Title: Brave
Author: Svetlana Chmakova
Artist: Svetlana Chmakova
Audience: Middle Grade

If your library has Svetlana Chmakova’s book Awkward then Brave is an automatic addition to your middle grade graphic novel collection.  Brave is the follow up book to Awkward and follows the life of Jensen Graham in Berrybrook Middle School. You may remember Jensen as a background character obsessed with sunspots in Awkward. He still thinks sunspots will cause the destruction of the earth, but we also get more character depth. What Jensen really wants is to be a hero as he daydreams how to save his friends from zombie apocalypses to natural disasters. But he’s often not as heroic in real life as he gets bullied by Yanic and Foster. Even some of his friends in Art Club could stand to be nicer to him. Jensen just wants what most people want which is to be appreciated for who he is and to have a group where he belongs.

As we follow Jensen through his daily routine, we see familiar faces like Peppi and Jaime (main characters from Awkward). When Jensen is running away from the bullies he takes refuge in the Newspaper Club’s classroom introducing us to Akilah, Jenny, and Felipe. Always wanting to help, Jensen assists when they need him and eventually gets roped into Akilah and Jenny’s science project on human behavior. They are conducting a survey on the lizard brain’s bullying effect on middle schoolers. This is when Jensen starts to realize he is getting bullied, and he doesn’t like it. There are other subplots that run through this graphic novel that really gives other characters depth and help to move the plot forward. Such as Akilah and Jenny having a huge fight, the Art Club getting excited over an author visit to the school, and Felicity (Art Club friend) getting suspended from school for wearing a short skirt in her Sailor Sunburst cosplay.

This is an automatic buy if your library already has Awkward in the collection. If you don’t have either then you need to purchase these books! Chmakova writes and draws amazing slice of life stories that will keep even your most ADHD kid focused. Her art style has a fun manga feel without being manga (she used to work in manga). I really love how the art style changes when Jensen is imagining something. A great example of this is when Jensen imagines he’s in a video game to get past all the bullies and awkward pitfalls of navigating middle school hallways. The video game level is reminiscent of old Nintendo games, and it is so much fun! Another thing Chmakova nails is facial expressions and body language. Her characters emote freaks out in a hilarious way, but she’s also really good as showing more subtle emotions like when Jensen wrestles with the realization that he is being bullied. This graphic novel features a diverse cast which is so refreshing in this genre. It’s great to see so many types of people represented in this story. And the overall plotline about bullying isn’t overly preachy so it’s not going to be a buzzkill.  While this is a middle grade read, I’d feel fine giving it to a fourth grader too as this plays really well with the Telgemeier fans. The resolution for addressing the bullying and harassment in school is handled very well, and I’m not going to spoil it because you should just read this book!