Does anyone remember the graphic novel ‘Awkward’ by Svetlana Chmakova?

Well, here’s its sequel.

Middle School and High School

In his daydreams, Jensen is the biggest hero that ever was, saving the world and his friends on a daily basis. But his middle school reality is VERY different – math is hard, getting along with friends is hard, and even finding a partner for the class project is a big problem when you always get picked last. And the pressure’s on even more once the school newspaper’s dynamic duo, Jenny and Akilah, draw Jensen into the whirlwind of school news, social experiment projects, and behind-the-scenes club drama. Jensen’s always played the middle school game one level at a time, but suddenly, someone’s cranked up the difficulty setting. Will those daring daydreams of his finally work in his favor, or will he have to find real solutions to his real-life problems?

The main subject in the story is bullying and isolation. This graphic novel should be a mandatory read for middle school kids.

The bullies from the first book are back and worse than ever. They actually go out of their way to target poor Jensen. Who takes the time to track someone down just to give him or her a hard time? And poor Jensen doesn’t even realize that his own friends are being mean to him until he gets a pamphlet about bullying.

I was bullied in school. I won’t go into detail about it, but it could have been much worse. Like on a scale of 1 to 10, I was about a 3. Unlike Jensen, at first, I stood up for myself. I wish this book had been around when I was in middle school. Maybe I would have found better ways to deal with bullies.

This week’s Weird but True Fact about Sunspots

Some sunspots – magnetic fields on the sun – are bigger than Earth.