Muddle school

Gr 4--7--New kid Dave finds himself the target of bullies, rouses the ire of his teachers, and is embarrassed when his crush on Lisa becomes public knowledge. But what if Dave and his friend Chad could build a time machine and start over again? Drawing from his own experience, Whamond explores adolescent angst and the turmoil of middle school. The two-tone, blue and white illustrations are reminiscent of comic strips. The book is a quick read, with easy-to-follow text, dominated by internal monologues from Dave. But while readers may initially be drawn in by the premise of time travel, they may be disappointed in the execution--time travel isn't introduced until late in the narrative and wraps up quickly. Dave and his family are white. The illustration style doesn't stand out, and the story will feel familiar to many readers--another middle school graphic novel based on the author's life, about a less-than-popular, comic-drawing kid finding his voice. VERDICT Whamond doesn't tread any new ground, but libraries looking for more non-series graphic novels featuring male protagonists may be interested in adding this to an existing collection alongside more substantial titles like Jerry Craft's New Kid and Kwame Alexander's The Crossover.--Aryssa Damron, DC P.L., Washington, DC

Follow Dave's journey as he navigates his time as a new student in middle, er…Muddle School. Dave's family has just moved to Muddle and hope that this new environment will inspire their son to get better grades and find himself. Sadly, his mother's attempts to help him make a good first impression lead him to wear a powder-blue leisure suit that quickly makes him the target of a trio of bullies. This account begins an autobiographical retelling of the author/artist's time at a new school and how his increasingly positive attitude over the course of the year helped him to gain popularity and develop a core group of friends. The message isn't too heavy-handed (although the theme is directly addressed by a studious friend), and readers will have a lot of laughs (often at Dave's expense) along the way. The cartoon artwork, heavily lined in black and shaded in faded blues with Dave's looser cartoons interspersed on faux lined paper, is amusing, but characterizations are not always visually consistent. The theme and the humor transcend this concern, however, and rabid fans of series such as Diary of a Wimpy Kid or The Popularity Papers will happily gobble this up. Dave, his family, and most of his classmates present White, though there are some characters of color, including Dave's chief bully and Dave's crush. Should help readers muddle through middle school themselves. (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.