Gamers 1: Attempting Connection

by E. C. Myers

Overview

With nonstop in-game action, ATTEMPTING CONNECTION captures all the adrenaline of gaming plus its fierce power to bring people together.

It's one week into middle school, and Chell Park is already in the principal's office. Not ideal for a new girl.

But a chance meeting in line connects her to some kids who like gaming, just like her. First they compete against each other, and then they realize they could compete together.

Sure, gaming's been banned at Chell's house since her parents split up. But Chell can't just give up on something she loves, right? Quietly, she gathers the group into an esports team.

By the time they enter their first competition, the gamers are way more than just teammates — they're friends. And what Chell learns from gaming could even help her find a way forward at home.

ATTEMPTING CONNECTION features fast-paced online action and imaginative new games, but at its heart it's a warm and classic tale of a team coming together and teammates finding a place where they belong.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781645952688
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	05/06/2025
Series:	Gamers
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	5.78(w) x 8.52(h) x 0.94(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author E.C. Myers (he/him) won the Andre Norton Nebula Award for his first novel, Fair Coin, and is the author of the S0S Thriller series and several RWBY young adult books: After the Fall, Before the Dawn, Fairy Tales of Remnant, and Roman Holiday. His short fiction has been published in various anthologies, including Tasting Light, Mother of Invention, and A Thousand Beginnings and Endings. He has also cowritten several podcast serials, including Orphan Black: The Next Chapter, CTRL+ALT+Destroy, and ReMade.

Editorial Reviews

Exciting gaming scenes accompany gentle, emotional explorations of telling the truth even in the face of undesirable consequences. . . A refreshingly original high-interest, low-grit video game story.
—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2025-03-08
A beloved video game leads to new friends for a girl who’s just switched schools.

When Chell (with “a hard sound, as in ‘chair,’” thank you very much) Park gets called to Principal Gupta’s office, she can’t help but take the opportunity to play a round of Soapbox Derby while she waits. Three nearby kids take an interest in what she’s doing: injured athlete Mario Delgado, who’s cued Latine, Josh Bard, a “vampire pale” boy with hearing aids, and Alyx Achebe, whose Black-presenting family founded a successful baked-goods franchise. The four connect online and decide to start their school’s first esports team. Chell forges ahead, though she knows her mom would never agree; she was named after a character from her unemployed father’s favorite video game, and his gaming (which got him fired and which he often prioritizes over his daughter) is a source of conflict between her separated parents. Chell’s deception is bound to catch up to her, but the four seventh graders secure a faculty sponsor and try out for an exciting tournament, all the while growing closer and opening up to one another. Exciting gaming scenes accompany gentle, emotional explorations of telling the truth even in the face of undesirable consequences. Chell is implied biracial, with a Korean American dad and a mom who reads white.

A refreshingly original high-interest, low-grit video game story.(Fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews