Mascot

Mascot is a middle-grade novel written in verse by two BIPOC authors. It is set in Rye, Virginia, a suburb just outside Washington, DC, where residents go to work, children attend school, and Friday night football brings the town together. Some people in Rye see the local mascot as racist, while others do not. An eighth-grade English teacher gives her class an assignment: debate whether the mascot should stay or be changed.

Six middle schoolers, each with a different background and set of beliefs, get pulled into the debate. The question has divided the community, and as neighbors take sides, the disagreement grows increasingly heated.