Review of The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich, by Deya Muniz

Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Romance, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich

by Deya Muniz

Little, Brown and Company, 2023. 250 pages.
Review written June 20, 2023, from a library book
Starred Review

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich is a delightfully fun and light-hearted graphic novel about a young noblewoman named Cam who must pose as a man in order to inherit her father’s estate. She moves to the capital city to be far away from the people who knew her before her father’s death – and catches the princess’s eye.

The two of them do many things together, including enjoying grilled cheese sandwiches. (Everyone in the capital city has a name that’s a type of cheese.) As they fall in love, Cam realizes she can’t take things any further because she needs to keep her secrets. And nobody likes to find out the one they love has been hiding who they really are.

I was rather amazed this is a debut. The drawings are wonderful – I especially loved all the outfits. Cam keeps her hair long but wears fake sideburns and nice suits when posing as a man, and it wasn’t too hard to believe that she could have fooled people. (Maybe a little hard. But not too bad, because she did look like a well-dressed young man.) There’s variety in the panel sizes, and the story keeps moving at a nice pace. It only took me about an hour to read, and left me smiling.

I’m writing this before discussing anything with the Morris committee, so my opinions are entirely my own, and I’ll have to wait to publish this review until after we’ve made our decision. But I am looking forward to more from this author, and I think teens are going to love her work.

lbyr.com
theNOVL.com

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Review of Dan in Green Gables, by Rey Terciero and Claudia Aguirre

Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Dan in Green Gables

A Modern Reimagining of Anne of Green Gables

by Rey Terciero and Claudia Aguirre

Penguin Workshop, 2025. 252 pages.
Review written October 9, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

You know I had to read this book because of what an L. M. Montgomery and Anne of Green Gables fan I am!

This is not a retelling of Anne of Green Gables – it didn’t have very many parallel incidents or try to stick to the storyline (which is honestly pretty episodic, anyway). But the set-up parallels Anne’s situation:

Red-haired and freckled, 15-year-old Dan has been moving from place to place with his mother all his life. One day without warning, she takes him to the Tennessee home – complete with green gables – of his dead father’s mother and father – his Mawmaw and Pawpaw. Mawmaw is warm and welcoming, but his grandfather is immediately put off by Dan’s obvious queerness.

When his mother leaves without warning the next morning before Dan wakes up – Dan has to find his place there. Like Anne, he asks a lot of questions at church. Like Anne, his flamboyant presence at school makes a stir. Like Anne, Dan is rather dramatic in expressing himself. Though the details for all those things are quite different with a queer kid in 1995 small-town Tennessee instead of an orphan girl in 1800s small-town Prince Edward Island.

But like Anne, the beauty of the story comes in watching Dan settle in, make friends, find a home, and win the love of his two elderly caretakers – even the cantankerous one.

This is a graphic novel, so it’s a quick read – but packs a heart-warming punch.

rexogle.com
PenguinTeen.com

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Review of Creaky Acres, by Calista Brill & Nilah Magruder

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Starred Review 0

Creaky Acres

by Calista Brill and Nilah Magruder

Kokila, 2025. 268 pages.
Review written October 15, 2025, from a copy sent to me by the publisher.
Starred Review

Creaky Acres is a sweet graphic novel about moving – with a horse. Nora is in upper elementary school, and as the book opens, we see her saying good-by to friends at school – and then much more warmly to her friends at the barn. Her horse, Hay Fever, has many blue ribbons by his stall.

Their first stop at their new home is Hay Fever’s new barn, Creaky Acres. Nora is not impressed. There’s a goat and possums roaming around, and one kid rides on a cow. And they don’t even go to riding events. Nora’s the only Black girl in the whole school.

So this is a book about learning to love a new place, and it’s got all kinds of charm. Although Nora has won plenty of riding events in the past and takes care to do things right, now she’s got a persistent problem of not keeping her eyes up when she goes over jumps.

We watch Nora make quirky new friends and come to terms with Creaky Acres, and even lead a team to a riding event. This is one of those books that will leave you with a smile.

calistabrill.com
nilahmagruder.com

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Review of Song of a Blackbird, by Maria van Lieshout

Graphic Novel, Historical, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Song of a Blackbird

by Maria van Lieshout

First Second, 2025. 256 pages.
Review written October 27, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

This historical teen graphic novel is set in Amsterdam in 1943 and 2011, with maps on the endpapers showing important buildings in the city at both time periods. Notes at the back tell how the author took actual historical people and incidents to craft this story of Annick’s grandmother, who learns when being tested for a bone marrow match that the people she thought were her siblings aren’t related to her at all. Annick sets out to learn her grandmother’s background, using a series of prints of buildings in Amsterdam to lead her to the truth.

And we get a parallel story of a young woman in 1943 Amsterdam who learned that Jewish people were being deported, possibly to their deaths, and got involved with a group who were saving children from this fate. And then she got involved with a group of printers who were forging documents, because a priest wouldn’t take one more boy unless they had more ration cards.

There are more adventures in 1943, including a bank heist (based on an actual heist), but also some executions. In 2011, Annick follows the pictures to find out what really happened to her grandmother during the war.

It’s all skillfully done. A blackbird narrates both time periods, representing hope and art. Maria van Lieshout uses actual historical photographs of buildings in Amsterdam in the 1943 sections. And she makes you care about the children and about those who risked their lives in the resistance. The author goes back and forth between time periods smoothly, and helps us understand that the story plays out in the same city, in the same buildings, almost 70 years apart.

This graphic novel is a stunning work of art that makes a powerful statement.

vanlieshoutstudio.com
firstsecondbooks.com

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Review of The Cartoonists Club, by Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Starred Review 0

The Cartoonists Club

by Raina Telgemeier & Scott McCloud

Graphix (Scholastic), 2025. 282 pages.
Review written October 9, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

The Cartoonists Club is a collaboration between the wildly popular middle grade graphic novelist Raina Telgemeier and Scott McCloud, who wrote the book Understanding Comics that both my kids read and absorbed when they were approximately middle school age. Although they didn’t ever try to do it professionally, both of them made some comics of their own after reading that book.

It turns out that Raina Telgemeier also read the book when she was a teenager – and it encouraged her interest in making comics, which led to her tremendous success. (This is from an Author’s Note at the back.)

Well, Raina got to meet Scott McCloud in the comics community, and he was always encouraging. So she got the idea to work together to make a version of Understanding Comics that’s actually targeted for middle school readers. This book is the result.

And they succeeded wonderfully in their mission! This book is not nonfiction like the original. It tells the story of four kids in middle school who like making comics and who form a club. Along the way, with their knowledgeable staff sponsor, they learn about the basics of comics, they collaborate together, they learn to dare to share their work, and they even make and print their own mini-comics.

It’s a great story – the four kids are people we root for, each with different interests. And it also gives great information. There’s a link to a website with even more resources, scholastic.com/cartoonistsclub. I hope that lots of kids will form their own Cartoonists’ Clubs after being inspired by the example in this book.

scholastic.com/cartoonistsclub
goraina.com

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Review of Fresh Start, by Gale Galligan

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel 0

Fresh Start

by Gale Galligan

Graphix (Scholastic), 2025. 282 pages.
Review written May 27, 2025, from a library book.

I continue to believe that a graphic novel is the perfect format for the semi-biographical middle school story. You can show all the emotion, all the conflict, all the embarrassment, and even the imagination.

Fresh Start joins the many classic stories that fit that description. Our hero is Ollie (not the same name as the author this time), and her family has just moved from Germany to Virginia – much like my own family did (but I was an adult, though my youngest was not). This is only one of many moves for Ollie’s family, and she’s a little rattled when her parents announce they’ve decided to settle down. Ollie may have to actually make friends.

And of course that isn’t easy. And there are mistaken first impressions and other difficulties to navigate. Ollie is also half Thai, and her mother wants her to get involved in the Thai community that turns out to be there – including Ollie’s blonde classmate she thought was the perfect American.

So this is a graphic novel about navigating a new school, pressures from family and friends, and navigating blended cultures. So it’s similar to many books along this line – but Ollie has her own unique quirks and she will find an audience ready to be her friend.

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Review of Chickenpox, by Remy Lai

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Starred Review 0

Chickenpox

by Remy Lai

Henry Holt and Company, 2025. 235 pages.
Review written July 15, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review

You’d think stories about chickenpox would lose their popularity now that today’s kids are almost all vaccinated. But this graphic novel is hugely popular at the library – a fictionalized version of the author’s family when all five of them came down with chickenpox.

We’ve got the perspective of Abby, the oldest – who is horrified at the thought of ten days with her siblings when they all come down with chickenpox. When the younger ones squabble, Abby as the big sister is generally the one who’s told she should calm things down.

And while Abby’s out of the action, there’s some friend drama at school – which of course her younger siblings only make worse if they get the slightest whiff of what’s going on.

But most of my fondness for this graphic novel came from nostalgia. Because when I was in second grade, my older sister brought home chickenpox, and the other four of us all caught it and stayed home from school together for two weeks. I was third, not oldest like the protagonist – and my parents went on to have eight more kids. But when we had chickenpox, there were five kids, just like in this book – and yes, the chaos seems accurate.

I still say there’s nothing like a graphic novel for conveying the chaos and intense emotions of middle school. Turns out, it’s also great for showing the chaos of a big family of kids all home with chickenpox.

remylai.com

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Review of Doodles from the Boogie Down, by Stephanie Rodriguez

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel 0

Doodles from the Boogie Down

by Stephanie Rodriguez

Kokila, 2023. 204 pages.
Review written June 28, 2023, from a library book.

This graphic novel is reportedly not exactly an autobiography, but tells about an eighth-grader named Stephanie who lives in the Bronx and wants to go to a high school for the Arts in Manhattan rather than continuing in Catholic school, as her mother wants her to.

Trying to talk with her mother about it when she got the idea didn’t go far. So Steph does some lying to get to work with the art teacher on her portfolio.

Meanwhile, she’s having adventures learning more about art, enjoying activities with her friends, and navigating middle school. But what will happen when her mother finds out about her schemes?

I still think that graphic novels are the perfect form for middle school memoirs. The author says this isn’t quite a memoir, but it does come with all the emotion of living it.

stephguez.com
Penguin.com/kids

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Review of The Deep Dark, by Molly Knox Ostertag

Award Winners, Graphic Novel, Paranormal, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Deep Dark

by Molly Knox Ostertag

Graphix (Scholastic), 2024. 478 pages.
Review written February 18, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
2025 Printz Honor Book

This graphic novel is the story of Magdalena, a teen graduating from high school and living in a desert town in California. Mags has secrets, and she doesn’t let anyone get close. Her main secret is behind the trapdoor to the basement, but she keeps it closed when anyone is around. She takes care of her Abuela, works at the fast food place, and sometimes hooks up with a girl who’s cheating on her boyfriend. That suits Mags fine, since this girl doesn’t ask questions or ask for a commitment.

And then Nessa comes back. Nessa lived in town when they were kids, and Mags was the first person she told that she was a girl. Now she’s fully transitioned, and beautiful – and she has some memories about the basement in Mags’ house that she wants to clear up.

So Mags is pulled to Nessa – but that goes against everything she’s ever been told to do or even feels like she deserves.

There are plenty of metaphors to this powerful paranormal story. Funny how it’s so easy to see that a character is deserving of love, isn’t it? You’ll feel honored to travel this journey of self-acceptance with Mags.

mollyostertag.com
scholastic.com

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Review of Brownstone, by Samuel Teer & Mar Julia

Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Brownstone

by Samuel Teer & Mar Julia

Versify (HarperCollins), 2024. 318 pages.
Review written February 18, 2025, from a library book.
Starred Review
2025 Printz Award Winner
2025 Cybils Award Winner, Young Adult Graphic Novels

Brownstone is a graphic novel about an almost-fifteen-year-old girl named Almudena sent to spend the summer in New York City with the Guatemalan father she’s never met while her dancer mother does a European tour.

Almudena’s not happy about it. Her father doesn’t speak much English, and she doesn’t speak much Spanish. So the neighbor lady comes over to translate. Almudena’s not sure how she feels about that. The address is a brownstone that looks beautiful on the outside – but on the inside, her father is in the midst of renovating it.

This is a story of Almudena getting to know the neighborhood and the neighbors and learning about her Guatemalan heritage. She also bumps against some prejudice when she befriends a lesbian who runs the local bodega, and learns about gentrification when some of those neighbors have to move because of rising rent.

It’s all lovingly told, and I enjoyed getting to know Almudena’s new family, too.

We end up with social commentary in readable, interesting graphic novel form.

marjulia.com

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