Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor-winning author, illustrator, and cartoonist Norm Feuti (Beak & Ally series) sheds a gentle but decidedly direct light on the social and financial complexities of a working-class kid entering middle school.
Nathan and best friend Ricky are white kids living in the Millbrook Estates trailer park with their mothers. They'll be attending the same, majority-white middle school but have no classes together and Ethan is nervous. The nerves, sadly, prove prescient. On his first day, the bottom of his old, "falling apart" backpack rips open in the hallway. Next, Ricky embarrasses him at lunch, telling their rich classmate that Ethan is "only into nerd stuff" (the card game Bio Battle). Finally, another student publicly derides Ethan, saying it "must be nice" to get free lunch "while the rest of us have to pay." A chance encounter at the end of the day with Aiden, a fellow Bio Battle player, raises Ethan's spirits. But as Ethan and Aiden bond, Ethan begins to think Aiden might be just like the other rich kids.
Feuti expertly represents Ethan's struggle with being a child living in economically depressed conditions. Ethan is often embarrassed by and frustrated with his family's financial situation as he tries to make new friends and find acceptance. Feuti's story moves quickly, helped along by a mixture of thickly bordered panels with sharp edges, full page illustrations, and entirely borderless panels that keep the eyes moving rapidly across the page. An excellent read for fans of Rex Ogle's Free Lunch or Kelly Yang's Front Desk. --Kharissa Kenner, school media specialist, Churchill School and Center