Book picks similar to
Just Pretend by Tori Sharp


graphic-novels
graphic-novel
middle-grade
comics

Almost American Girl


Robin Ha - 2020
    Growing up in the 1990s as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea, wasn’t always easy, but it has bonded them fiercely together.So when a vacation to visit friends in Huntsville, Alabama, unexpectedly becomes a permanent relocation—following her mother’s announcement that she’s getting married—Robin is devastated. Overnight, her life changes. She is dropped into a new school where she doesn’t understand the language and struggles to keep up. She is completely cut off from her friends at home and has no access to her beloved comics. At home, she doesn’t fit in with her new stepfamily. And worst of all, she is furious with the one person she is closest to—her mother.Then one day Robin’s mother enrolls her in a local comic drawing class, which opens the window to a future Robin could never have imagined.

The Lunch Witch


Deb Lucke - 2015
    Grunhilda inherits her famous ancestors’ recipes and cauldron, but no one believes in magic anymore.  Despite the fact that Grunhilda’s only useful skill is cooking up potfuls of foul brew, she finds a job listing that might suit her: lunch lady. She delights in scaring the kids until she meets a timid little girl named Madison with a big set of glasses who becomes an unlikely friend. Madison needs help at school and at home, but helping people goes against everything Grunhilda believes in as a witch! Will this girl be able to thaw the Lunch Witch's icy heart? Or will Grunhilda turn her back on a kindred spirit?

Fangirl, Vol. 1: The Manga


Sam Maggs - 2020
    Okay, everybody is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life. Cath's sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath just can't let go. Now that they’re in college, Cath must decide if she’s ready to start living her own life. But does she even want to if it means leaving Simon Snow behind? Cath doesn’t need friends IRL. She has her twin sister, Wren, and she’s a popular fanfic writer in the Simon Snow community with thousands of fans online.  But now that she’s in college, Cath is completely outside of her comfort zone. There are suddenly all these new people in her life. She's got a surly roommate with a charming boyfriend, a writing professor who thinks fanfiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome new writing partner ... And she's barely heard from Wren all semester!

The Girl & the Galdurian


Tim Probert - 2020
    As keepers of the Endless Flame, they live a quiet and peaceful life, crafting medicines and potions for the people of their once-prosperous world.All that changes one day when, while walking through the woods, Bea meets Cad, a member of the Galdurians, an ancient race thought to be long-extinct. Cad believes that if anyone can help him find his missing people, it’s the Pig Wizard.But when the two arrive home, the Pig Wizard is nowhere to be found—all that’s left is the Jar of Endless Flame and a mysterious note. Fearing for the Pig Wizard’s safety, Bea and Cad set out across Irpa to find him, while danger fights its way out of the shadows and into the light.Will these two unexpected friends find the beloved Pig Wizard and prevent eternal darkness from blanketing their world? Or has Irpa truly seen its last sunrise?

Another Kind


Trevor Bream - 2021
    Life is good--or safe, at least--hidden from the prying eyes of a judgmental world.That is, until a security breach forces them out of their home and into the path of the Collector, a mysterious being with leech-like powers.Can the group band together to thwart the Collector's devious plan, or will they wind up the newest addition to his collection?

Phoebe and Her Unicorn


Dana Simpson - 2014
    She has no choice ... one day she skipped a rock across a pond, and hit a unicorn in the face. Improbably, this resulted in a lasting friendship between Phoebe and the unicorn, one Marigold Heavenly Nostrils.Come along for the unicorn ride with Phoebe, as she deals with the usual burdens of childhood (cruel classmates, gym class, piano lessons) and also some unusual ones (magic hair, candy-breathing dragons, and the legendary Shield of Boringness).Can a precocious little girl and a self-absorbed mythical forest creature find common ground? Indeed they can, and that's how Phoebe and Her Unicorn unfolds.

The Girl in the Well Is Me


Karen Rivers - 2016
    Now Kammie’s trapped in the dark, counting the hours, waiting to be rescued. (The Girls have gone for help, haven’t they?)As hours pass, Kammie’s real-life predicament mixes with memories of the best and worst moments of her life so far, including the awful reasons her family moved to this new town in the first place. And as she begins to feel hungry and thirsty and light-headed, Kammie starts to imagine she has company, including a French-speaking coyote and goats that just might be zombies.Karen Rivers has created a unique narrator with an authentic, sympathetic, sharp, funny voice who will have readers laughing and crying and laugh-crying over the course of physically and emotionally suspenseful, utterly believable events.

Fish Girl


David Wiesner - 2017
    She is the main attraction, though visitors never get more than a glimpse of her.She has a tail. She can't walk. She can't speak.But she can make friends with Livia, an ordinary girl, and yearn for a life that includes yoga and pizza. She can grow stronger and braver. With determination, a touch of magic, and the help of a loyal octopus, she can do anything.

The Time Museum


Matthew Loux - 2017
    For one thing, kids as young as twelve get to apply for these prestigious summer jobs. And as for the applicant pool . . . well, these kids come from all over history.When Delia finds herself working at the Time Museum, the last thing she expects is to be sent on time-traveling adventures with an unlikely gang of kids from across the eons. From a cave-boy to a girl from the distant future, Delia's team represents nearly all of human history! They're going to need all their skills for the challenge they've got in store . . . defending the Time Museum itself!

Free Lunch


Rex Ogle - 2019
    As a poor kid in a wealthy school district, better-off kids crowd impatiently behind him as he tries to explain to the cashier that he’s on the free meal program. The lunch lady is hard of hearing, so Rex has to shout.Free Lunch is the story of Rex’s efforts to navigate his first semester of sixth grade—who to sit with, not being able to join the football team, Halloween in a handmade costume, classmates and a teacher who take one look at him and decide he’s trouble—all while wearing secondhand clothes and being hungry. His mom and her boyfriend are out of work, and life at home is punctuated by outbursts of violence. Halfway through the semester, his family is evicted and ends up in government-subsidized housing in view of the school. Rex lingers at the end of last period every day until the buses have left, so no one will see where he lives.Unsparing and realistic, Free Lunch is a story of hardship threaded with hope and moments of grace. Rex’s voice is compelling and authentic, and Free Lunch is a true, timely, and essential work that illuminates the lived experience of poverty in America.

Wonderstruck


Brian Selznick - 2011
    Ben longs for the father he has never known. Rose dreams of a mysterious actress whose life she chronicles in a scrapbook. When Ben discovers a puzzling clue in his mother's room and Rose reads an enticing headline in the newspaper, both children set out alone on desperate quests to find what they are missing.Set fifty years apart, these two independent stories - Ben's told in words, Rose's in pictures - weave back and forth in symmetry.

Jellaby


Kean Soo - 2008
    Adjusting to life without a father is hard enough, but school is boring and her classmates are standoffish -- and even Portia's mom is strangely distant. But things start looking up when Portia mounts a late-night excursion into the woods behind her house and discovers a shy, sweet-natured purple monster. Life with Jellaby is a lot more exciting, but Portia's purple friend has secrets of his own; secrets that may even lead to the mystery of Portia's father's disappearance!

Doodleville


Chad Sell - 2020
    But there's nothing ordinary about her art. Her doodles are mischievous . . . and rarely do they stay in Doodleville, the world she's created in her sketchbook. Instead, Drew's doodles prefer to explore the world outside. But after an inspiring class trip to the Art Institute of Chicago--where the doodles cause a bit too much trouble--Drew decides it's time to take her artistic talents to the next level. Enter the Leviathan--Levi, for short. He's bigger and better than anything Drew has ever created before. He's a monster, but a friendly one. That is, until Levi begins to wreak havoc on Drew's other doodles--and on the heroes her classmates have dreamt up. Levi won't be easily tamed, and it seems there is a link between the monster's bad behavior and Drew's feelings. With the help of her loyal art club friends, will she be able to save Doodleville--and Levi--before it's too late?

The Golden Hour


Niki Smith - 2021
    His days are a lonely, latchkey monotony until he's teamed with his classmates, Sebastian and Caysha, for a group project.Sebastian lives on a grass-fed cattle farm outside of town, and Manuel finds solace in the open fields and in the antics of the newborn calf Sebastian is hand-raising. As Manuel aides his new friends in their preparations for the local county fair, he learns to open up, confronts his deepest fears, and even finds first love.This title will be simultaneously available in paperback.

Dragon Hoops


Gene Luen Yang - 2020
    Big action. Bigger thrills. And the hero always wins.But Gene doesn’t get sports. As a kid, his friends called him “Stick” and every basketball game he played ended in pain. He lost interest in basketball long ago, but at the high school where he now teaches, it's all anyone can talk about. The men’s varsity team, the Dragons, is having a phenomenal season that’s been decades in the making. Each victory brings them closer to their ultimate goal: the California State Championships.Once Gene gets to know these young all-stars, he realizes that their story is just as thrilling as anything he’s seen on a comic book page. He knows he has to follow this epic to its end. What he doesn’t know yet is that this season is not only going to change the Dragons’s lives, but his own life as well.