How to Roller Skate with One Leg is a charming and relatable book. Told through fun, accessible realistic fiction, this story pulls readers into friendship with 12-year-old Maya, Vita and Miles. It is an honest, optimistic portrayal of limb difference following an accident. Hope and determination run through this story with a heroine readers will love.
Maya is an extraordinary girl with ordinary tween dreams. Rediscovering her Year 7 “Life Goals List”, she wants to achieve everything she hoped for before she lost her leg: get her ears pierced (again), learn to roller skate, have a fantastic birthday party and make up with her best friend. Sophie stopped talking to Maya after her accident. Heartbroken, this makes Maya feel even worse about her artifical leg and how it cost her the best friend she ever had. Fortunately, the delightful Vita and Miles have stuck by her side. Now, as Maya returns to school at the beginning of Year 8, she’s trying to live her best life and fix things with Sophie.
“Stubborn”, “spirited” and “determined” are all words that could describe Maya. She struggles to take no for an answer and hates to be told she can’t do something (like take the school bus, climb stairs or go roller skating). Not fully understanding the impact her accident had on her parents and their natural instinct to be over-protective, she struggles to slow down and listen to their guidance. Over time and through honest conversations, they gradually begin to see things from each other’s perspectives and come to a compromise that works. Maya must also come to understand how her friend’s felt when she was injured. It changed her life forever but they were changed too.
Inspired by author Ella Dove’s own experiences as an amputee, How to Roller Skate with One Leg is authentic and completely engaging. Maya is such a lovely character who will skate her way into readers’ hearts. Her voice is honest and so very clear as she tells her story of pain, hope and determination to be the girl she was always meant to be. Her leg isn’t going to get in her way and with great friends by her side, her future is bright.
Maya’s next adventure – How to do Paris with One Leg – is coming in March 2026! I can’t wait!
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