Awkward!

Unlike awesome, awkward is not a cognate of awe (a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear or wonder). No, awkward, comes from Middle English awk (backward, perverse, clumsy).  And that is just how the protagonist of Svetlana Chmakova’s graphic novel, Awkward, feels as she begins middle school.

Publisher’s Summary:

Cardinal rule #1 for surviving school: Don’t get noticed by the mean kids.

Cardinal rule #2 for surviving school: Seek out groups with similar interests and join them.

On her first day at her new school, Penelope–Peppi–Torres reminds herself of these basics. But when she trips into a quiet boy in the hall, Jaime Thompson, she’s already broken the first rule, and the mean kids start calling her the “nerder girlfriend.” How does she handle this crisis? By shoving poor Jaime and running away!

Falling back on rule two and surrounding herself with new friends in the art club, Peppi still can’t help feeling ashamed about the way she treated Jaime. Things are already awkward enough between the two, but to make matters worse, he’s a member of her own club’s archrivals–the science club! And when the two clubs go to war, Peppi realizes that sometimes you have to break the rules to survive middle school!

There’s lot to love here: genuine characters, characters of color, multiethnic families, disabled characters, a rip-roaring debate on the merits of Art vs, Science and a boy-girl relationship that isn’t romantic. Perfect for fans of Victoria Jamieson’s Roller Girl and Raina Telgemeier’s Smile.