The perfect middle grade book for readers during The World Cup

Award-winning author Christina Diaz Gonzalez joins Tricia to discuss Offside, her new bilingual middle-grade graphic novel about soccer, friendship, ambition, identity, and finding the courage to use your voice.

Although soccer brings the characters together, Offside is also a story about young people learning to form their own opinions rather than simply inheriting the assumptions of the adults around them. Christina explains why she wanted her characters to have real agency, including the ability to challenge gender stereotypes, rethink competition, navigate conflict, and sometimes help their parents see the world differently.

The conversation also examines how much may be happening beneath a young person's behaviour. A student who appears selfish, overly ambitious, withdrawn, or uncertain may be responding to pressures at home, shifting friendships, injury, loneliness, or the fear of no longer knowing who they are.

Christina shares the thinking behind writing a graphic novel in which English and Spanish appear together as part of the characters' lives rather than as separate translations. She also discusses Palmer, a young athlete who must reconsider his identity after an injury keeps him from playing. Through writing and journalism, he discovers another way to participate in the game and another way to create change.

Tricia and Christina also talk about the literary complexity of graphic novels, Christina's highly improvisational writing process, her earlier career in law, and the habit that continues to fuel her creativity: asking "What if?" about the people, stories, and possibilities she encounters.

In this episode:

• Why young people should be trusted to navigate conflict and form their own views • How Offside challenges gender stereotypes and inherited assumptions • The complexity behind students' choices and behaviour • Why bilingual graphic novels can support belonging and language learning • What happens when an athlete can no longer define himself through sport • Writing and journalism as tools for participation and change • Why graphic novels deserve recognition as complex literary works • Christina's "pantser" approach to writing without a traditional outline • How curiosity and "what if" questions generate new stories

This conversation will interest educators, librarians, families, coaches, and anyone looking for books that help young people think about identity, friendship, fairness, and the many different ways they can contribute.