Roller Babes: The Story Of The Roller Derby Queen (Hardcover)

~ D. M. Bordner (Author)
Key Phrases: couple number eleven, red goof, skate bag, Ruby Dee, Elsie Mae, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

After tightening her laces with shaking hands, Lottie glanced at the other skaters, who had already rolled awkwardly around the big track. Each skater’s unsteady movements made a low rumble sound that reverberated throughout the empty Armory. The pounding of skates on the wooden surface made it difficult to hear normal voices. The skaters glided and stretched their legs; up on the big track each person appeared larger than life. Lottie noticed that the guys looked so much bigger and faster than the small group of girls. Maybe, she thought, her father was right.

What A League of Their Own is to women's baseball, Roller Babes is to women's professional roller derby.

Set in the 1950s, Roller Babes dramatically captures the story of Lottie Karla Zimmerman’s inspirational rise from the tenements of the Bronx to her stardom as the Roller Derby queen. Her road is anything but smooth as she tangles with love, loss, and the “bad” girls of the banked track.

The widely watched yet underappreciated sport of Roller Derby comes to life in Roller Babes, reminding us not only of a simpler time but also of the power of the human spirit to overcome enormous obstacles.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 260 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (December 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595675441
• ISBN-13: 978-0595675449
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,958,468 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roller Babes Rolls with Excitement!, May 7, 2008

By	Susan S. Sabin "susan s." (Stuttgart) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I found the novel to be more than entertaining. For me it was a blast into the past of a sport I was fascinated with in the 70's as I enjoyed Saturday afternoons watching Roller Derby on TV when I was already a fairly decent skater and dreamt myself
of being the next derby 'Queen'.
It wasn't until the late 90's I participated in a year of training on the banked track with a newly formed league then went strong for a short time.
I befriended some of the old time skaters who may be characterized in the book and heard some of their stories of occurred in training but I never knew the reality of the behind scenes interaction until I read D.M Bordner's true account of what he and the female skaters experienced first hand.
As a skater and trainer myself having skated maybe thousands of miles on the banked track, it felt very realistic to re-live these exhausting training sessions where afterwards one was rewarded with a feeling of elation for having "stayed in the pace line" and to the sounds of wheels racing around the track's surface. That's a special sound only the author could describe. It as well as other reminders from the story gave me a true case of goose bumps.
Lottie certainly displayed her true spirit and dedication to the sport and especially AS A sport rather than `just a show' which since I've been involved once again today with the "all-girl flat-track Roller Derby" continues to seek more Lottie's, Blond Bombshell's and Ruby Mae's. The story takes place at a time where it wasn't expected of women to play in sports, or even act un-lady like but these gals really defied what the public assumed and it perhaps helped paved the way for women to be more empowering and to be themselves.. We should all thank the author for this reminder.
I could not put the book down and I think everyone who enjoys heart warming and entertaining read with a story to tell, excitement to share and a genuine account of what it feels like to `skate in the pack' on at tiny oval track at high speeds, then this book is a must-read!!
In addition I highly recommend this novel for aspiring Roller Derby, retired skaters, or anyone with a goal and a dream. Reading this story will certainly encourage those with a dream to live it through and believe in one's self no matter what his or her personal past was.
That's how Lottie became "Queen" of the Roller Derby and she didn't step on anyone's toes on the way up...she trained hard and seriously and when the jealousy from the older skaters threatened her, she simply brushed them without a fight.. They say "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" and she certainly blossomed with strength & determination during her first six years as a skater not to mention those helluva set of `gams' she developed.
For today's Roller Derby skaters, this book will give them a clearer understanding of where their sport came from and that nothing is that easy and if you want to make
it as a skater today you've got to train hard, skate long and (literally) roll with the punches while skating towards those dreams with pride and faith to the end of the smelly locker room rainbow.

I

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Roller Babes" is a bit off track, June 29, 2006

By	Kevin Tipple (Plano, Texas) - See all my reviews

It's 1952 and fifteen year old, Lottie Karla Zimmerman, neighborhood tomboy does not fit in anywhere. She has a couple of friends in the Brooklyn neighborhood but usually feels the taunts and shame from boys and others because of her appearance. Home isn't any better where she tries to shield her much younger sisters from her father's drunken outburst. The only respite at home is when her Father leaves and the rest of the family gathers in front of the TV. On one such night, she is sees a broadcast of a roller derby match.

"Lottie drew even closer to the screen. Something shifted insider of her, thoughts filled with excitement. Images of herself, being one of them, part of an all-girls team awoke within her." Page 9.

Driven by a belief that the women of an all women team would be a family to her as well as a ticket out of a life she does not want, Lottie begins to pursue a future in Roller Derby. A future where she will be hated for being new, physically challenged by the rigorous demands of her sport, and made to suffer in everyway possible as she works to fulfill her dream of being the best at her sport.

What follows is an overall interesting and slow moving read that chronicles the next six years in her life as she finds out first hand that things would be far different than she imagined. Her personal pain, while the reader is repeatedly told how upset she is and how much it hurts, rarely comes through for the reader. Lottie is a somewhat stereotypical character with little development over the years as drawn as are most of the characters throughout the novel. Emotions while depicted repeatedly never really work. This flaw is glaringly obvious early in the novel in regards to the suicide of a friend and fellow teammate and her boyfriend. An area that could have been explored is virtually ignored and while the reader is told how much it hurts, before long Lottie has moved on.

The novel also lacks a significant secondary storyline. While it is not mandatory by any means to have a secondary storyline, if one is begun it should be used throughout the work. In this case the secondary storyline involves the "gruff but kind at heart" rink manager who is used to detail a back-story that abruptly ends without resolution in the first third of the work. That storyline should have been removed since it was not used in order to speed up the work and move Lottie forward in her own story.

A story, despite the criticisms involving the storytelling, is overall interesting. Using her experiences, the author paints a world where Lottie and many of her teammates succeed despite racism, homophobia, economics, injury and a host of other problems. In so doing, the author immerses the reader through extensive detail into the world of the roller derby.


Kevin R. Tipple (copyright) 2006

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Roller Babes tells it like it is., June 10, 2007

By	News Nut (Louisiana) - See all my reviews

Roller Babes takes the reader deep into the world of Roller Derby. While this sport is fasinating in of it self, it is the characters that exsist in this book that help drive it. Lottie is a very relatable and likelable character, as she pushes forward, following her dream even as those around her fall and fight. It is her passion and love of trying to better herself that makes her so great. Lottie sees roller derby as the way she can become the type of person she always wanted to be, strong and confident and doing what she loves. This book really captures the spirit of roller derby. This sport is full of colorful characters who all have their own unquie reasons for getting into RD. But the one thing that connects that all is a drive, a sisterhood that keeps them coming back day after day.

Rollerbabes captures that love, and presents it in all of its forms, good and bad.