Popcorn by Rob Harrell (Wink) depicts the "glorious mess" that is life for seventh-grader Andrew Yaeger as he endures a series of misadventures on picture day.
Andrew lives with his mother, Susan, and his grandmother G, who has Alzheimer's disease. Today is picture day. It also happens to be Susan's first day at her new job. Susan's best friend, Mika, comes to take care of G, and Andrew heads off to school with his best friend, Jonesy, Mika's daughter. Andrew has "an issue with worrying. Stressing. Obsessing," and today his anxiety is peaking because both his mom and G say looking nice for school photos is "super important." Despite his best efforts to stay presentable, Andrew is bombarded by contaminants: a classmate's juice-laden sneeze, a flying ketchup rocket, a science experiment gone awry, and debris from physical violence at the hands of a bully. Just as Andrew thinks his day can't get any worse, he receives a call from Mika: G has gone missing.
Popcorn is a sincere and honest narration of one child's experience living with anxiety in a demanding world. Throughout the story, Andrew struggles with various stressors at school and home, like bullying, divorce, caretaking for elderly family members, and his own mental health. Harrell illustrates these worries in cartoonish, often comical, black-and-white spot illustrations. Andrew's first-person narration has a sense of humor that fills the otherwise distressing story with a sense of levity, always including hope that things will turn out for the best--even when you (a small kernel in the world) feel like you may be about to pop. --Cade Williams, freelance reviewer