Brave (Awkward, Bk. 2)

Jensen Graham’s fertile thought life is full of heroic antics and daring do in which he regularly saves not only himself but his friends as well. Unfortunately, his actual existence is less spectacular. As an overweight, awkward, socially inept middle schooler, he finds math hard, friendship harder, and avoiding bullying—even by those he thinks of as friends—hardest of all. Although Jensen has always struggled in that game we call life, someone seems to have cranked up the difficulty setting. So, when the elevator tries to break him down… he stalls out and is at a complete loss as to how to recover himself. Forced into introspection by the school newspaper’s power team, Jensen accepts some ugly truths, finds guidance in YA novel, and actively works on “fixing what’s wrong, changing what’s around [him], and doing what [he’s] afraid of” (236). Brave would be a good read for late elementary and middle grade readers (grades 5-8) who enjoy painfully awkward, situational humor in realistic fiction. You would like this book if you like Svetlana Chmakova’s Awkward, Michael Fry’s The Odd Squad series, Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and Rachel Renée Russell’s Dork Diaries series. Furthermore, fans of Jillian Tamaki’s Supermutant Magic Academy and Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona will find a younger, albeit muggle version, of their favorite protagonists in Jensen Graham as well.

Brave by Svetlana Ckhmakova

Middle Grade

Yen Press

241 pp.

ISBN 978-0-316-3617-4

$24.00

Realistic

Comments

Decloaking Wakanda: Creating Space for BIPOC Nerds

On February 9, 2023, at the fourth Joint Conference of Librarians of Color (JCLC), I had the exhilarating experience of guiding a discussion that focused on the need to connect with nerd culture and create a welcoming environment for the BIPOC fandom. The soul of this session had been several years in the making and built on countless heart-to-heart moments. So, I couldn’t imagine a better venue for seeing it actualized than my first JCLC. Furthermore, for this session, I had the honor of being in conversation with fellow nerds and comics librarians Jean Darnell and Deimosa Webber-Bey . To my eternal amazement, our talk was met with a standing room only reception, and afterward we were repeatedly regaled with tales of being turned away at the door. In hopes of capturing a small portion of that day's magic, this post grew out of that discussion. *** For the past 30 years, BIPOC nerds have existed in the cringe-worthy shadow of Urkel. What if, instead, they’d had portrayals such as ...

BIMM, DIMM, and PIT - Oh My!

Sara Pavone and Christina Taylor, the RRHS librarians, used a combination of different technologies to introduce the logistics of digital copyright protection to students in BIMM, DIMM, and PIT. This lesson marked the maiden voyage of the iPads that the library received as part of the Next Generation Digital Classroom (NGDC) initiative. Mrs. Pavone and Mrs. Taylor combined the tablets with Blendspace , Google Drive , and WeVideo to provide a lesson that not only engaged the students but also allowed teachers to differentiate the instruction to meet students’ needs. Finally, because the entire lesson was platform agnostic, using online tools, students were able to work at their own pace...beyond the confines of the physical classroom...from anywhere they had Internet access. Many students commented that they enjoyed the lesson and thought it was a lot better than last year’s, which was not nearly as interactive nor heavy in technology. **This post was originally published on the R...

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Although published in crisp black and white, former Playboy correspondent Silverstein’s classic collection of poems and drawings Where the Sidewalk Ends fairly explodes with colorful language of the kid-friendly sort. Taken by themselves, the poems range in length from a handful of lines up to three pages, and in breadth from a single amusing thought to a narrative arc or a song’s worth of lyrics. Common childhood themes of disobedience to parental and educational authority, trouble with siblings, chores and fanciful play are addressed in a characteristically irreverent manner, with frequent digressions into pure fantasy and fun. Never crossing over into the excessively precious or maudlin, Silverstein prefers to stick to a more self-conscious and unsentimental tone, gleefully exploring the macabre and outright disgusting topics frequented by children. On nearly every last opening, the text of the verses shares space with Silverstein’s expressive and loos...

CET Writes

Search This Blog