WAY OFF TRACK

A budding track star desperately wants new sneakers but instead needs to learn a few life lessons.

When Nansi loses a race to her nemesis, Tania, it never occurs to her that Tania may have trained hard for her win. Instead, Nansi becomes fixated on Tania’s expensive kicks; she’s certain that with the same sneakers, she could regain her spot as the fastest kid in seventh grade. Confident Nansi narrates with a sense of braggadocio, though she acknowledges the importance of her two best friends, Ayesha and Angela, and her family—even as she constantly eschews their advice while hatching her schemes. Crisp, digitally rendered artwork makes for easy-to-read panels, while cleverly funny storytelling renders the plot points accessible for young readers. Nansi may not initially seem like much of a role model initially; she even blackmails her brother into covering some of her shifts at the salon where she’s started working. But she’s undeniably charismatic and relatably naïve. And despite running into challenges, she learns plenty along the way, because her support system wouldn’t have it any other way. Nansi and her family are Black; the use of patois implies Jamaican heritage.

A thoughtful tale of a speedy youngster whose path to maturity is slow and steady.