Bea Mullins Takes a Shot

After Toronto’s Glenwood Middle School gymnasium floods, white-cued 12-year-old Bea Mullins, who would rather play video games than sports, thinks she’s finally found a way out of the athletic humiliation that is gym class—until school administrators encourage students to join a Glenwood-affiliated after school sports team that practices and competes in off-campus facilities. Bea’s athletic prodigy bestie, East Asian–cued Celia, persuades her to sign up for the Glenwood Geese, the school’s first all-girls ice hockey team; Bea begrudgingly agrees, if only because it’s her father and brother’s favorite sport and it provides an opportunity to spend more time with her BFF. At practice, Bea encounters ambitious Latinx teammate Gabi, who reveals that if the team can’t improve their game or secure capital through fundraising, this will be their last season. A sweet first crush and tertiary friendship drama compel Bea to examine her motivations, goals, and boundaries in Deibert’s promising sports-positive debut. Confident prose renders distinctively drawn characters alongside exhilarating hockey action, shining a light on girls in sports, specifically ice hockey. Ages 8–12. Agent: Kurestin Armada, Root Literary. (Feb.)