Gr 4-8 – Philadelphia-based middle school student Heart Lamarr leads the life of a typical middle-class teen: making new friends; going to sleepovers, parties, and concerts; and begging her mother to let her get her ears pierced. But what she’s most interested in is starring in the next school play, if only she can stay out of detention long enough to audition. This graphic novel is a compilation of strips from the daily syndicate of the same name—created by Mark Tatulli in the late 1990s and taken over by Steenz in 2020—which gives it a page-by-page episodic feel, while also maintaining a longer story arc that is sporadically interrupted by an out-of-sequence, single panel. However, because the source material is an ongoing story, the graphic novel ends abruptly. The characters are modernized and older than who they debuted as in the 1990s, but Heart doesn’t stray far from the mostly harmless rascal-next-door character popularized by comics of yore (­Dennis the ­Menace, Calvin and Hobbes, etc.). Blues, gray, and beige dominate, with pops of warm colors (red, pink, orange) that complement the minimalist backgrounds and solid line work, as well as the characters’ rounded, full designs. Characters are diverse in terms of body type and LGBTQIA+ representation. Heart is white, her friend Charlotte is Black, and some background characters present as BIPOC, though many appear to be white.

VERDICT Readers who enjoy slice-of-life stories that focus on friendship will appreciate Heart’s story, which subtly and naturally offers positive diverse ­representation. (Alea Perez, School Library Journal)

"Misha predicts that the masterpiece she and her best friends have begun creating will lead to fame and fortune.

The young collaborators share a notebook (square-ruled and occasionally eraser-smudged) in which their illustrated novel takes shape interspersed with Misha’s journal-like account of middle school moments. The three heroes of their work, The Chronicles of Deltovia, are very like their creators. Misha, a bit impulsive, relies on her feelings much of the time and longs to be seen as complex, brave, sad, and deep (and famous in the future). June (the most sophisticated artist of the three) is focused, detail-oriented, and needs to understand the world logically. Athletic Ollie plays an untroubled cheerleading role, her infrequent additions to the work in progress amusingly detached. While the fantasy tale they create proceeds by fits and starts, propelled by Misha and clarified by June, the trio navigate the school year, participate in an overnight field trip at the science museum, and uncover, somewhat accidentally, the ongoing embezzlement of school funds. Misha’s, June’s, and Ollie’s voices are pitch-perfect and very funny, combining sincerity with fledgling self-awareness and accompanied by hilarious cartoon art in three distinct styles. The result is a warmhearted look at friendship and the pleasures and pitfalls of collaboration, literary and otherwise. Misha and Ollie read White; June appears Black.
Amusing and insightful." (Kirkus Reviews)
"Olivia Jaimes (Nancy: A Comic Collection) employs three distinct alternating perspectives to craft a slyly funny graphic novel in which best friends Misha, June, and Ollie build a fictional world—and navigate middle school’s ups and downs—via a shared notebook. Jaimes’s crisp b&w ink illustrations keenly embody the trio’s varying narrative styles, further detailing their differences and providing brief glimpses into their lives beyond the shared tome." (Publishers Weekly)