Bunt!: Striking Out on Financial Aid

Ages 14 to 18

From the creator of Check, Please!, a young adult graphic novel about a girl who loses her art school scholarship and cooks up a plan to win one game of softball in order to earn the school's athletic scholarship instead.

Molly Bauer loves her hometown of Peachtree, North Carolina. And her favorite part about her town is the prestigious art school, Peachtree Institute of Collegiate Arts. On the first day of attending this school of her dreams, the spunky freshman—buoyed on the native Peachtreeian Full Ride Scholarship—discovers her scholarship . . . is defunct. Rather than take out loans her parents can't afford, she uncovers a lesser-known scholarship in the PICA financial-aid policy book. If she and a dozen other art students can win a single game at the varsity level, they'll all be retroactively qualified for a PICA athletic scholarship. It's a softball scheme for the ages.

New York Times best-selling author Ngozi Ukazu returns with debut artist Madeline Rupert to tell an energetic story about college failure.

About the Author

Ngozi Ukazu is a New York Times bestselling author and the creator of Check, Please!, an online graphic novel whose printing campaign remains the most funded webcomics Kickstarter ever. She enjoys trekking through nature, giving talks at colleges, and all things fandom. Since 2020, her cartoons have appeared in The New Yorker.

Mad Rupert authors two ongoing webcomics: Sakana, a slice-of-life workplace comedy, and Robber-Robert, a sci-fi romance for mature readers. She has also worked extensively on comic adaptations of Cartoon Network properties like Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Steven Universe. "Mad" is short for Madeline, she’s not actually angry.