This is a great book about middle school girls trying to find their place in the world. A diverse group of girls signs up to play soccer for their school not realizing there's actually three teams. The "C" team is terrible. They all have talents like music, drawing, and fashion, but none of them are any good at soccer. Even the coach is preoccupied with his phone and the team loses again and again. Through fights, fantasies, music, and, yes, soccer, the girls go on a journey of self discovery.

The book deals with gender identity and sexuality, fighting over love interests, and all the ins and outs of friendship. The artwork is fun and perfect for the story.

I found this to be a quite easy book to read with easy themes that I think young children will resonate with. However, the idea of trying to include all possible minority groups into one graphic novel felt, at best, overreaching and, at worse, offensive for the care and attention that these peoples deserve.

I read an ARC from First Second via NetGalley. This was a fabulous middle grade graphic novel about a fifth grade girl named Faith who joins a soccer team with some older girls. Faith looks at the soccer team as an opportunity to meet people socially. She is on the C team and it has quite an array of unique personalities who are all dealing with their own personal and social life challenges. She is befriended by some teens and sees other teens that seem like outcasts. I felt this was a really honest and current portrayal of middle school issues that aren’t always discussed. There is a broad spectrum of characters. While the art isn’t refined, it doesn’t take away from the story at all. It fits the youthfulness of the story. I found the story empowering for teens because it has a message for them to be themselves and find acceptance. Fans of Drama will like this as well.

The Breakways feature a group of misfit girls on a not-so-good soccer team. The characters were incredibly unlikable at the beginning except for Faith who is sweet and kind and learning to be brave. As the other characters' backstories unfold, you are reminded that you never really know what someone is going through so you should always be kind. This is a great message. However, the kids in this book really aren't kind at all. I obviously have mixed feelings on this one. I did like the diverse cast of characters, and how accepting they finally turn out to be, not to mention that middle school being difficult is realistic, but I was just very underwhelmed. I also didn't love the artwork, but that is a personal preference. I think my problems with this one may be more personal so I would probably still purchase the title for the library for the middle school graphic novel fanatics.

I liked this graphic novel, but I didn't love it. I appreciated the way the team finally came together to support one another, but it felt like Johnson was trying to fit everything into too few pages. There were also times where it felt like it was trying to be so inclusive and progressive that it seemed forced. Most of all, it was frustrating to only see snapshots of certain characters. It was almost as if I would have been happier to only have Faith's POV and skip the little inserts of secondary characters at home that just seemed random and thrown in. All of this to say, it was cute and I would still be able to recommend it to a handful of particular readers that have already decimated the graphic novel collection.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were realistic. The dynamics and plot were good. I liked the artwork as well. Great diverse cast of characters (POC and LGBTQI+). I would hand this to 10 and up.

The Breakaways: Bad at Soccer, Okay at Friends is a middle grades graphic novel. Faith is a brand-new fifth grader who is asked to join the soccer team. She does so because she wants to hang out with pretty, popular Amanda, who also plays. However, it turns out Faith has been put on the C Team, and they legitimately suck-- and Amanda's not even on C Team, but on A Team! Nevertheless, Faith meets the other players and becomes friends, despite how badly the suck at soccer, how different they are, and whatever drama they have going on at home.

This book is a perfect for juvenile fic tween book. The Breakaways features racially and ethnically diverse characters, characters who speak Spanish as a first language, characters who are trans and otherwise on the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, characters who live with single parents, characters who live in poverty, and more. And it shows --and can placate-- some of the anxieties new middle schoolers may face in regards to making friends, joining sports, and participating in electives.

The only downside is that the large cast of characters is kind of confusing. Perhaps with readers who are more accustomed to the graphic novel medium, it won't be so confusing, but I had to go back and re-read some bits to keep certain characters straight when instances happened with them later on in the story.

Really fun middle grades graphic novel about a team of middle school outcasts discovering who they are. LGBTQ and multicultural friendly.

The Breakaways is a LGBTQ comic and about sports and friendship, which makes it wonderful. I wish there would be more sports comics for girls! Faith starts middle school, but doesn't have any real friends and doesn't really fit in either. Suddenly the popular girl asks her to join a soccer team and she does thinking that they'd be friends, but Faith ends up on the C team and not A or even B and the team consists of girls not really into playing even. The team isn't even a team and everyone has their own drama. It takes the team their time to become one as the individual girls learn more about themselves and each other and find common ground - they get to be friends. It's a long road though, and not easy, which is great. I love how diverse The Breakaways is and how everyone has their own problems and views about things. It's a realistic story, but quite sporadic and hard to follow. Structure doesn't fully work, which is a shame.

The art looks rough and sketchy at times, but it's easy to follow and the flat colors both work and not at the same time. For younger readers this is good, since the art makes this easier to follow, when the story itself is slightly all over the place. The panels are clear and I enjoyed the facial expressions. I'm just not sure if this appeals to the target audience. The Breakaways feels like it's for adults that can looks back on their years instead of living them now and this could be a big problem. We'll see. Still, this is a good comic and once again something that is lacking.

Thanks for the galley, NetGalley! I enjoyed this one and loved the accepting attitudes of the middle schoolers in the story. I also liked that the girls in the story were still middle schoolers and teased each other, but were supportive of each other when it counted. It is one of the few middle school books I've read that features a trans character who is readily accepted by his friends when he decides to come out.

First Second does it again! I am not a sports fan at all, but I think this puts you in the mindset of a middle schooler perfectly. I could see readers of this growing older and liking Lumberjanes as the next series to read.