Publisher's Weekly Review
Ervick (The Bitter Life of Bozena Nemcova) volleys an ebullient celebration of girls' soccer that blends personal memoir and sports history into a work of disarming emotional power. In the 1980s as a goalkeeper for her youth team, Ervic makes it to nationals and develops a lifelong passion. "On the soccer field we were free to be tough, be aggressive, and be powerful," she writes, recalling her coming-of-age soccer days as a kaleidoscope of camaraderie, competition, road trips, and friendships. She also notes unequal treatment and sexist questions from reporters. In the present, Ervick's made the transition from soccer player to soccer mom, and unpacks the context of being in that first generation of American girls to grow up under Title IX, back through the history of women's sports and early "lady footballers." Her loose, colorful artwork, open page layouts, and lighthearted use of collage elements--vintage photos, clippings from her teenage diaries--create a casual style that belies the book's fierce intelligence. Like the best sports books, it's really about life: she gets into feminism, freedom, art, women's bodies, and the loneliness of the goalkeeper (she quotes from fellow keepers Camus and Nabokov). The result's a winning argument for women's sports as a gateway to freedom and self-determination. Agent: Susan Canavan, Waxman Literary Agency (Sept.)
Booklist Review
Ervick grew up playing soccer in 1980s Cincinnati on an all-girl's team called "The 1971 Cardinals." She became a goalkeeper--a position she held throughout her career--and played with and against some extraordinary athletes. As her friendships, team associations, and society's trajectory each run their courses, she reflects on gender roles, particularly how they played out in the world of sports, and then looks at how sports contribute to (or possibly interferes with) her more creative identities as writer, artist, and mother. Ervick is heavy on detail, including a lot of history throughout her memoir, particularly about Title IX's influence on women in athletics; she also investigates the parallels between her life and Vladimir Nabokov's, a fellow goalkeeper-turned-writer. The illustrations are inventive in their range of styles (realistic versus rougher and more draft-like) and media (watercolor versus heavier, more opaque paint). This thought-provoking title will draw readers' attention to the fiftieth anniversary of Title IX while also satisfying fans of graphic memoirs, sports, and feminist history.
