Middle-Grade Graphic Novel Review: Booked

This is probably my strangest reason ever for choosing a book! At the end of September, I realized I hadn't read a book for the Monthly Motif Challenge yet (you can see all of my reading challenges here). September's motif was "a book with a clever title that uses a play on words, a pun, or a double meaning." I didn't have time to fit another regular book in, but while in the library on September 29, I realized I could fit in a graphic novel! I went to the kids' section and found the perfect graphic novel: Booked by Kwame Alexander, with illustrations by Dawud Anyabwile. Not only does the title have multiple meanings, but the book itself is filled with clever word play that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Twelve-year-old Nick has a pretty good life as the novel opens. He is a star soccer player, playing for both his school team and a travel team. His best friend, Coby, also plays for the school team and is the star player on a competing travel team. Nick's mom has signed him up for old-fashioned etiquette/dancing classes, which are pretty lame, but he has a crush on a girl named April in the class, and he thinks she might like him, too. Then, things begin crashing down in Nick's life: his parents have a devastating announcement, bullies are bothering him, and even his beloved soccer is threatened. Just when it seems like he's hit bottom, Nick begins to realize he has a lot of people in his life who care for him--not just his parents and Coby but a teacher at school and The Mac, the school's rapper librarian. He even begins to develop an appreciation for books.

Sample page from Booked

Describing the plot (even though it is an excellent plot) doesn't even scratch the surface of this wonderful book! Kwame Alexander is known for his novels-in-verse, and this one includes a wide variety of storytelling techniques: verse, dialogue, narration, texts, and more. The illustrations by Anyabwile are stunning, in black, white, and green. The action just leaps off the page, and the characters come to life. And, as I mentioned, the book is loaded with fun, clever word play, well beyond just the multiple meanings of "booked." Nick's dad is a literature professor who's written his own dictionary of "weird and wonderful words" that Nick's required to read from each day (reluctantly), so the novel is packed with fun new vocabulary Nick is learning in spite of himself. This original, fun graphic novel has it all: friendship, family, action, humor, and plenty of emotional depth. I'm so glad my reading challenge led me to this wonderful book I might have otherwise missed!

320 pages, Clarion Books

This book fits in the following 2022 Reading Challenges:

 

Monthly Motif Challenge - Title Play

Diversity Challenge 

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