“A funny and touching story about learning who truly ‘gets’ you… as well as getting to know your real self.”
-TERRI LIBENSON, New York Times bestselling author of Truly Tyler
★Sid Fleischman Humor Award Honor Book
★New York Public Library “Best Books of 2022”
★ Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
★ Book Riot “Best Comics Jan-June ’22”
★ The Comics Journal “Best Comics of 2022”
★ Starred reviews from Horn Book Magazine and Publishers Weekly
Fifth grade is just not Riley’s vibe. Everyone else is squaded-up, except her. Her one friend moved away. All Riley wants to do is draw, and her grades show it. One thing that makes her happy is her favorite comedian, Joy Powers. Riley loves to watch her old shows and has memorized her best jokes. So when the class is assigned to write letters to people they admire, of course Riley’s picking Joy Powers!
Things start to look up when a classmate, Cate, offers to help Riley with the letter, and a new kid, Aaron, actually seems to get her weird sense of humor. But when mean girl Whitney spreads a rumor about her, things begin to click into place for Riley. Her curiosity about Aaron’s two dads and her celebrity crush on Joy Powers suddenly make sense. Full of humor and heart, this is a story about friendship, identity, and embracing all the parts of yourself that make you special.
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Rachel Elliott 