The Bloodhounds sort of suck at soccer, but winning a game is hardly the point of this ensemble story that focuses on the sometimes-awkward, shifting bonds of middle-­school friendship. When Faith signs up for soccer, which she's never played before, she ends up on the C team and meets Sodacan and Marie, who introduce the rest of the players. From there on, nearly every Bloodhound gets a few pages to herself, and while that spreads the story a little thin and can make the plot a bit hard to follow, it also gives the players plenty of room to develop into appealingly fleshed-out characters. Accordingly, Johnson's character designs, with coloring by Kevin Czap, are spectacular: the middle-schoolers vary greatly in size, skin tone, and body type, and Johnson's clearly paid attention to how bodies move, since her characters' gestures, facial expressions, and postures have as much to say about their personalities as do their words and actions. Readers looking for a soccer story might be disappointed, but kids after empowering, character-driven stories about realistic friendships will fall in love.

This jam-packed graphic novel featuring diverse girls tackles friendship, identity, and more.When black fifth-grader Faith is recruited to the girls soccer team on the first day of school, she hopes to be welcomed into the popular older crowd. But Sodacan and Marie, two cynical but welcoming white seventh-graders, inform her that the three of them are firmly at the bottom of the C team. At night, Faith draws and then dreams of a mysterious brown-skinned knight named Mathilda who whisks her away on magical adventures that help her navigate her waking surroundings. Each team member has life issues that they bring onto the field: Crushes, sexual harassment, rivalries, and cliques provide enough distraction to keep the team from winning. It's an exciting portrayal of young characters exploring their sexual and cultural identities, but there is an awful lot going on. With so many characters and storylines it becomes difficult to grasp any singular theme or connect with all of the personalities. Hijabi MVP Nadia helps rescue the season; vegan Sodacan recruits teammates into her all-girl band; Latinx Yarelis takes the game super seriously; Vietnamese-American Huong's busy parents are unable to attend her matches. In one of the many sensitively handled moments, one player comes out to a teammate as a trans boy during a sleepover. Happily, though it's stylized, Johnson's art successfully individuates the many characters, aided by Czap's soft pastels. Readers will be sorry there are no additional volumes planned to flesh out these characters further. Groundbreaking—and as complicated as middle school. (Graphic fiction. 8-14)

Tricked into joining the soccer team on her first day in middle school, Faith, a loner who is looking for somewhere to fit in, stumbles through practice and lands on the C team. Her teammates are other misfits who are more preoccupied with personal struggles than with soccer, and Faith gradually wins over many of them as friends. Faith also finds escape in her own inner life, which Johnson represents as a series of dreams with a warrior named Mathilda, with whom Faith visits a king and prepares to build a castle. Johnson (Jeremiah) presents an eclectic group of middle schoolers who are exploring issues of gender identity, sexuality, ethnicity, mental health, and more. Using minimal detail, the artwork realistically portrays the characters- relatable emotions and wide-ranging reactions. Her young people also represent a diverse array of sizes, shapes, colors, and notions of attractiveness. Johnson-s graphic novel will resonate with readers who are figuring out who they are and where they belong. Ages 8-11. (Mar.)