Published by Walker Books

Summary:  Talia’s dealing with lots of ups and downs at the beginning of middle school, but the worst is that her neighbor and best friend Dash doesn’t want to be seen with a girl at school.  When Talia joins the mathletes, she learns that she’s the only girl, and the coach and some of the other boys treat her disrespectfully.  Fed up, she decides to form her own girls’ mathletes team.  Her two best friends aren’t interested in being on the team, but they’re supportive and help her get things going.  Much to her surprise, sixteen girls show up to the first meeting, and before long, the Mathlete Mermaids are ready for competition.  At the big meet, Talia messes up, but she learns from her mistake, and the rest of the team does well enough to win.  The boys are shocked but see that their sexism has lost them some valuable teammates, and the two teams decide to merge.  Talia has mixed feelings about this but is proud that she stepped up and created a way for girls to shine in math. Includes additional information about codes and an author’s note about her own experience with mathletes.  240 pages; grades 3-6.

Pros:  Middle school graphic novel fans will enjoy this story of STEM girl power that includes a number of fun codes, and that does an excellent job of chronicling middle school friendship and family issues without neatly resolving them all.  

Cons:  I was hoping that Talia’s parents, who focused on her mistake at the competition instead of her team’s win, would learn a lesson or two, but no such luck.