September 5, 2023 by HarperAlley
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
In this graphic novel, Sasha is a big fan of the video game Pom-Pom McPunch, and she's in a gaming club at Custard Creek Middle School. She's excited to enter 7th grader, since 6th graders weren't allowed ot hold offices, and she would like to be president. She's in the club with her good friends Sage, Noah, and Declan. Sage is apprehensive about the year because her father, who was a football star and motivational writer, is going to be the new principal. Sasha's brother Riley is also going into 7th grade, but is a deeply unpleasant character and wants to run against her for the presidential position. When school starts, things don't go well. The gaming club, along with all of the other clubs that aren't sports related, have been canceled by the principal and school board, and all of the funding they would have had will be funneled into teams and a new sports facility. Not only that, but Declan is being horrible about everything and is no longer friends with the group. When Sasha's friend Clover gets tickets to pro wrestling, it's a welcome diversion at first, but the group soon realizes that it might be their answer for an alternative to a club. It's sports related, but also incorporates elements of theater, costume, and story telling. They put together a proposal that the principal considers, but they still need a faculty advisor. Their language arts teacher, Mr. Park, seems like a good candidate, but he's busy with cooking lessons, since he had been the home ec teacher before the cuts. Eventually, they approach the school nurse, since Sasha is always in her office because she's clumsy, but she refuses. The kids eventually find out that this is because she performs in local pro wrestling meets and doesn't want anyone to know. She eventually agrees, and Sasha and her friends come up with all sorts of plans for the group. Sasha has become a cheerleader, and it is hard for the two to remain friends. Some of them are a little misguided, and get them into trouble, like staging a fight in the cafeteria to drum up support and get new members for the club. Since they hadn't asked permission, and a bit of a food fight ensued, this doesn't help their case. Eventually, they get the backing of the cheerleaders and the football team, and plan a big show at half time. Will this be enough to stand the group in good stead with the administration and have access to funding? Will the clubs ever be able to return?
N.B. Graphic novels are a challenge for me; I can't high light things in my e copy, and even when I take notes, I often forget characters' names.
Strengths: The cool kids are now the uncool kids; this is completely on trend with the new middle grade insistence that all of the artistic types who previously were on the fringes of school society are now the main characters of books, fighting the injustice brought about by the evil sports teams. This makes sense, since the people who write books are often ones who felt marginalized when they were young. Sasha's love of gaming is something that many young readers will appreciate, and they will cheer for Sasha as she fights The Man to regain her club. This also has a nonbinary charater, Clover, who uses they/them pronouns, and one of the characters (Artemis, who likes vampires and dresses like a Goth) has two mothers. This is full of humor, has some friend drama, and shows dedicated students trying to fight for what they believe in. My favorite characters were Sasha's parents, who run a local cheese shop (this is set in Wisconsin) called Cheese Louise!
Weaknesses: While sports generally get more support than other sorts of activities, I'm not sure that school boards and principals can often take it upon themselves to pull funding from nonsports groups and reallocate it. It could happen, I suppose, but doesn't seem all that realistic. It makes for a good story, thought, like Herbach's Fat Boy vs. the Cheerleaders, but that book seemed a bit more likely.
What I really think: I'm not sure how many middle grader readers will be interested in pro wrestling, but this will appeal to the Post Covid middle graders who are always anxious, feel everyone is out to get them, and believe completely that the things they like to do are hated by everyone else. I'm struggling to understand these students, but this is completely on trend with what I have seen at school and in middle grade stories like Capp's Indigo and Ida, Badua's The Takeout, or Davault's Misfit Mansion. In the 1990s and early 2000s, everyone wanted to be popular. Now, characters seem to hate popular people and feel that they wish them ill. No judgement, just an observation on how perceptions change.
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