Just Jaime (Emmie & Friends)

Middle school is complicated, but middle school friendships are incredibly complicated. Maya and Jaime had been best, best friends from kindergarten until now — the last day of seventh grade — but something has gone terribly wrong, and Jaime can’t figure out what it is. But she is about to find out. Celia, who has become the boss of the group that includes Jaime, Maya, and Gracie, has decided Jaime isn’t mature enough to be part of the group anymore, and since Maya has been friends with her forever, Celia makes Maya do the dirty work. But it’s what comes after that is the most interesting, a good example of the “drama soup” that is middle school.

Author and illustrator Terri Libenson has a terrific franchise going with her middle school graphic novels. This one is told in two voices — those of Maya and Jaime — and it’s wonderful to see the story from their different points of view. Libenson has her finger firmly on the pulse of today’s middle school student, and that comes through with every character the reader meets and every conversation the characters have in these wonderful books.