Cathy G. Johnson

Fifth-grader Faith gets suckered into joining the middle school soccer C team by popular eighth-grader Amanda. The C team players aren't good at soccer, mainly because they don't care; with Faith's help, they come to the realization together that they can be a team (friends) who don't play soccer, and instead play music, draw, and eat pizza together. It's a diverse bunch: one kid comes out as trans and is accepted heartily, another wears hijab, another speaks Spanish at home, and they have a variety of skin colors. Faith is an artist, and her imaginative stories and drawings are interspersed throughout.

"New things are part of the joy of life. You have to open up to them. Even if it's difficult."… (más)