Speak Up! by Rebecca Burgess

It's nice to see the plethora of Raina Telgemeier-style memoirs and realistic graphic novels start adding some diversity. Recent titles have shown more cultural diversity as well as tweens dealing with a variety of mental illnesses and this title has a neurodiverse main character and is written by an autistic person.

Mia struggles with bullying at school and her mother's constant worries and pushing for her to be "happy," which to her mom means being involved with lots of friends, school activities, and being "normal." When she needs to escape from the pressure, the bullying, and all the other problems her life seems to encompass, Mia hides in her room, where she spends her time writing lyrics and working with her best friend Charlie to perform online as the viral singing sensation Elle-Q.

As if her usual challenges aren't enough, Charlie wants Mia to try out for the new talent show and sing in public; Laura, part of the group of mean girls bullying her starts being friendly but only when no one else is around, and Mia gets sensory overload after a particularly mean trick and has a meltdown. Although Mia eventually gets support from her mom and, to her surprise, from the teacher running the talent show, it's Mia in the end who finds the inner courage to speak up for herself with her mom, the bullies, and with Laura and Charlie about how she feels about their friendships. Finally, Mia is able to shine on stage and speak up for herself - in front of everyone.

Burgess' art is bright and colorful. They have a cartoon style that smoothly integrates the complex emotions and struggles Mia faces, as well as the insecurities of her friends and enemies, without making her a caricature or, as some of the bullies call her, a "robot." Charlie is presented as a Black tween who uses they/them pronouns. There's certainly some wish-fulfillment here with Mia's singing going viral and her mom finally changing how she sees her and giving her more support and freedom. But that's one of the brightest parts of middle grade fiction, that it doesn't all have to be realistic, it can be hopeful, daydreams and all, even if in "real life" it probably wouldn't happen that way.

Verdict: A must-have for collections with fans of Raina Telgemeier. This is sure to fly off your shelves as soon as the readers are aware of it and it brings some much-needed representation to neurodiverse tweens. Recommended.

ISBN: 9780063081208; Published September 2022 by Quill Tree; Borrowed from another library in my consortium