Book picks similar to
Bounce Back by Misako Rocks!


graphic-novels
middle-grade
graphic-novel
sports

Power Up


Sam Nisson - 2021
    Miles and Rhys know each other only as Gryphon and Backslash, and in the video game Mecha Melee they’re an unstoppable team. They’re the best friends they’ve got, online or in the real world, and they don’t even realize they go to the same middle school.   But real-life wrongdoing blasts their duo into a crater the size of Arcticon. With life online and off a complete mess and BattleCon—and the Every Game Ever tournament—just weeks away, can the boys play their way back to each other?

Kyle's Little Sister


BonHyung Jeong - 2021
    Your parents like him better (even if they deny it!), and everyone calls you "Kyle's little sister" while looking disappointed that you're not more like him. I was really hoping I'd get to go to a different middle school, but no such luck. At least I have my friends...until he finds a way to ruin that, too...! Argh! What do I have to do to get out of his shadow?!

Fearless: A Graphic Novel


Kenny Porter - 2021
    But when Alice moves to a new home two towns over, everything changes. Alice mysteriously stops answering Kara's phone calls and letters.In order to reignite their friendship, Kara hatches a brave plan to bike over to Alice's new school all on her own. After all, "A rider never leaves a friend behind!" Kara's bravery on the journey proves how strong she is but when Kara finally finds Alice, her bravado fades: Alice has found new friends and has left Kara behind. Can Kara be fearless when she feels so alone?

The Okay Witch


Emma Steinkellner - 2019
    But she’s about to discover that witches aren’t just the stuff of movies, books, and spooky stories. When some eighth-grade bullies try to ruin her Halloween, something really strange happens. It turns out that Founder’s Bluff, Massachusetts, has a centuries-old history of witch drama. And, surprise: Moth’s family is at the center of it all! When Moth’s new powers show up, things get totally out-of-control. She meets a talking cat, falls into an enchanted diary, and unlocks a hidden witch world. Secrets surface from generations past as Moth unravels the complicated legacy at the heart of her town, her family, and herself.

The War at Ellsmere


Faith Erin Hicks - 2008
    She soon finds herself labeled a "special project," harried by stringent standards, and in the novel position of being someone's nemesis. Luckily for Jun, she has an ally in the quirky Cassie, who tells her the story of Ellsmere's eccentric founders and the legend of the creature that roams the woods on the school's grounds. But can Cassie help Jun survive Ellsmere? Between queen bees and mythical beasts, Jun has quite the year ahead of her.

Making Friends


Kristen Gudsnuk - 2018
    All her friends were in the same room and she knew what to expect from her life. But now that she's in seventh grade, she's in a new middle school, her friends are in different classes and forming new cliques, and she is completely lost. When Danielle inherits a magical sketchbook from her eccentric great aunt Elma, she draws Madison, an ideal best friend that springs to life right off the page! But even when you create a best friend, it's not easy navigating the ups and downs of relationships, and before long Danielle and Madison are not exactly seeing eye-to-eye.To make matters worse, Danielle has drawn the head of her favorite (and totally misunderstood) cartoon villain, Prince Neptune. He's also come to life and is giving her terrible advice about how to make people like her. When she rejects him and he goes on a rampage during a school pep rally, Danielle and Madison have to set aside their differences to stop him!

Awkward


Svetlana Chmakova - 2015
    But when she trips into a quiet boy in the hall, Jaime Thompson, she's already broken the first rule, and the mean kids start calling her the "nerder girlfriend." How does she handle this crisis? By shoving poor Jaime and running away!Falling back on rule two and surrounding herself with new friends in the art club, Peppi still can't help feeling ashamed about the way she treated Jaime. Things are already awkward enough between the two, but to make matters worse, he's a member of her own club's archrivals--the science club! And when the two clubs go to war, Peppi realizes that sometimes you have to break the rules to survive middle school!

Just Roll with It


Lee Durfey-Lavoie - 2021
    A contemporary middle-grade graphic novel about how dealing with anxiety and OCD and can affect every day life. As long as Maggie rolls the right number, nothing can go wrong . . . right?Maggie just wants to get through her first year of middle school. But between finding the best after-school clubs, trying to make friends, and avoiding the rumored monster on school grounds, she's having a tough time. . . so she might need a little help from her twenty-sided dice.But what happens if Maggie rolls the wrong number?

Nat Enough


Maria Scrivan - 2020
    And on the first day of middle school, Natalie discovers that things are worse than she thought -- now she's not even cool enough for her best friend, Lily! As Natalie tries to get her best friend back, she learns more about her true self and natural talents. If Natalie can focus on who she is rather than who she isn't, then she might realize she's more than enough, just the way she is.

Shark Summer


Ira Marcks - 2021
    But these unlikely friends are about to discover what happens when you turn your camera toward the bad things lurking below the surface.

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.

Jo & Rus


Audra Winslow - 2021
    But when a mysterious one-eyed cat brings the two of them together, they quickly learn they’re both outcasts trying to figure out what they really want from life in a world where the odds are stacked against them. It’s only by becoming friends they discover who they are, who they want to be and what it takes for every one of us to find our own happiness! Cartoonist Audra Winslow presents an all-new story about rolling with the punches when life doesn’t go your way and when you have to stand your ground, no matter the cost.

Shy Ninja


Ricardo Sanchez - 2021
    Young Rena suffers from social anxiety disorder. It keeps her from engaging at school, from hanging out with her best friend in person, or participating in any sort of group activity. Pressed by her mother to find some social outlet, she enrolls in a School for Ninjas—and in an instant, her life changes. Rena’s instructor, the mysterious Dysart, tells her that her presence fulfills an ancient prophecy and that she will become the Ninja legend known as “The Ghost.” Assuming she can even get past her own anxieties, will she help Dysart return the Ninja to their former glory, or is Dysart planning to exploit Rena for his own cryptic aims?

Lucky Penny


Ananth Hirsh - 2016
    She lost her job. And her apartment. In the same day. But it's okay, her friend has a cozy storage unit she can crash in. And there's bound to be career opportunities at the neighborhood laundromat— just look how fast that 12-year-old who runs the place made it to management! Plus, there's this sweet guy at the community center, and maybe Penny can even have a conversation with him without being a total dork. Surely Penny is a capable of becoming an actual responsible adult, and if she can do that her luck’s bound to change! Right?

Jane, the Fox & Me


Fanny Britt - 2012
    Her school life is full of whispers and lies — Hélène weighs 216; she smells like BO. Her loving mother is too tired to be any help. Fortunately, Hélène has one consolation, Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. Hélène identifies strongly with Jane’s tribulations, and when she is lost in the pages of this wonderful book, she is able to ignore her tormentors. But when Hélène is humiliated on a class trip in front of her entire grade, she needs more than a fictional character to allow her to see herself as a person deserving of laughter and friendship.Leaving the outcasts’ tent one night, Hélène encounters a fox, a beautiful creature with whom she shares a moment of connection. But when Suzanne Lipsky frightens the fox away, insisting that it must be rabid, Hélène’s despair becomes even more pronounced: now she believes that only a diseased and dangerous creature would ever voluntarily approach her. But then a new girl joins the outcasts’ circle, Géraldine, who does not even appear to notice that she is in danger of becoming an outcast herself. And before long Hélène realizes that the less time she spends worrying about what the other girls say is wrong with her, the more able she is to believe that there is nothing wrong at all.This emotionally honest and visually stunning graphic novel reveals the casual brutality of which children are capable, but also assures readers that redemption can be found through connecting with another, whether the other is a friend, a fictional character or even, amazingly, a fox.