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.