Ruby is tall for her age, shooting up before her middle school classmates. She used to fit in with her peers but now suffers from anxiety in social situations, blurting out the wrong thing, even if she means well. Ruby spends a lot of time on her own, writing in her journal which in turn helps her discover a love of writing poetry.

Helping set up a poetry club at school begins to change her school and social life, but she is missing someone from before middle school. Someone who left her behind to fit in with the cool kids.

Mia is popular, smart and determined to be next year’s class president. She has tough competition in Josh who is super popular and effortlessly friendly to all he meets. To Mia, he doesn’t seem to be taking the upcoming election seriously, which makes her mad.

She is spending all her free time planning, making posters, and thinking about the election. Unfortunately, the more effort she puts into the election, the more her friends seem to drift away. Even her boyfriend Trevor isn’t talking to her. To make things worse, her old friend Ruby embarrasses her in public.

A background character (baked bean girl) in previous books in this graphic novel series, Ruby has her turn between the pages. Now at middle school (intermediate NZ), dynamics have changed between friends as they grow up. This is common among young teens and Remarkably Ruby handles this challenge well within the story.

Ruby & Mia might have once been close friends, but middle school changes all that as new friends are made as they grow. I felt for Ruby left on the outer, but cheered her on as she began to find her own niche and confidence. Mia’s focus on something to make her noticed (the coming class election) has the opposite result and she gets a taste of what Ruby has been coping with. This is handled deftly in the narrative and readers will see the dynamics changing.

Told in both viewpoints, the style of graphic novel illustration are distinctly different, allowing the reader to instantly know which character they are following.

One of my faves in this series.

Author / Illustrator – Terri Libenson

Age – 10+

Graphic Novel

See more books in the series (Click on a Cover)

(2022, Harper Collins, Series, Middle School, Intermediate School, Friendships, Relationships, Class President, Election Campaign, Three’s a crowd?, Growing up, Poetry, Anxiety, Humour, Graphic Novel, Lonely, Confidence, Peer Pressure, School, No Filter, Talent Show, On stage)