Speechless: A Graphic Novel
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
From Eisner Award-winning author Aron Nels Steinke comes a heartfelt and funny middle-grade graphic novel about friendship, anxiety, and expressing yourself.
Middle school was supposed to be a fresh start for Mira, who struggles to speak in class even though she can speak at home without a problem. Her former best friend, Chloe, has become her worst enemy, and Mira's only solace is making videos for her secret stop-motion animation channel. But when Chloe's mom has to travel for a family emergency, Mira is horrified to learn that her family has volunteered to let Chloe stay with them. When it feels like everything is going wrong, will Mira ever find her voice?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jewish sixth grader Mira, portrayed with brown skin, lives with selective mutism, a condition that prevents her from speaking in certain social settings. To cope, Mira channels her creativity to develop stop-motion animation videos, crafting unique puppets and offbeat scripts which she anonymously posts online. Mira's sanctuary is jeopardized by the arrival of her former best friend, Chloe, who's staying with Mira's family to finish the academic year before joining her parents following a move to Missoula to care for Chloe's ailing grandmother. At school, Mira finds an unexpected ally in nonbinary class project partner Alex, who supports her during moments of bullying. As Mira contends with shifting relationships, she attends therapy sessions that mark her progress from whispering to Alex at their seats to speaking at the front of the class. Steinke (the Mr. Wolf's Class series) draws from personal experience, as addressed in an author's note, to offer realistic insight into SM and its social stigma. Exaggerated cartooning highlights Mira's emotions, blending humor and vulnerability in a heartwarming and visually enticing graphic novel that lauds imagination and self-expression. Characters are depicted with varying skin tones. Ages 8–12.
