Tuva (white) starts seventh grade assuming nothing has changed with her two best friends, Bao (Vietnamese) and Linnea (white)—until Linnea announces that she has a boyfriend. Bao is first annoyed and then angry when it becomes clear that Linnea has new priorities. Tuva, meanwhile, feels torn: She doesn’t want to give up the childlike games they’ve always played, but she’s intrigued by the idea of romance. The problem is she can’t think of a single boy she likes. Then she meets new student Mariam (brown-skinned) and develops a crush. Bao has no problem with Tuva liking a girl, but a big problem with Tuva being yet another friend obsessed with love. Tuva hopes a birthday sleepover at Linnea’s will be a chance for the three friends to make amends, but Bao ends up outing Tuva to the group in a moment of hurt. This spirited graphic novel examines the sometimes-challenging transition between childhood and adolescence among a group of best friends. With hand-lettered text and light-hearted illustrations ranging from full-page to panel to spot images, the fresh, diary-style storytelling includes the wonderful, often droll relationship between Tuva and her single-parent dad. While explicit acknowledgment that outing someone is never okay would have been welcome, it is implied in a story that concludes with a terrific author’s note discussing the inspiration of her childhood friendships, and what she’s learned from seeing her book translated into different languages. (Ages 9-13)

★ WINNER of the 2024 Stonewall Book Award, American Library Association

Perfect for fans of The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag, HeartStopper by Alice Oseman, and Jen Wang's The Dressmaker and the Prince.

In this fresh, sensitive, diary-style graphic novel, 12-year-old Tuva's questions about becoming a teenager are confusing—so when her first crush turns out to be on another girl, it feels absolutely wonderful--so why does it become so complicated?

Tuva is starting seventh grade, and her checklist of goals includes: writing out a diary, getting a trendy look, building the best fort in the woods with her BFFs, and much more. But when she starts school, nothing is how she hoped it would be.

Seventh grade has split her friends into rival factions: TEAM LINNEA and the girls who fall in love and TEAM BAO and the girls who NEVER fall in love. Linnea has a BOYFRIEND, Bao hates everything related to love. Worst of all, Linnea and Bao expect Tuva to choose a side!

In this delighfully hand-lettered coming-of-age graphic diary, Tuva gets caught between feeling like a kid and wanting to know HOW to become a teenager. Then Miriam shows up and suddenly Tuva feels as if she’s met her soulmate. Can you fall in love with a girl, keep it from your friends, and survive? For Tuva, it may be possible, but it's defintely not easy.