Review: Positively Izzy

Title: Positively Izzy
Author: Terri Libenson
Genre: Middle Grade
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Source: Borrowed from a friend
Release Date: May 1, 2018
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Award-winning comics creator and author of the bestselling Invisible Emmie Terri Libenson returns with a companion graphic novel that captures the drama, angst, and humor of middle-school life. Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier, Jennifer Holm, and Victoria Jamieson.

Middle school is all about labels.

Izzy is the dreamer. There’s nothing Izzy loves more than acting in skits and making up funny stories. The downside? She can never quite focus enough to get her schoolwork done.

Bri is the brain. But she wants people to see there’s more to her than just a report card full of As. At the same time, she wishes her mom would accept her the way she is and stop bugging her to “break out of her shell” and join drama club.

The girls’ lives converge in unexpected ways on the day of a school talent show, which turns out to be even more dramatic than either Bri or Izzy could have imagined.

Review:

This is a good book about middle school.

I liked that these girls had to deal with conflicts like getting poor grades and being grounded. These are real things, which could mean that you miss out on school events.

Brianna’s mom works at her school, which I think was kind of obvious from the way she acted at the beginning. But we had to wait a while for the big reveal that her mom is a teacher. I think she was overreacting to that. My mom worked in my school office for many of my elementary school years, and it was so handy to have my mom there! I loved it. If I felt sick or needed anything, I could always go downstairs and see her.

I liked the big reveal at the end of this book. I was wondering through the whole book what the connection between the two stories was, and I liked the ending. However, I wish we didn’t have to wait until the very last page to figure it out.

What to read next:

• Drama by Raina Telgemeier

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• Sisters by Raina Telgemeier

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Have you read Positively Izzy? What did you think of it?