Awkward

Peppi knows that there are rules for surviving middle school: avoiding the mean kids and finding friends with similar interests. But both rules are broken the first day of school, and Peppi must learn to navigate her new school by enduring the name-calling by the bullies and learning to maintain a valuable new friendship with Jaime while her art club competes with his science club—their archrivals! This graphic novel is appropriate for intermediate-level students, and its themes of friendship and social responsibility may inspire discussions about bullying, competition, and personal identity. In the classroom, it lends itself well for a novel study, a literature circle choice, or for independent reading.