Mind the Middle: Middle Grade Olympics by author Sally Engelfried

This year’s Summer Olympics marks an exciting and historic milestone for women and girls: for the first time ever, there will be an equal number of male and female athletes competing. Compare that to the less than 5 percent who participated way back in 1900, the year women were first allowed to compete, and it’s clear we’ve come a long way.

In the spirit of this positive change, these five middle grade novels each focus on a girl who is passionate about sports featured during the summer Olympics. As the International Olympic Committee states, “Every opportunity provided for women’s sport and female athletes in the Olympic Games has a flow-on impact for the promotion of gender equality, and the opportunities that are given to women’ athletes around the world.” But as these novels show, it’s not just about the sport itself: in each of these books, the protagonist embraces her chosen sport as a deep part of her identity. The sport in turn gives her community and friendships and boosts her confidence, determination, and ability to persevere in the face of life’s challenges.

BASEBALL

Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen by Sarah Kapit

Vivy loves baseball and has been perfecting her knuckleball pitch, so when she’s invited to join the Flying Squirrel boys’ team, she’s over the moon. Her mom worries that her focus on baseball might be part of the obsessive behavior that comes with her being on the autism spectrum, but to Vivy, it’s a dream come true. In this epistolatory novel, Vivy shares her baseball journey in a correspondence with a professional baseball player that helps her learn to express herself more fully in both baseball and life.

Women in baseball at the Olympics: Baseball/softball (they link the two when considering gender equity) in the Olympics is less consistent than many other sports—it’s been included in less than half of the Summer Olympics, sometimes as tournament and sometimes as a demonstration. We will not see baseball this summer in Paris, but it will be back in 2028!

FOOTBAL (aka SOCCER)

The Beautiful Game by Yamile Saied Méndez

Valeria “Magic” Salomón is a great soccer player and has played on the boys’ team for years. Then the ultimate symbol of girlhood messes with her winning streak: her period. When her team and her abuelo coach are less than supportive, Valeria finds herself on a girls’ team for the first time ever. With only a month to go before a big tournament, she must figure out how to give a second chance, not just to the team she’d previously dismissed, but to herself.

Women in football at the Olympics: Soccer was the first team sport played at the Olympics, way back in 1900 (although it wasn’t officially recognized as an Olympic sport until 1908). Women’s soccer was added in 1996, and Team USA took home the gold that year.

SKATEBOARDING

Learning to Fall by Sally Engelfried

When Daphne goes to stay with her recovering alcoholic dad for the summer, she doesn’t think she’ll ever trust him again. When she was young, she shared his passion for skateboarding, but after he let her down one too many times, she put her board away for good. Inspired by a new friend to try skating again, the sport is what finally draws her and her dad together again and helps Daphne understand that grownups make mistakes too.

Women in skateboarding at the Olympics: Skateboarding was featured as an Olympic event for the first time ever at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The seven skaters in the final heat of the Women’s Skateboarding Park event won the Fair Play Award for lifting up Misugu Okamoto when she fell during her trial.

SWIMMING

Flip Turns by Catherine Arguelles

Maddie likes swimming on Team B because it’s less pressure than Team A, which works well with her anxiety. For Maddie, swim team is less about competition and more about the community and friendships she’s developed from swimming on the team. When Maddie receives unwanted attention from a boy on an opposing team, it’s her swim team friend Ez who recognizes it as sexual harassment, which helps Maddie address it for the serious situation it is.

Women in swimming at the Olympics: Swimming has been a part of the Olympics since the first modern games in 1896, but women weren’t allowed to compete until 1912. The 2021 Summer Olympics marked the first time men and women swam in the same race, the 4×100-meter mixed medley relay.

WRESTLING

Takedown by Laura Shovan

Mikayla’s interest in wrestling grew from watching her wrestling brothers get attention for it from their dad. When she starts wrestling too, she becomes one of the best wrestlers on the local recreational team. But when she decides to push herself to join a travel team she has to stand up to coaches and her family who pressure her to hold herself back and stay in the rec level. In the sport and in her personal life, Mikayla learns to brush off disappointments and get back to work.

Women in wrestling at the Olympics: Wrestling has been a part of the Olympics since 1896, but women weren’t allowed to compete till over 100 years later, in 2004. The number of U.S. high school girls competing in wrestling has quintupled since 2013, which will no doubt affect future Olympics!

For more information on the authors:

Connect with Sarah Kapit on her website (www.sarahkapit.com) or Instagram (@sarahkapit)

Connect with Yamile Saied Méndez on her website (yamilemendez.com) or Instagram (@yamilesmendez)

Connect with Sally Engelfried on her website (sallyengelfried.com) or Instagram (@sal_eclaire)

Connect with Catherine Arguelles on her website (catherinearguelles.com) or Instagram (@arguellescath)

Connect with Laura Shovan on her website (laurashovan.com) or Instagram (@laurashovan)

Filed under: Middle Grade, Middle Grade Fiction, Mind the Middle, Mind the Middle Project