Annie struggles to fit in when she moves from London to the midwest. Will Roller Derby help?

When Annie moves from London to small town Illinois, the last thing she expects to do is to join the Roller Derby team.

When Annie moves from London to small town Illinois, she struggles to fit in until she joins the roller derby team.

Annie's roller derby coach will be selecting the best girls for an all-star team, and Annie wants to be one of those chosen, but she is also dealing with a lot of distractions--like her break-up with Tyler and a surprise revelation from one of her teammates.

The Liberty Belles are finally winning. But Annie hurts her ankle. Will it heal in time for the bout?

Originally published: London: Raintree, 2013.

After tightening her laces with shaking hands, Lottie glanced at the other skaters, who had already rolled awkwardly around the big track. Each skater's unsteady movements made a low rumble sound that reverberated throughout the empty Armory. The pounding of skates on the wooden surface made it difficult to hear normal voices. The skaters glided and stretched their legs; up on the big track each person appeared larger than life. Lottie noticed that the guys looked so much bigger and faster than the small group of girls. Maybe, she thought, her father was right. What A League of Their Own is to women's baseball, Roller Babes is to women's professional roller derby. Set in the 1950s, Roller Babes dramatically captures the story of Lottie Karla Zimmerman's inspirational rise from the tenements of the Bronx to her stardom as the Roller Derby queen. Her road is anything but smooth as she tangles with love, loss, and the "bad" girls of the banked track. The widely watched yet underappreciated sport of Roller Derby comes to life in Roller Babes, reminding us not only of a simpler time but also of the power of the human spirit to overcome enormous obstacles.