Lee writes. And then so many others I’m not thinking of at this specific moment in time but will kick myself over forgetting in about ten minutes. It’s a HUGE year for books. I am getting fed.
Rosewater, Kit KENZIE KICKSTARTS A TEAM Amulet/Abrams (Children's Fiction) $14.99 3, 24 ISBN: 978-1-4197-4079-4
The first in an illustrated middle-grade series about growing up--and roller derby.
Fifth graders and best friends Kenzie and Shelly have always done everything together. They also share the same dream: to be on the same roller derby team. It's only 2,000 days until they turn 15 and can join the local "wreck" league. But when tryouts for a new junior league are announced, the girls no longer have to wait. The catch: if "Kenzilla" and "Bomb Shell" want to be on the same team, they need to try out as a team. The Dynamic Duo must find a way to expand to a fivesome, and introvert Kenzie will need to accept that she must share outgoing Shelly with new people. The third-person limited narration sympathetically conveys Kenzie's struggle. The derby scenes are fast-paced and fun to read, with clearly explained rules; readers who hope for the further support of a glossary will be disappointed, however. Expressive black-and-white graphic novel-style illustrations show wide diversity among classmates and derby members. Kenzie and Shelly are white; new teammate and basketball player Tomoko is Asian and larger than the other girls; skateboarder and Kenzie's crush, Bree, is black and wears her hair in locs; and a third, shy Camila, is implied Latinx. Kenzie's dad is trans, a fact that is incidental to the story.
A lighthearted celebration of life, friendship, and rolling with the punches. (Fiction. 8-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Rosewater, Kit: KENZIE KICKSTARTS A TEAM." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A606964349/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=74f51148. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
Kenzie Kickstarts a Team (The Derby Daredevils #1)
Kit Rosewater, illus. by Sophie Escabasse.
Amulet, $14.99 (176p) ISBN 978-1-4197-4079-4
In Austin, Tex., fifth grade best friends Kenzie and Shelly can't wait to try out for the newly formed Junior Derby League, but to guarantee that they'll end up on the same team, they have to create a new crew of five skaters in a week. Somehow, they manage to recruit three other girls, none of whom skates well or knows anything about roller derby. Shelly suggests enlisting expert skateboarder Bree, Kenzie's neighbor and secret crush. With Shelly becoming close to teammate Tomoko, a shy classmate with impressive basketball skills, and Kenzie's unintentional revelation that she likes Bree, Kenzie feels unprepared for the upcoming tryouts and the changes rolling quickly her way. Through a third-person narrative, this relatable, empathic series debut introduces readers to the fast-paced sport of roller derby and hints at interesting backstories for Kenzie's teammates--Tomoko, for instance, is withdrawn unless competing--likely setting up plenty of challenges for this underdog team to overcome in future installments. Kenzie's transgender dad is rendered incidentally, and black-and-white drawings by Escabasse depict various scenes and highlight the inclusive character group. Ages 8-12. Author's agent: Lauren Spieller. Triada US Literary, Ilustrator's agent: Kelly Sonnack. Andrea Brown Literary. (Mar.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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MLA 9th Edition APA 7th Edition Chicago 17th Edition Harvard
"Kenzie Kickstarts a Team (The Derby Daredevils #1)." Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 3, 20 Jan. 2020, p. 69. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A613203880/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e1fddb02. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
The Derby Daredevils: Shelly Struggles to Shine. By Kit Rosewater. Illus. by Sophie Escabasse. Sept. 2020. 176p. Abrams/Amulet, $14.99 (9781419746857). Gr. 3-6.
A month after the events of Kenzie Kickstarts a Team (2020), the Derby Daredevils are pumped for their first bout as part of their local junior league. As they prep, though, Shelly starts to feel like she doesn't have an important role in the team. Instead, she feels like the comic relief. In a well-intentioned but misdirected attempt to establish her worth to her friends, she comes up with elaborate costumes based on each of their derby personae. When things finally pull together, it's because everyone has established that their unique talents are what make them a good team in the first place. Shelly's is a new perspective in the series, which began with Kenzie as the point-of-view character, and it may mean future stories featuring the other team members could be in store. Escabasse's cartoon illustrations continue to delight. Rosewater throws in subtle points about making assumptions and communicating one's feelings and champions the truth that everyone has a unique perspective and brings something to the table, bolstering the book's main theme of teamwork.--Kristina Pino
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 American Library Association
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Pino, Kristina. "The Derby Daredevils: Shelly Struggles to Shine." Booklist, vol. 117, no. 1-2, 1 Sept. 2020, p. 87. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A637433521/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2912fdd3. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
ROSEWATER, Kit. Shelly Struggles To Shine. illus. by Sophie Escabasse. 176p. (The Derby Daredevils: Bk. 2). Abrams/Amulet. Sept. 2020. Tr $14.99. ISBN 9781419746857.
Gr 3-6--This second series installment is written from Shelly's perspective as she tries to identify her role on the roller derby team. As the Derby Daredevils prepare to participate in a junior tournament, the teammates naturally settle into various leadership roles, but Shelly feels unseen. She settles on creating costumes, but by ignoring her friends' wishes and aggressively pursuing her idea, she amplifies the problem instead. Ultimately, the team grows even stronger by learning to communicate and by recognizing each member's unique strengths and contributions. Shelly is white, but the team and supporting cast are notably diverse. Characters of varying race, gender, and sexuality are represented, and notable attention is given to Fen, a friend of Shelly's whose pronouns are they/them. These identities are woven seamlessly into the narrative and support the explorations of friendship, communication, and personal identify. The Derby Daredevils are a wonderfrilly enjoyable lot and a welcome addition to the middle-grade scene. Readers need not have read book one to thoroughly enjoy book two. Bring on more roller derby! VERDICT Readers will enjoy this welcoming and acutely relatable sequel. Recommended as a general purchase.--Taylor Worley, Springfield P.L., OR
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Worley, Taylor. "ROSEWATER, Kit. Shelly Struggles To Shine." School Library Journal, vol. 66, no. 10, Oct. 2020, pp. 78+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A638792785/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d40912c9. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
Rosewater, Kit TOMOKO TAKES THE LEAD Amulet/Abrams (Children's None) $14.99 6, 1 ISBN: 978-1-4197-5172-1
“It’s camp and roller derby! Where can you go wrong?”
The third installment of the Derby Daredevils shifts to Tomoko’s perspective as summer break approaches. Rather than hitting the trails and camping with her uncle as usual, Tomoko is going with her entire league to a sleep-away roller derby camp. Tomoko is not as excited as her friends because meeting new people is terrifying for her. Upon arrival, Tomoko is shocked to learn they are staying at a large convention center in the middle of Dallas, and she sees her worst fear realized when a girl starts bullying her. Worst of all, her friends don’t notice. When the Daredevils decide to sneak out into the city for a little while, they become lost. It’s up to Tomoko to use all her wilderness skills to navigate them back before anyone notices. The journey back is fraught with tension and revelations, and Tomoko learns that taking the lead also means standing up for yourself. This highly illustrated chapter book is lighthearted and fun yet willing to take on hard topics. Tomoko’s experiences with microaggressions—for her larger size and Japanese heritage—are not usually discussed with so much honesty and humor for middle graders. Rosewater excels at using the different perspectives of her diverse cast of characters to help Tomoko define what is happening to her and to ultimately confront her bully.
This book will roll off the shelves. (Fiction. 8-12)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Rosewater, Kit: TOMOKO TAKES THE LEAD." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2021. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A659925023/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=053b6322. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
ROSEWATER, Kit. Tomoko Takes the Lead, illus. by Sophie Escabasse. 176p. (Derby Daredevils: Bk. 3). Amulet. Jun. 2021. Tr $14.99. ISBN 9781419751721.
Gr 4-7--The third installment of Rosewater's series is told from Tomoko's perspective and finds the Derby Daredevils traveling to Dallas for a weeklong training camp with another junior league. Tomoko, who is Japanese American and quite shy, is nervous about the trip; she is still getting comfortable with her new friends and was looking forward to a summer of bonding. Tomoko is an avid camper, however, and her uncle helps her see that the trip might give her the chance to be a leader for her team. When she finds out that the camp is at a convention center instead of a campground, Tomoko must find other ways to share her strengths and get to know the new derby players. This is made all the more difficult by a bully whose constant microaggressions wear on Tomoko but go unnoticed by her friends. As in the first two books, the world of roller derby offers a unique and engaging backdrop for the author's tender exploration of friendship, teamwork, communication, and identity. Escabasse's appealing grayscale illustrations appear every few pages and help to bring the story and its characters to life. VERDICT Warm, relevant, and inclusive, this title is accessible to readers who are new to the series, and a welcome addition for those who are already fans. Recommended.--Lauren Strohecker, McKinley Elem. Sch., Elkins Park, PA
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Strohecker, Lauren. "ROSEWATER, Kit. Tomoko Takes the Lead." School Library Journal, vol. 67, no. 7, July 2021, p. 64. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A667846352/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8c830d3b. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
Rosewater, Kit ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND FIELD HOCKEY Delacorte Romance (Teen None) $12.99 5, 6 ISBN: 9780593898451
Two rival hockey players in Pennsylvania learn from each other--on and off the field.
Evelyn Feltzer, a white-presenting 17-year-old field hockey captain and goalie at Heathclef Prep, has a plan: Get a sports scholarship to attend Duke University (where she'd be a legacy student) and then go on to play professionally, fulfilling a promise she made to her late mother. There's one thing standing in the way, though--her academic record isn't stellar; but she's eligible for a scholarship if her team wins the high school nationals. The situation intensifies when Heathclef's rival, the Van Darian girls' boarding school, brings in a new forward, a professional recruit from New Mexico named Rosa Alvarez. Beautiful, agile Rosa, who's Chicana, distracts Evelyn so completely that Van Darian wins the homecoming game, putting Heathclef's position in peril and devastating Evelyn. After Van Darian fans trash Heathclef's playing field, Evelyn confronts Rosa--but the girls end up practicing together, forming a friendship that leads to romance. Evelyn begins to question whether fulfilling the promise to her mother is her only path forward. The story's exploration of identity throughout is refreshing and realistic. The girls delve into their budding relationship, helping each other distinguish their true selves from the expectations they face. As Rosa observes, "You don't have tobe anything Just follow your heart and be open to whatever."
A sweet romance of introspection and renewal.(Romance. 14-18)
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"Rosewater, Kit: ALL'S FAIR IN LOVE AND FIELD HOCKEY." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A832991676/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=22b8cb45. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.
All's Fair in Love and Field Hockey. By Kit Rosewater. May 2025. 320p. Delacorte Romance, paper, $12.99 (9780593898451). Gr. 9-12.
Field hockey rivals go from enemies to lovers in this sporty romance. High-school senior Evelyn has always enjoyed field hockey, but lately, it has fully engulfed her life. Her goal has always been to fulfill her late mom's dreams of playing at Duke and going pro. As the season starts, a new player at a rival school becomes quite the competition for Evelyn--making her question everything she thought she knew about her goals. Evelyn's journey throughout is twofold; she explores her sexual identity as her feelings for Rosa grow and Evelyn comes to understand the weight of the pressure she has put on herself, separating her dreams from the ones impressed on her. While there are elements of a rom-com, the core of the work is becoming your own person and accepting your own identity. Readers should note that there are comments of queerphobia and shaming, but the novel is overall a sweet, sporty, and hopeful look at figuring out life after high school.--Sarah Bean Thompson
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2025 American Library Association
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Thompson, Sarah Bean. "All's Fair in Love and Field Hockey." Booklist, vol. 121, no. 15-16, Apr. 2025, p. 102. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A847030557/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9592bfd5. Accessed 7 Nov. 2025.