Roller Girl

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. What do you know about roller derby? Have you ever played it or watched a game? If you do not know much about roller derby yet, can you guess what it might involve?

Teaching Suggestion: This prompt, with discussion and/or brief investigation, will help students gain a baseline understanding of the sport of roller derby, which will be helpful in empathizing with the characters’ enthusiasm for the sport. Roller Girl provides a basic explanation of the game through the main character’s training, so students who are unfamiliar with roller derby will be quite familiar after reading the graphic novel; resources such as the ones suggested below, however, can help to provide students with information and visuals as they begin reading.

• This news article covers a Chilliwack Junior Roller Derby game in photos.
• The “I Will Beat Her” quotation, credited by online sources to fitness guru Bonnie Pfiester, encompasses the core philosophy of roller derby as well as the graphic novel’s themes of Embracing Fear and Opportunity Born of Loss and Failure.
• A Smithsonian Folklife article, “Roller Derby for Everybody: A History and Culture of Inclusivity,” provides an overview of the history of the sport and how it has become more community-focused and welcoming.

2. What do you think might be the main reason people enjoy roller derby? How do you think roller derby might affect change in Roller Girl’s protagonist Astrid as she learns the sport? What do you think the risks of roller derby might be?

Teaching Suggestion: This prompt will further inspire initial empathy for Astrid upon which readers will build as she pushes through both personal and physical challenges in her training. This prompt also creates an anticipation of the theme of Embracing Fear. Consider including a follow-up question about why students think roller derby might help players find their courage. It could also be useful to discuss the quote in the link above in depth and ask the students how they interpret it.

• “Epidemiology of Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby Injuries in Kansas City” is a brief study of the Kansas City roller derby team that shows how the majority of respondents have sustained one or multiple serious injuries while playing.
• The team that Astrid watches, the Rose City Rollers, is a real roller derby team; this 2-minute video showcases the players in action.

Short Activity

With a partner, create a Venn diagram that includes the positive, negative, and mixed positive/negative aspects of roller derby. Share your ideas with the class to create a class-size Venn diagram and examine the nature of the sport and how it might provide opportunities for personal growth.

Teaching Suggestion: The sources above highlight the intense physical nature of roller derby as a full-contact sport. This exercise will help students reflect on how players may weigh the negative aspects of the sport against the positive aspects to make the decision to play despite the physical risks. This will also help students understand Astrid’s enthusiasm as well as her mother’s decision to let her play, which is a topic briefly addressed by another mother in the book. This activity highlights the themes of Embracing Fear, The Importance of Friendship in Identity Formation, and Opportunity Born of Loss and Failure.  

• “All I Really Need to Know, I Learned in Roller Derby” is a short article outlining the life lessons roller derby helps its participants learn and value.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the novel.

Roller girls choose tough, unique, or clever names such as “Rainbow Bite” or “Roarshock Tess” as their derby names to embolden themselves and intimidate the other team. If you were to play roller derby, what would your name be and why?

Teaching Suggestion: Students will get a taste of the tongue-in-cheek nature of roller derby naming conventions and will develop an understanding of how these often light-hearted names reflect serious aspects of the skaters’ personalities.

• “Penticton Pistoleras Derby Girls Embrace Alter Egos” is a short news article discussing the nature and purpose of derby names.