Gabby Torres Gets a Billion Followers by Angela Dominguez (Roaring Brook Press, 160 pages, grades 2-5). Gabby is an enthusiastic member of the Sea Musketeers, a club dedicated to preserving the oceans. At 9 years old, Gabby’s the youngest member, and she sometimes feels insecure at the meetings. When she suggests starting a social media account for the group, she’s surprised that everyone not only reacts positively but puts her in charge. At home, her parents tell her she can only go online when they’re supervising, and Mom helps her get the Sea Musketeers’ account up and running. But Gabby can’t help sneaking a peek a few days later to find out how things are going. While she’s delighted to find 100 followers, she’s also dismayed when she sees a comment saying that the club is stupid. Gabby immediately goes into detective mode, and no one is safe from her suspicions, not even her two best friends. When her parents start to receive irate phone calls, the truth comes out, and Gabby is relieved of her social media position and grounded for a week. She realizes that she needs to make amends with her friends, using one of her other budding talents–cookie baking–to do so, and at the next club meeting, she discovers a more age-appropriate way to contribute.

This is a cute series opener by the author of the Stella Diaz books (Stella, now a middle schooler, is the co-president of the Sea Musketeers.) I’m always happy to see a protagonist who’s still in elementary school, and Gabby has the enthusiasms and makes the mistakes that many a fourth-grader will relate to. The social media storyline got a little preachy, and also, what kid uses the term “social media”? I feel like the club would have decided to start an Instagram or TikTok account, or some fictional equivalent.

Chickenpox by Remy Lai (Henry Holt and Co., 240 pages, grades 3-7). Abby Lai is the oldest of five children, and at 12 years old she resents often being call on to supervise the younger kids. When all five get chickenpox at the same time, she knows she’s in for a rough couple of weeks. Compounding her worries are the difficulties she’s having with her two best friends and another friend who’s a boy and maybe a bit of a crush. As the itchy days go by, Abby has her share of frustrating moments, but she and her siblings also manage to have some fun, such as playing a game called Ghost that their mother has forbidden and starting a comic book lending library. When their youngest brother develops some complications and has to go to the hospital, Abby worries and realizes that she really does love her brothers and sisters. A few phone calls straighten out the friendship problems, and when quarantine finally ends, Abby has fading red spots and some interesting stories to tell to commemorate her time with chickenpox. Includes an author’s note with additional information about chickenpox and her family.

I’m glad Remy Lai has veered away (at least for the moment) from horror and back to a more lighthearted genre. In this semi autobiographical tale, she casts herself as the pesky younger sister who often gets in trouble and picks fights with all of her siblings. Older sister Abby is portrayed realistically and sympathetically, and each member of the large family has a distinctive personality. Fans of Squished by Megan Wagner Lloyd will no doubt enjoy this graphic tale of the ups and downs of being part of a large family.