Scout is Not a Band Kid by Jade Armstrong

Scout is obsessd with Pristine Wong’s fantasy series and when the author is scheduled to go to AlmonteFest, Scout is determined to attend. However, she needs money. Money. . . or a skill in trombone. The school band is also attending AlmonteFest for their final music competition so Scout signs up.

However, it’s not easy to fake skill at the trombone and Scout is assigned to uberserious, Type A Merrin who belittles and scolds her for her lack of interest in the instrument. Band is torture, can Scout survive the next three months?

This was a delightfully, adorkable graphic novel. Some readers may get annoyed with Scout as she causes her own problems with her laziness and disinterest in learning trombone. But she is rightfully called out by others and she soon learns to appreciate the skill and discipline involved in playing trombone and the friendships she makes with the other band kids. In fact, Merrin and Scout gave me serious Luz/Amity vibes although Armstrong did not make them go in the romantic way like in The Owl House. Still, it’s a delightful little novel.

Invisible by Christina Diaz Gonzales. Illustrated by Gabriela Epstein

A brain, a loner, an rich kid, a tough girl, an athlete. . . I did not initially see the reference to The Breakfast Club but Gonzales utilizes the premise in a fresh way. George is recruited to translate for Dayara, Sara, Nico and Miguel as they help the head cook for morning clean-ups in the cafeteria.

You have to get that community service in somehow even though George feels very uncomfortable in this new role. He doesn’t speak Spanish that well even though he can understand it, but it seems to be his lot to be smushed in with the rest of the latinx kids.

They don’t take kindly to him nor to each other until a common cause brings them together and lands them in the principle’s office.

Gonzales’ novel is unique as it’s prose is in English and Spanish so bilingual readers can feel seen and those learning can practice their Spanish skills. The bright visuals make it even more accessible. It also highlights the variety of the latinx community outside of the tired illegal Mexican migrant narrative but focuses on how with a little communication and understanding, our differences are nothing compared to the good a small group can do together.

Puzzled by Pan Cooke

This graphic memoir by Pan Cooke details the end of middle school for Pan and the burgeoning puzzle that is his OCD. What starts as a thought becomes a spiralling compulsion that causes Pan to doubt his memory and his feelings alongside with his daily issues of frenemies and bullies.

The biggest insight from this memoir besides it’s easy relatability and accessibility for young readers is that it introduces the concept of sub-OCDs. No, not the stereotype of being obssessively clean but symmetry-OCD, checking OCD and false memory OCD which is what Cooke deals with.

The New Girl by Cassandra Calin

Lia is not happy with her move to Canada. Her English is subpar and she is homesick for Romania. Ontop of the language barrier and her parents’ casual insistance that the move will be better for them in the long-run, Lia has to contend with fetal-position on the floor cramps during her period.

Honestly, the book is quite predictable as Lia finds friends in her ESL classes, gets into fights with said friends, adjusts to Canada and potentially finds a romance.

But Calin’s art just pops off the page and makes me want to read and draw all of the panals. Plus she gets that up and down feeling that is middle school adolescence with its dramatic highs, lows and sarcasm.

Mulan and the Palace of Secrets and Anna and the Mystery of the Mountains by Rhona Clearly

This original story envisions Mulan’s homecoming to be less than ideal. She’s a hero but everyoe expects her to be the dressed-up porcelin doll while shoving all their single sons at her.

Luckily for Mulan, all the husband-shoving is cut short when the Emperor calls her to the Imperial Palace to protect him from a group of insurgents called the Golden Tiger. Unfortunately, she doesn’t blend easily in the royal ousehold either as she is forced to spend time memorizing protocol rather than look out for assassins.

Clearly does a great job in depicting Mulan’s eagerness to serve her country, her awkwardness as well as her unique position as a “harmless female” and a warrior. The culprit is predictable as anyone who knows the main themes of Mulan can guess. But I still enjoyed Mulan’s adventure companions here in the form of everyone’s favorite Grandma Fa and Mulan’s begrudging respect for Chi Fu.

The one thing that brings down the novel is the art. Mulan and Shang are unrecognizable to me. I don’t mean because they’re not in the disney animation style but because of their faces. The artist draws them pie-eyed which gives them the unnerving look of constant alarm and/or surprised. It just threw me off.

Anna’s first celebration as queen is the Springtime Festival but it’s thrown in a disrray when rocks threaten to crush citizens. Anna is determined to find the cause.

Much like the sequel, the novel focuses not a specific villain to blame but the generational impact of humans on nature and the rest of the ecosystem. It’s a more thoughtful tone rather than the fast-paced adventures of the previous books in this series, and Anna is shown to be a mature and thoughtful leader dedicated to her people.

I’ll admit the message about working in harmony with nature felt too much. It’s a good message but it got repetitive near the end and felt like it dragged longer.

Pizza Face by Rex Ogle

While bullying has changed its face a bit with the induantation of the internet, this graphic novel brings it back to the basic hell that is middle school. I don’t think there’s many books centering around male puberty (at least none that have been thrown in my direction) so I found Ogle’s tale to be a unique yet honest look into his adolescence.

The youngest kid in his grade, Rex is dealing with the painful postules that make his face (and back) look like pepperoni. Ontop of his shortness, cracked voice and near-poverty existence. So not only do bullys rag on his appearence but Rex makes lots of mistakes himself, his horomonal rage and miscommunication turning his friends against him.

It’s tough, and you can understand his isolation while wanting to shake him for being a jerk. We tend to view girls as cliquish, backstabbers but boys can be just as bad ontop of the physical violence of schoolyard brawls to prove manliness.

But Ogle’s overall message is relatable in the painful lonliness of puberty, no one is normal and everyone is trying to catch up and fit in. So maybe you’re not as alone as one thinks.

Gravity Falls: Lost Legends by Alex Hirsch

This fun tie-in graphic novel introduces four tales taking place within the show’s timeline. For those fans who want more, Hirsch is given us more with the same clever storytelling, heartwarming character growth, jokes, horror appeal and meta. Plus lots of fun cameos.

The first tale features Pacifica and Dipper teaming up again to get Mabel’s face back from the underground black market. It’s primarily Pacifica’s fault and does a good job in continuing her backslides and growth from the Northwest Mansion Mystery episode. Also the panal where faceless Mabel freaks Stan out is hilarious.

The second tale is one I enjoyed a lot because it’s a tribute to graphic storytelling (I did mention the metaness right?) as Stan’s insult of the medium plunges the Mystery Shack gang into the stylistic multiverse of comic parodies. From manga to superhero to snoopy, it’s fun to see the gang comment on tropes and adventure in these stories.

Speaking of multiverses, the third tale brings us to the Mabelverse where fans can have a worthy answer to Mabel’s divisive actions in causing Billmageddon and her self-centeredness. It does a swell job of balancing the humor, glitter and growth of Mabel as well as a cute fight over the Stans on who’s a better caretaker. Spoiler alert, when it comes to identifying the right Mabel, they fail spectacularly.

The final tale has a bittersweet pathos/full circle moment by bringing us an adventure from the POV of the original Mystery twins when Stan and Ford hunt the Jersey Devil, forshadowing themes explored in A Tale of Two Stans.

This was such a fun novel that anyone who wants more Gravity Falls mystery and freaky history will enjoy.