Brave (Awkward, Bk. 2)

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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.
• Copyright 2017
• ISBN 978-0-316-3617-4
• $24.00
• Realistic