Squished
by Megan Wagner Lloyd; illus. by Michelle Mee Nutter
Intermediate    Graphix/Scholastic    256 pp.
3/23    9781338568943    $24.99
Paper ed.  9781338568936    $12.99
e-book ed.  9781338568950    $12.99

Being a big sister can be frustrating, and this middle-grade graphic novel comically encapsulates the joy and angst of life in a family of seven children. All budding artist Avery Lee, eleven, wants is her own space and privacy. Instead, as the oldest sister, she’s constantly surrounded by her very attached younger siblings, while firstborn Theo rarely babysits and gets his own room. Over the summer, Avery fundraises for a basement bedroom while dealing with ­friendship struggles. She is also upset that the Lees might relocate from Maryland to Oregon if her mother gets a new job. Lloyd and Nutter (Allergic) realistically portray Avery’s complex emotions in many colorful scenes in which she is visually upstaged by her younger siblings (at school and at home, at the skate park, in the minivan), followed by tender moments of the kids and parents bonding over family meals, conversations, games, and milestones (e.g., when the baby begins to crawl). A warm, heartfelt, relatable comic that shines a light on a “squished” sibling as Avery tries to become more independent and weather life’s changes while still finding her own place at home.

Pubissue-From the May/June 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.