Mascot

Written as a novel in verse with six alternating narrators, the story follows a group of eighth graders at Rye Middle School in a suburb outside Washington, DC, as they clash over their school district's Native American mascot, the Braves. Over one school year, shifting friendships, deepening convictions, and a student-led campaign force each narrator to confront questions of identity, privilege, and belonging.

On the first day of school, the six narrators introduce themselves in Ms. Williams's seventh-period honors English class. Callie Crossland, a Cherokee Nation citizen with African heritage who has just moved from Oklahoma, immediately notices the offensive "copper-toned, muscled, loincloth-clad, tomahawk-wielding caricature" (3) painted on the cafeteria wall. Franklin Keys, a Black lifelong Rye resident, loves the Braves and considers football the community's backbone. Priya Bhatt, an Indian American school newspaper reporter, introduces herself through her journalism interests. Sean McEntire, a white student whose family has lived in Rye for generations, shares his love of fishing and reading. Tessa Östergaard, a white student transitioning from homeschooling, reveals her family's activist legacy. Luis Flores, a Salvadoran American student, shares his passion for soccer and poetry.

At the pep rally before the first football game, the students' reactions split sharply. Franklin, Luis, and Sean revel in the fight song and tomahawk-chop chants. Callie, wearing a Land Back T-shirt supporting Indigenous land reclamation, is so overwhelmed she flees to the restroom and vomits. Priya recognizes the rally as racism, and Tessa is stunned. That evening, a last-second field goal sends the crowd storming the field, while Callie stays home babysitting, grateful to avoid it.

Post-game energy carries into class, where Franklin leads classmates in singing the fight song. Ms. Williams redirects them to Langston Hughes's "Theme for English B" and assigns personal poems. The poems reveal deeper layers of identity: Callie declares her heritage and calls the mascot imagery white supremacy; Franklin shares ancestry traced to Benin and his frustration with being called an "Oreo," a term implying he acts white; Priya addresses assumptions about her English fluency; Luis describes the pressure of his immigrant parents' expectations that he become a doctor or lawyer when he wants to teach math; Tessa outlines her family's civil rights activism; and Sean reveals a life of caregiving for siblings and his grandmother, his faith, and his bond with his godfather Khalid, a Muslim soldier who saved his father's life in Iraq.

Inspired by Callie's poem, Ms. Williams assigns a persuasive project on the pros and cons of Indigenous mascots, pairing students and assigning each pair a single side. Callie and Franklin must argue pro-mascot, devastating Callie. Tessa and Luis must also argue pro-mascot; Tessa is outraged while Luis dismisses the issue as school pride. Priya and Sean must argue anti-mascot; Priya is well-researched, while Sean dreads public speaking. As pairs research, friction deepens. Callie's mother, a Native-rights lawyer, advises that overcoming people who claim to honor you requires knowing yourself and knowing them. Tessa bombards Luis with data from the National Congress of American Indians, a major Native advocacy organization; he tunes her out. Sean deflects Priya's research on Native student depression by comparing the mascot to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

At the homecoming game, Callie photographs a rival school's banner reading "Scalp Them Braves" (65), decorated with a bleeding Indian head, and reflects on colonial-era bounties paid for Native scalps. In a pivotal library session, she asks Franklin to imagine schools displaying mammies or pickaninnies, derogatory stereotypes of Black people, arguing that redface is as offensive as blackface. Franklin privately acknowledges she is right.

A turning point arrives on Columbus Day. Franklin's mother shows him a blackface minstrel video and introduces the concept of cognitive dissonance, the discomfort of holding conflicting beliefs. Franklin realizes that once the racism is visible, he can never unsee it. During the oral presentations, he publicly breaks from his assigned pro-mascot position, delivering an impassioned speech comparing the Braves to hypothetical racist mascots targeting Black, Muslim, and Asian communities, concluding the mascot is "an embarrassment" (111). Luis feels deeply betrayed and delivers his own speech, ending by quoting Malcolm X: "A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything" (114), directing the words at Franklin. Their friendship fractures in a bitter phone call, with Luis accusing Franklin of falling under Callie's spell and Franklin calling Luis jealous.

Priya launches a petition drive, coordinating with Callie, Franklin, Tessa, and Rye High students. Luis and Sean grow closer, bonding over working-class backgrounds and shared opposition to the change. At Thanksgiving dinner, when Franklin's uncle defends the mascot, Franklin says "Wrong" (127), silencing the room. By semester's end, the petition gathers over 600 student signatures and more than 900 from the community. Over winter break, Callie delivers the petition to the school board and flies home to Oklahoma, where she breaks down crying about how hard Rye has been.

The spring semester escalates the conflict. Basketball games become battlegrounds, with adults shoving each other in the stands and cyberbullying targeting the anti-mascot students. A museum visit exposes tension with Tessa, who appoints herself an unofficial guide at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, explaining exhibits she assumes Callie and Priya do not know about. Both are privately furious. In a separate visit with his parents, Franklin is deeply moved and asks his father to see that the mascot harms Native people the way racism has harmed Black people. His father listens and nods for half an hour, and Franklin feels truly seen.

At the school board meeting, Dr. Krystal Tsoodle, a Kiowa-Shawnee education leader and mother of the children Callie babysits, presents research linking mascots to violence and teen suicide among Native peoples. Callie shares her personal experience, and Franklin quotes civil rights activist DaShanne Stokes: "Discrimination is discrimination, even when people claim it's 'tradition'" (167). However, Tessa abandons the group's agreed-upon talking points for an extended personal speech until the board chair cuts her off. Sean yields his time to Mr. Lonnie Awohali Allen, a proud Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians member and Rye alumnus, who argues the mascot honors ancestors who survived the Trail of Tears, the forced removal of Cherokee people from their homelands in the 1830s. The group later confronts Tessa; Franklin tells her that her white skin is a protective force field she will never fully understand and that she cannot speak for any of them. Tessa storms out, claiming the effort would never have happened without her.

When the board delays its decision, Callie organizes a student walkout. She, Franklin, and Priya lead it and are suspended, while the high school holds its own walkout. Tessa marches quietly, holding a sign. She later apologizes and offers to set up a GoFundMe, promising to stay behind the scenes. Priya texts back: "Okay." The campaign accelerates: Franklin posts 70 research links on the harm of Native mascots, donations pour in, and Priya solicits new mascot ideas. At the decisive board meeting, the auditorium overflows. Priya announces students have raised more than $150,000, and supporters chant "Change it, change it, change it!" (219). Sean helps his grandmother to the podium, where she and Mr. Allen speak for tradition. The board votes five to four to change the mascot.

On the last day of class, Ms. Williams brings food to celebrate. Sean has no appetite, feeling the community's heart has been ripped out. Luis reflects on the year's unimaginable changes. Callie is grateful for a class that made the year bearable. At graduation, Ms. Williams speaks to each family: She tells Franklin's parents he has become a strong young Black man, bringing his mother to tears; she praises Luis's intellect and future as a teacher, causing his parents to beam with apparent acceptance of his dream. Franklin and Luis exchange brief, polite words before walking in opposite directions. Ms. Williams confirms she is leaving Rye because her spouse, Stella, is being transferred to Charlotte, North Carolina.

In the final section, the students look ahead. Franklin reflects that true change means working on oneself first. Priya plans a trip to India and journalism camp. Luis will visit family in El Salvador before starting at Bishop Derry High, a Catholic school his parents chose for him. Tessa decides to attend Rye High, proud the mascot will no longer be an embarrassment. Sean remains bitter but finds relief in his father's new job at Mr. Allen's restaurant and gifts from Uncle Khalid easing his family's financial strain. Callie cleans out her locker and passes the cafeteria, where the offensive image is covered by a cloth that will be gone before her brother Jay starts school there. She cheers for the district's new mascot: "Go Eagles!" (241).