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Summary
Summary
The Breakaways from Cathy G. Johnson is a raw, and beautifully honest graphic novel that looks into the lives of a diverse and defiantly independent group of kids learning to make room for themselves in the world.
Quiet, sensitive Faith starts middle school already worrying about how she will fit in. To her surprise, Amanda, a popular eighth grader, convinces her to join the school soccer team, the Bloodhounds. Having never played soccer in her life, Faith ends up on the C team, a ragtag group that's way better at drama than at teamwork. Although they are awful at soccer, Faith and her teammates soon form a bond both on and off the soccer field that challenges their notions of loyalty, identity, friendship, and unity.
Author Notes
Cathy G. Johnson is a cartoonist and educator in Providence, Rhode Island. The Breakaways is her third graphic novel, after Gorgeous (2016) with Koyama Press and Jeremiah (2015) with One Percent Press. Cathy has also published shorter comics work with publishers such as Silver Sprocket and Youth in Decline. In addition to creating artwork, Cathy works as an educator in the New England area, serving many local communities within schools and community centers.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-8-Faith has just joined the Bloodhounds, the middle school girls' soccer C team, made up of the least skilled players. But this isn't one of those heartwarming sports stories where an inspirational coach rallies the underdogs to victory. Instead, these Dogs lose every game and feud with one another while the coach spends most practices on his phone. Vignettes show the players' varied home lives, interests, and friendship dramas. Sketchy full-color artwork features characters with exaggerated expressions. Faith and her teammates are diverse in body type and ethnicity. One player comes out as trans and another as queer during the course of the story, and both have supportive friends. Readers who like a touch of romance will enjoy seeing two sweet relationships blossom on the page. Realistic scenes of school, soccer practice, and sleepovers are interspersed with Faith's daydreams about adventures on horseback with a handsome butch royal messenger named Mathilda, who inspires Faith to unite her misfit teammates, team or no team. VERDICT A down-to-earth friendship story for readers of Svetlana Chmakova's Awkward, Jennifer L. Holm's Sunny Side Up, and Raina Telgemeier's Drama.-Sarah Stone, San Francisco -Public Library © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
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.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
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.--Sarah Hunter Copyright 2010 Booklist