Five new middle-grade graphic novels are full of fun, queerness, and young people navigating change, exploring crushes, and finding their strengths with a little help from family and friends.
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Stand Up! by Tori Sharp (Little, Brown Ink) is the joyful and fun tale of two queer, neurodivergent best friends on the drama club stage crew, who find confidence in charting their own paths as they turn their comedic skills to launching a podcast. Their relationship has the vibes of the best buddy comedies: They’re silly, supportive, and honest with each other, and their interactions and observations are often hilarious. No characters question or belittle them for being queer or neurodivergent (Clay has ADHD; Kyle is autistic); dramatic tension is created instead as the characters learn to stretch themselves personally and socially.
Nell of Gumbling: My Extremely Tiny Forest Adventure, by Emma Steinkellner (Labyrinth Road), is the imaginative and funny graphic novel/diary sequel to Nell of Gumbling: My Extremely Normal Fairy-Tale Life, told from the perspective of a girl living a very average life with her two dads in the land of Gumbling, a magical enclave of the modern world. On a school field trip gone awry, Nell and her friends will have to figure out how to work together and draw on each of their strengths as they confront old fears and new revelations—but that’s easier said than done. In addition to Nell’s two dads (who appear only briefly), we meet a new character who is nonbinary and see a romantic relationship develop between two of the existing girl characters.
How It All Ends, by Emma Hunsinger (Greenwillow Books), is the amusing and heartfelt story of 13-year-old Tara, who is starting high school after skipping a grade. She’s not sure if she’s ready, and her vivid imagination often goes down some quirky paths about what could happen. Tara is amusingly awkward but increasingly confident, with a distinctive view of the world and the many everyday challenges of growing up. There is humor here, yes, but there is also heart and hope and a sense that Tara—and by extension, readers—can find a way in the world.
Tegan and Sara: Crush, by Tegan and Sara Quin, illustrated by Tillie Walden (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), is a lightly fictionalized version of the lives of the queer, Canadian, indie-pop twin-sister duo, though set in the present day, not the 1990s in which they really grew up. It picks up right from the end of Tegan and Sara: Junior High, the first in the series, as the sisters are starting to get noticed for their music. This is more than a simple story of overcoming obstacles to find stardom, however. Indeed, stardom still feels a ways off, despite the growing recognition. Instead, the story is at heart about two sisters working through personal and social challenges, while also striving to express and stand up for themselves. It feels remarkably normal and relatable on one level, even as the thread of musical success adds excitement and interest.
PetWizards, by Kirk Scroggs (Union Square Kids), is an offbeat graphic novel adventure about Finch Eaglehawk, a PetWizard, born with the ability to control animals (but only the “etcetera” category of the animal kingdom, like naked mole rats). His love of bursting into glam rock musical numbers is incidental. The story pokes fun at tropes of chosen ones and superpowers to create something that’s simply silly and delightful.
