Emmie & friends: Entirely Emmie by Terri Libenson

Shy, artistic Emmie has been enjoying middle school with her best friend Brianna and friends Sarah and Tyler (he has been her crush since fourth grade) and now it is time for the end of year camp. Unfortunately, Sarah can’t go due to a family event, but Emmie is looking forward to buddying up with Brianna with the added pleasure of having her older sister, Trina along as a camp counsellor. Class clown Joe is not so sure he wants to go but his friend Tyler tries to persuade him. Joe thinks Tyler is spending more time with friend Anthony these days leaving Joe feeling left out but eventually, under pressure from his parents, he agrees to go. At the last-minute Brianna gets a bad cold and has to cancel leaving Emmie without a camp buddy and latecomer Joe is put in her place. In alternating points of view Emmie and Joe, forced together, navigate camp activities and social interactions, Emmie drawing on some of what she has learnt about relationships and coping mechanisms, while Joe starts to realise that using humour to deflect attention from how he is feeling, can sometimes hurt others. Gradually both challenge and support each other, developing an unlikely friendship.

This is the ninth book in the Emmie and Friends series which looks at middle school relationships as quite complex characters deal with challenging situations and issues. The fun graphics and many visual jokes and cartoons depicting feelings keep the tone light and the pace fast while communicating more than just the text. I loved the image of a human rubber-band ball on page 47, and the image of Emmie sticking out like a sore thumb on page 116. This is a book about growing pains for those early teens on the brink of more serious relationships and at the end it was good to see Emmie taking control, listening to her feelings and making decisions about how comfortable she was about having a boyfriend. This is a worthy addition to the very popular series.

Themes: Friendships, Graphic novel, Middle school relationships.

Sue Speck