I found this book to be overall fairly standard from a younger reader graphic novel genre. Although I did enjoy the book myself I do think that there were places where the books seemed to slow. I will say one of the biggest things I appreciate is the diversity in the book I know that racquetball is becoming more popular now but everything I've seen around it involves just white people. It was so refreshing to see diverse kids struggling in a way that was not about their race. I also really appreciate it be involvement of arrival versus a villain in this

Wanted to love this one, but found it okayish/good. The good was because on its core it had so much I liked and the foundation was there. The okayish was some of the execution, but I am picky so maybe it is just me.

Winning parts:
- Black bestie who is quirky and has a sweet family who gets to just.. be sweet and cute. They were the full win of this graphic novel for me.
- Single dad rep
- Conflict of teen/parent communication struggles (parents are usually just not in the picture starting around this age and I like having them in the mix to add models/entry points to think about all the relationship dynamics for pre/teens!)
- growth mindset/ resilience theme
- girls doing sports!


Room for growth
- Character depth
- plot
- Overall voice felt like an adult writing a kid ish voice at times..

I hope this one works for some kiddos!
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fun graphic novel about finding friends, dealing with your parents, learning about yourself, and racquetball. This book will peak the interests of upper elementary and middle grade readers who like lighthearted stories they can relate to set in spaces that might not be exactly their lives (not sure how many 8th graders have intense last-place tournament match rivalries with deaf racquetball opponents). The art style keeps the tone breezy and fun even when the story digs into more serious friendship and family moments.

I loved this! It was such a cute and simple graphic novel but Rosie and Blair have such a great dynamic friendship it's well worth a read. It deals a lot with pressure from parents and finding your own passion and place in the world. It was very wholesome and I loved how they included a deaf character as her rival and how that dynamic was done.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this in advance of its publication.

I liked the art style and I loved Blair. Had some issues with Rosie and her temper.

I really liked this graphic novel -- way more than I expected. Love the message of being yourself in true friendship and the value of real sportsmanship vs the focus on winning.

Ooof. What a cool read.
I love graphic novels about sports in general and wish there were more of them so I was thrilled to get an advanced reader copy of this one.
Rosie has a racquet-ball obsessed dad who pressures her into playing, but she’s miserable and would rather quit. Until she meets Blair, the new kid at school who is also obsessed with racquet-ball, but in a nice, kind, no-pressure kind of way.
I found the contrasts of Rosie and Blair’s family dynamics really moving, and the self doubt Rosie struggles with as a result of a parents pressure is a kick in the gut.
Huge thank you to First Second and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you First Second Books and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this fun book. This is a great story of friendship, family relationships, and racquetball. I enjoyed the diverse characters, wonderful story, and a great, organic way of conflict resolution. A delightful, quick read that I can’t wait to share with my students.

This is a cute graphic novel that spotlights friendship. I loved that they played racquetball. So fun to introduce kids to something different. There are little lessons throughout the book that are great for kids to read.

A cute story about friendship and the importance of communicating your feelings. The art style was cute and easy to follow.

Thank you to First Second and NetGalley for the eARC!

MATCH POINT! is a really cute middle grade contemporary graphic novel about friendship, sports, and believing in yourself. I think this would appeal to fans of the MG contemporary novel Sidetracked.

Rosie's dad has one goal for her: he wants her to follow in his footsteps and become a racquetball champion. But Rosie does NOT like racquetball, and she's definitely not champion-material. But that may change when she makes friends with new girl Blair...

I loved learning about racquetball through the story — I've read a lot of sports-related MG but this was a sport I hadn't seen before! The story itself was really cute and heartwarming, with lots of humour throughout. I loved the diversity in the different side characters in the story, and thought the friendship drama was really realistically portrayed.

The illustrations were cute and colourful, with some great sports sequences throughout. This was a really fun graphic novel and I'll definitely check out future work from the author!

Rosie Vo lives with her dad ever since her parents' divorce. Her dad is obsessed with racquetball, and still wears a t shirt from the championship he took part in in 1981, making him a bit old for a middle grad father. He's highly critical of Rosie's skills and is desperate for her to do well, but this backfires, since she hates the sport because of his micromanaging. She has a rival, Erika Garcia, who is deaf, and who bedevils Rosie with taunts. When Rosie is texting Erika back while riding her bike (Don't do this! It's dangerous!), she crashes and is helped by Hayden Blair, who likes to be called Blair. Blair is obsessed with raquetball and loves to play. She's just moved from Maryland with her older brother and very supportive parents, and the two become friends. Rosie has a plan to enter a raquetball tournament but have Blair play in her place so she can have a medal with her name on it, but as the girls spend more time hanging out, Rosie feels a little better about her skills. Will she finally make peace with the sport? This was a fun book, and I loved Blair's dumpster diving family. I wish the author had written about her experiences with soccer or skateboarding, though; in 25 years of teaching, I've never heard of a student playing racquetball. Not that this will make any graphic novel a hard sell, but if I had a SKATEBOARDING graphic novel, that would be GOLD.

I adored this graphic novel wholeheartedly and overall felt like it was a quirky and fun story that kids and adults alike will enjoy. I was not familiar with anything about racquetball before reading this, and am still a little bit fuzzy on the details, but felt like this book adequately used story and illustration to introduce me to a whole new sport. I adored the friendship and rivalry arcs as well as the depiction of a very complicated father-daughter relationship. I also really admired the representation of ASL into a graphic novel format. Diverse and well-rounded, this is one of my favorite reads of 2023 so far!

Match Point!

Another great sports graphic novel due out in September of 2023. It's bound to be a smash it with middle grade readers!

This was a cute graphic novel! I liked getting to learn more about racquetball and I really enjoyed the friendship in this story. That was definitely the main highlight. It was a nice book overall and I think it would be great for older elementary to middle school aged kids.
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with an early copy in exchange for an honest review!

Good friendship story based around a sport not featured in many books! A good rec for the 9-12 crowd looking for something new and have read all the Miller and Telgemeier already.

This was such a cute graphic novel about a friendship between 2 girls one who loves racquetball and one who hates it. Rosie’s dad keeps pushing his hobby of racquetball at her and she is just not good at playing it and actually dreads hanging out with her dad because of it. New kid Blair moves to town and she loves racquetball so when Rosie meets her and they become friends she has the best idea that Blair can play as her in the tournament and win a medal for her so she can stop having to play and show her dad that she could do it. I love that Rosie plays with Blair and her family and has a great time but when she plays with her dad afterwards he is just pressuring her so much to be great like him since what he enjoyed about the sport was winning medals and he keeps making the game not fun for her. All in all a great book about friendship and believing in yourself.
Thanks to First Second Books and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

Love the diversity and the friendship that was built. Great artwork and fast read. Would definitely read more from this author.

This was a good read. I cannot wait to add it to my classroom library this fall. My students enjoy graphic novels, and I’m happy to add one about sports to the mix. The representation present in the book will be appealing to students.

I was so glad to read MATCH POINT, a sweet middle grade graphic novel set in the world of racquetball. Rosie wants nothing more than for her winning-focused dad to get off her back and let her quit the sport she has come to despise. Then she meets new girl Blair, a humble but totally talented racquetball player, and Rosie hatches a plan. To be honest, I've never even seen a racquetball match, let alone play, so it was really cool to learn about the sport!

This book hits the sweet spot for my classroom library of being both a graphic novel and about sports, so I know it will always be in students' hands this fall. I appreciate that it has some awesome representation - not just of a sport we don't hear about often, but also racially and single-parent family rep too. I think a lot of my students will connect with Rosie and her relationship struggles with her dad, while others will totally get Blair's situation as the new kid who wants a fresh start.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance digital copy of the book!