Winging It: A Graphic Novel

Lloyd, Megan Wagner and Nutter, Michelle Mee. Winging It

October 21, 2025 by Graphix

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Luna, whose mother died when she was a baby,  lives in California with her father. She's planning a girls' trip to Los Angeles with her good friends Gabriella and Mia, but her father breaks bad news to her: because of his job, he is being transferred to the Washington, D.C. area, and the two are going to be staying with her mother's mother, whom Luna has only seen once a year and doesn't feel a connection to at all. She has to start 7th grade in a new school, but does join the school nature club, since her mother was an outdoorsy person. Luna is not, but once her grandmother gives her her mother's nature journals, Luna starts one of her own, and spends more time outside. It helps that neighbors Sophie and Oliver are out a lot, and the club introduces her to some of the parks and museums in the area. It's not easy to get along with her grandmother, who has lots of rules about not leaving back packs on the floor and taking off shoes, and has two cats and a dog who are not particularly friendly. Eventually, however, the two work on their connection. When Luna and her father plan a camping trip so that she can try to see a Luna moth in the forest, her father has a work commitment, so her grandmother steps in. Will Luna be able to see a Luna moth, and make peace with her new life in the DC area?
Strengths: Lloyd and Nutter's Allergic and Squished are super popular in my library because they deal with dogs and big families, respectively. The illustration style is similar to Raina Telgemeier's or Gale Galligan's in that it is bright, with clear, realistic cartoon style characters and well developed backgrounds. There is a realistic amount of drama; Luna misses her friends, wants to know more about the mother she never met, and wonders why she doesn't have a closer relationship with her grandmother. She doesn't have a particularly hard time at her new school, but does miss her friends. This will be a nice, light read for fans of graphic novels. 
Weaknesses: It wasn't really necessary to kill the mother off in order for Luna to bond with her grandmother. I'm all for keeping middle grade parents alive and annoying. 
What I really think: My students started asking for this the minute it showed up on the library cataglo, even though it wasn't processed yet. I liked Allergic and Squished a bit more; I wanted some more tension in the plot. 

Mlynowski, Sarah and Crandall, Bethany(Illustrator).
If the Shoe Fits: The Graphic Novel Whatever After Graphic Novels #2
November 4, 2025 by Graphix
Copy provided by Young Adult Books Central

Abby and Jonah have just come back from the story of Snow White, and don't really believe that the fairy Maryrose will transport them through the mirror again, but want to try. Abby even stays in her pajamas, hoping that this will make sure they travel somewhere exciting! She's right, and the two end up in the kingdom of Floom at the ball thrown by Queen Clarissa for Prince Jordan. They quickly figure out that this is the story of Cinderella, and follow her out of the castle at midnight. They think that things are okay, and just want to go home, but none of the mirrors in the castle worked. They ask Cinderella is they can try the mirrors in her house, but she is afraid that her stepmother, Betty, or her evil stepsisters, Kayla and Beatrice, will be angry. There's the typical drama about the prince wanting to marry someone, and a series of mishaps results in Cinderella's foot swelling up AND the remaining glass slipper being broken, so she dispairs of getting Prince Jordan to marry her. The three call on her fairy godmother, Farrah, who isn't willing to help! Farrah doesn't think that Cinderella should put all of her hopes on marrying, but should instead learn self-reliance. She agrees to help only if Cinderella can show she can stand on her own two feet and take care of herself, so that she can be an equal partner in marriage. Abby and Jonah help her make dinner for her family and introduce her to brownies, suggesting that maybe Cinderella can sell these at the market. Sales take off, and Cinderella meets Farrah's criteria for getting help, but Betty steals Farrah's wand and turns everyone into mice just as the prince is about to come to the house. She makes it so that Beatrice foot fits the slipper, and the prince asks her to marry him. Luckily, the spell is broken, and everything is explained. Jordan asks Cinderella to marry him, but she decides she likes being on her own, so Kayla agrees to marry him instead. Happy with how things have turned out, Farrah helps send Abby and Jonah back home to await further adventures with Maryrose. 

Since I was never too happy with the Cinderella story myself (the version I told my daughters ended with Cinderella attending graduate school instead of marrying the prince), I loved this twist on the tale that includes a lesson in self-reliance. It was great that Abby and Jonah looked up apartment lists in Floom and used that as a basis for how much money Cinderella needed to make to move out on her own. I didn't feel bad at all that Kayla wanted to marry the prince, since the two did seem to share a connection, and Kayla had recently seen the error of her ways in being mean to Cinderella. 

Crandall's illustrations are quite fun, and have a tiny bit of an anime feel around the character's eyes. Some of the jokes make more sense with illustrations; we can see that Abby's pajamas match the flag of Floom, and we can see everyone turned into very Disney-esque mice! They also are reminiscent of the covers of the original novels. 

Fractured fairy tales that include a modern twist are always popular, and since the Whatever After series just recently wrapped up with volume 17, Mirror Mirror, these graphic novel adaptations are a good way to get a new generation of readers interested. Hand this to fans of E.D. Baker's The Frog Princess or Gail Carson Levine's Cinderellis and the Glass Hill.