• Age: 9 to 14
• Grade: 4 to 8
• Reading age: 9 to 10

Evan just wants to win a game. Bobby would rather fight than win.Hockey—and life—keep handing them both losses. Their team, the Strikers, has a roster of rejects in hand-me-down coats but lacks good equipment, a deep bench, and a coach who shows up on time. Their town of Flint, Michigan, has been down on its luck their whole lives. The boys may not understand each other, but together, they’ll find their reasons to keep taking the ice.Strikers is a hilarious, hard hitting, and moving story about how to stay on your skates when you only see L’s in your future.

Kiel Phegley is the author of over a dozen books for young readers. His work includes stories and comics starring popular characters like Sonic The Hedgehog, The Amazing World of Gumball and Halo. Strikers is inspired in part by his youth in and around Flint, Michigan where he read too many comics and played on a variety of sports teams poorly. A graduate of Hamline University's MFA in Writing for Children, Phegley lives with his family in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where is a lecturer on Children's Literature at Eastern Michigan University.

Kiel Phegley's profile page

Jacques Khouri makes animated films, works on commercials, teaches, and draws comics for a living. His influences range from animated cartoons to European and American comics. He currently lives in Montreal. You can find his work at ijotalot.com and jackkhouri.com. Please follow him on Tumblr or Instagram at @ijotalot.

Jacques Khouri's profile page

• Nominated, Great Lakes Great Books Award
• Winner, Michigan Notable Books
• Winner, Junior Library Guild Selection

"As the team bonds on and off the ice . . . they find support and stability in their relationships with one another while striving to get that elusive W." —Publishers Weekly

"Persistence in the face of defeat and disappointment defines a season of sports and adolescent life." —Kirkus Reviews

"A love letter to the Midwest. A heartfelt tribute to all the benchwarmers out there just waiting for their shot." —Dave Scheidt, author of Mayor Good Boy and Agents of SLAM

"Fun and heartfelt with a touch of nostalgia." —Gene Yang, bestselling author of American Born Chinese and Dragon Hoops

"Fueled with hockey and humanity, Strikers delivers absolute proof of what it really means to be a champion. Kiel Phegley and Jacques Khouri shoot and score big." —Brad Meltzer, bestselling author of the Ordinary People Change the World series

"Strikers is the best kind of underdog tale. Funny, heartfelt, and action-packed, filled with scrappy kids figuring themselves out both on and off the ice." —Mike Dawson, author of The Fifth Quarter

"While the story spends a lot of time on the ice with both games and practice, the interpersonal relationships, razzing, and camaraderie among the characters draw more attention. . . Readers who like their sports comics with both lots of action and vivid emotional dynamics are the best audience for this." — Booklist