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From Horn Book

July 1, 2024
This addition to the Brinkley Yearbooks graphic novel series (Picture Day, rev. 9/23) stands on its own. Alexandra Olsen -- or Al -- loves baseball. Her middle school's team has won nine back-to-back championships, and they are shooting for a "full decade of baseball dominance." With encouragement from the new coach, Al tries out and makes the cut; she becomes the only girl on the team. When the school's attention-obsessed athletic director calls in a news crew to report on the gender-inclusive baseball season, Al's teammates end up resenting her for hogging the spotlight despite her best efforts to share it. Meanwhile, the school's girls' basketball team is crushing it on the court, but their record-setting season is all but ignored. As Al tries to rebuild teamwork and trust on and off the field, her best friends are also branching out, joining the art club and resurrecting a retired school mascot (a goose called "The Brinkley Beak"). These friends are part of Al's stellar support system, which buoys her spirits as she reclaims and reframes her story. With bold black outlines, striking color work, and dynamic layouts, the art adds further depth to the well-paced plot, memorable characters, and well-realized setting. In one impressively delineated scene, characters converse clearly while playing a chaotic game of dodgeball. Rollicking and tender, this comic knocks it out of the park. Elisa Gall

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

From AudioFile Magazine

Em Grosland takes center stage as Al in this full-cast sequel to PICTURE DAY. The titular tryouts refer to the Brinkley Martians baseball team, which has never had a girl in its lineup. Talented catcher Al is the first, but the outsized--and unwelcome--attention she attracts threatens the team's cohesion. Lessons of teamwork and persistence ground the story, while swiftly paced dialogue adds humor. Greg Vinciguerra as Al's little brother, Theo, an aspiring play-by-play announcer, steals many scenes. In a subplot, Al's friend Viv (voiced by Felisha Wong) tries to resurrect Brinkley's former mascot, a goose, whose full hideousness will be best appreciated by kids who listen along with the print edition of this graphic novel. A solid hit. V.S. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine