Mia and Friends: Mia Hamm and the Soccer Sisterhood that Changed History

Based on the true story of soccer legend Mia Hamm, Mia and Friends follows a group of young women who made history at the 1999 Women’s World Cup!

Despite being named after a famous ballerina, little Mia Hamm never cared for pirouettes. Instead, she chased the ball: baseball, basketball, and especially soccer. Since she was often the only girl on her sports teams, she had a hard time making friends. But when fifteen-year-old Mia made the U.S. women’s national soccer team, everything changed. All around her, young women tackled and dribbled, passed and kicked, scored, and screamed. They were just like her—but even more skilled. For Mia to improve, she had to play up to the levels of Michelle Akers, Briana Scurry, Brandi Chastain, and so many others. She was determined not to let her team down.

 Karlin Gray is not a soccer player or a sports star. But, like Mia Hamm, Karlin Gray grew up as a shy military “brat”, moving every year or two, and found some great friends along the way. (And coincidentally, she graduated from the same high school as Mia!) Karlin is the author of the biographies Nadia: The Girl Who Couldn’t Sit Still, Serena: The Littlest Sister, and Anne and Her Tower of Giraffes. Today she lives in Connecticut with her family.

Born and raised in New York City, Micheline Hess started her professional comic book
career in the early '90s with Milestone Comics. A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College,
she has several creator-owned works such as Malice in Ovenland, The Anansi Kids
and the All Saints’ Day Adventure, and Diary of a Mad, Black, Werewolf.

Micheline is adept at creating characters and stories that provide fun ways to inspire
young children, especially girls. She hopes to encourage a stronger sense of self-love,
friendship, and a hunger to embrace all things new and different in the world around
them.