Published by Razorbill

Summary:  The book opens with Gabby struggling to walk five dogs and losing track of four of them.  How did she get into this desperate situation? She explains how she and her friends Mindy and Priya love animals but for one reason or another can’t have pets.  They brainstorm how to get more animals into their lives and come up with PAWS, a dog-walking business.  Right away, they find five clients, but a lack of communication among the three of them leads to a series of misunderstandings that threatens the business.  Which brings us back to the opening scene, when Priya and Mindy have stood Gabby up, and she is trying to walk all five dogs.  Fortunately, all three girls have a change of heart, and Priya and Mindy show up in time to rescue the dogs and the business.  They talk about how to fix their mistakes, and PAWS is back in business and ready for book 2.  176 pages; grades 3-6.

Pros:  This graphic novel is going to be very, very popular in my library with all those kids who love The Baby-Sitters Club and Allergic, with believable tween protagonists, cute dogs, and colorful artwork.

Cons: Mindy and Priya seem to have the upper hand because they’re both a year older than Gabby.

Published by Andrew McMeel Publishing 

Summary:  Maddie’s heartbroken when her mom tells her they can’t keep a stray dog in their apartment.  She decides to take him to Animal Rescue Friends, where she meets a girl her age named Bell and decides to volunteer.  Bell has a little trouble letting go of control, but eventually the two learn to work together and become friends.  A reformed troublemaker named Noah joins the group when he rescues a cat.  Over the course of five stories, the kids work together to take care of all kinds of animals and help them find new homes.  Includes 20+ pages about comics and how to create them. 160 pages; grades 2-5.

Pros:  If you’re a teacher who worked through the pandemic, you’re probably familiar with Epic!, a website where kids can read books online.  Apparently, they’ve started publishing some of their original works as paper books, including this one, billed as Book 1.  True to the Epic! spirit, it’s a high-interest graphic novel about kids helping animals, so sure to appeal to all kinds of readers.

Cons:  Animal Rescue Friends appears to have one adult working there, with 11-year-old volunteers making up the remainder of the staff; this may not present an accurate picture of how animal shelters actually work.

Published by Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

Summary:  Portico “Stuntboy” Reeves loves living in a castle, which is how he thinks of his apartment building.  He knows just about everyone in the building, including his neighbor and best friend Zola, and likes just about all of them, with the notable exception of bully Herbert Singletary the Worst.  When Portico’s parents announce they will soon be living in two apartments and start fighting over dividing up their possessions, Portico starts getting the frets, which is what he calls his anxiety.  He and Zola deal with this by imagining themselves as superheroes. Cartoon panels recap episodes of their favorite TV show, Super Space Warriors, which bear an uncanny resemblance to the Reeves parents’ fights.  When Portico finally figures out what’s going on with his family, he feels split in two, but his friends–including Herbert Singletary, who turns out to be not so bad after all–help him get through.  272 pages; grades 2-6.  

Pros:  I could scarcely contain my glee when I first heard about this collaboration between Jason Reynolds and Raúl the Third, and I am happy to report my expectations were met.  The text and the art work together beautifully, and I’m sure this appealing and highly relatable book will not spend much time lounging on anybody’s library shelves.

Cons:  There’s clearly going to be a sequel, but the ending felt unnecessarily abrupt.

Published by Etch/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary:  In this spinoff from the Click series, best friends Liz and Chanda are trying to make some money.  When their lemonade stand fails, Liz’s older sister hands over her dog-sitting job to the two girls.  They’re thrilled to get to hang out at the owner’s fancy home, raiding her closet and posting photos of themselves in luxurious surroundings.  When the popular girls see the pictures, they want a piece of the action.  Liz and Chanda invite one of the girls over, but she brings three more; in the ensuing chaos, an expensive lamp gets broken.  As the girls try to make amends, they learn some important lessons about responsibility and friendship and are able to bring about a satisfying conclusion for everyone.  Includes six pages of Q&A with the book’s creators and four pages showing how the illustrations were created.  216 pages; grades 3-6.

Pros:  There ought to be a name for the Raina Telgemeier/Victoria Jamieson/Shannon Hale/Jennifer Holm genre of graphic novels.  Whatever that name is, this book will have great appeal to fans of it.  It’s a realistic friendship story about irresponsibility and learning to make amends for it.  Hoping to see more books about Liz and Chanda.

Cons:  Chanda’s parents were kind of insufferable with their favoritism toward their older daughter. 

Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Summary:  A boy tells the story of his family in the present and through a series of flashbacks.  His older sister Laetitia, growing bored with life on the Blackfoot reserve in Alberta, moves to Salt Lake City.  The boy and his mother decide to visit her.  At the border, they’re asked for their citizenship, and the mother replies, “Blackfoot.”  This is not an acceptable answer for crossing the border into the U.S., nor will it allow them back into Canada, and the two of them are stuck at the crossing for days.  Finally, after the media descends on the station, the boy and his mother are allowed to cross into the United States.  They visit Laetitia, who has come to appreciate her family and heritage more and is considering returning home, before an uneventful trip back to Canada.  192 pages; grades 5-8.

Pros:  This brief but powerful graphic novel, based on a short story by the author, provides plenty of food for thought about the artificial nature of nations and borders and the impact they have on indigenous people who lived in those places long before the nations existed.  

Cons:  Several reviews recommend this for grades 3 and up, but in my opinion, the language and content make it more of a middle school book. It’s a deceptively simple story that younger kids may not fully grasp.

Published by First Second

Summary:  Charise tells the story of her childhood with her younger brother Daniel, from the time he comes home from the hospital through the next several years growing up together.  Each chapter is entitled “The Power of _____” (The Power of the Trick, The Power of Seeing and Knowing).  At first, Charise enjoys her unfettered power as the older sibling, and doesn’t care if Daniel gets hurt or upset.  But as she grows older, she begins to experience more guilt about abusing her power, culminating with an accident in which she breaks Daniel’s tooth.  Her parents blame her, and she considers herself a “bad sister”, but the truth is more nuanced, with parental dynamics and regular kids’ play/roughhousing playing a part.  The final chapter, “The Biggest Power”, reveals Daniel’s power to forgive, allowing Charise to admit to the traits that she admires in her younger brother.  Includes a photo of the real Charise and Daniel as kids.  240 pages; grades 3-6.

Pros:  This graphic memoir deserves a place alongside Raina Telgemeier’s, Jennifer and Matthew Holms’, and Shannon Hale’s books, and will undoubtedly be enjoyed by a similar audience.  Anyone who’s ever had a sibling will recognize the friendship, torment, guilt, and forgiveness that are all part of Charise’s and Daniel’s relationship.

Cons:  Young Charise was awfully hard on herself.