MexiKid

Back again with another “Newbery talk made me do it” read. This graphic novel was also nominated for another of my reading groups discussion, so I bumped it up the list fast, but if you’re looking for more Spanish-infused middle grade-ish graphic novel reading, check this one out. It’s got a great color palette, a lot going on per page, and the perfect right of family drama/low-stakes plot that soothes the reading soul.

Like A First Time for Everything, is a memoir-style nonfiction graphic novel that very easily could have been called fiction and shelved there. It’s the author/illustrator Pedro Martin’s experience as a tween boy when his large family packed up into the RV and drove to Mexico to pick up his grandfather to come live with them. It’s not a scary story about border crossing, or about Alzheimer’s, or anything like that, it’s simply about the family dynamic of a large family, the humor in going to a “home” country that doesn’t feel like home all the time, and learning the “stories” of your family and how legend is not always fact but sometimes closer than lore, etc. This is a fun, low-stakes book. At no point do you feel danger or stress, but really you’re just experiencing this right along with Pedro. This is also a book where there could easily be a part 2—all about the journey BACK with grandpa, and perhaps there will be!

Overall, this is a really solid memoir graphic novel juvenile fiction book, definitely trending towards YA based on amount of words per page, but still in that style that middle grade readers are really seeking out these days. This’ll be a great bridge book to help kids transition from JUV graphic novels to YA graphic novels, I think!