Lights, Camera, Middle School! Babymouse Tales from the Locker, by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm (ages 8-12)

Our students love books that blend lots of images with stories that pull them through. With their knack for laughing through all the challenges that life throws your way, Jenni and Matt Holm bring Babymouse into a new format with Babymouse Tales from the Locker. Seek this out for kids who are ready to move to longer novels, but love graphic novels.

Lights, Camera, Middle SchoolBabymouse Tales from the Lockerby Jennifer L. Holm
illustrated by Matthew Holm
Random House, 2017
Google Books preview
Amazon / Your local library
ages 8-12

As Babymouse heads to middle school, she's worried about whether she'll find friends, what she'll wear and what afterschool activities she'll do. With her great sense of style and leadership, she decides to join the film club and is named director of her group's project. But nothing turns out quite as easy as it seems at first glance. She has to wrangle difficult actors (i.e., friends), make decisions about locations, and make sure everyone's on the same page.

Babymouse struggles with friendships in such a relatable way. She yearns to be part of larger friend group, but then ends up pushing her friends away because she's too bossy. Sound like anyone I know (moi???...)...

Fans of Babymouse will find the same blend of fantasy and school life, but kids new to the series will have no problem fitting right in from the get go. While this is set in middle school, the sweet spot will be with 4th graders who are looking ahead a few years as they figure out the changing landscape of friendships.

Take a look at this preview on Google Books to see how seemlessly the narrative moves between text and images:

The review copy was kindly sent by the publishers, Random House. If you make a purchase using the Amazon links on this site, a small portion goes to Great Kid Books. Thank you for your support.

©2017 Mary Ann Scheuer, Great Kid Books