Mallory in Full Color
by Elisa Stone Leahy; illus. by Maine Diaz
Middle School    Quill Tree/HarperCollins    320 pp.
11/24    9780063255531    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780063255555    $9.99

Mallory Marsh wants to keep her friends and family happy, even if it means becoming a chameleon who constantly wears different faces to mirror those around her. The one place where she feels free to express herself is her web comic, a sci-fi story full of characters inspired by her life. The juggling act becomes increasingly precarious when Mal secretly attends comic club, where she meets Noa, a nonbinary kid who quickly becomes a friend and a crush she desperately wants to impress. Soon, the multiple lives and web of lies catch up to Mal. Her comic goes viral, with everyone at school on the verge of discovering who is behind it, and she must find the courage to show her true self. Leahy weaves a realistic and at times painfully resonant narrative about the cost of not asserting your own opinions and needs; the various threads of the story reinforce the theme of how the desire for validation and fear of rejection can lead people astray. The book also touches on the experience of questioning one’s sexuality without making it the primary conflict, and still creates a largely queer-affirming space for the characters and readers.

From the March/April 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.