Mascot

Mascot by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell is a compelling novel in verse for middle schoolers and upper elementary students that takes on the debate over whether a school’s team name and mascot, The Braves, is a proud tradition or a harmful stereotype.

The book approaches the controversy around Indigenous school mascots from a broad range of perspectives, while making clear that they perpetuate harm and must be changed. Set in Rye, Virginia, the story follows six eighth-graders, each with different backgrounds and beliefs, as they navigate clashing opinions, changing relationships, and the challenge of speaking up in a divided community. As the students grapple with the issue, their rich and complex identities reveal how personal history, culture, class, and experience shape how they see justice, tradition, and change.

Waters, a children’s poet and coauthor of African Town and Can I Touch Your Hair?, and Sorell, an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation and award-winning author of We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga and Powwow Day, bring depth, authenticity, and multiple perspectives to this timely story. Widely acclaimed, Mascot has earned honors including the 2024 American Indian Youth Literature Award (Middle Grade Honor), the Oklahoma Book Award for Young Adult, the Charlotte Huck Honor Award, and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award (Chapter Book Honor).