Click

Click is a middle-grade graphic novel that follows in the footsteps of beloved classics such as Roller Girl and the widely read works of Raina Telgemeier. Using accessible art and vibrant color, Click captures a grounded, realistic story about a fifth-grade girl who must navigate the school’s changing social dynamics and figure out her own identity.

Graphic novels have become increasingly popular among young readers, providing a more dynamic presentation that competes with the effects of social media more readily than static text. As the School Library Journal reports, graphic novel sales nearly doubled between 2019 and 2021. Yet despite student enthusiasm for the genre, some librarians and teachers have resisted promoting graphic novels, opining that they are not “real” books. However, other librarians and teachers deliberately incorporate graphic novels into the curriculum, valuing them as a useful way to get students excited about reading (Cockcroft, Marlaina. “Graphic Novels, Manga Explode in Popularity Among Students.” School Library Journal, 3 Oct. 2003).

Click uses eye-catching pastel colors to differentiate panels that fill the page while using traditional comic structures to tell the story through panels, scenes, and dialogue bubbles. The word count is fairly low compared to other middle-grade novels, and Kayla Miller advances the story through detailed visuals that often contain no text or dialogue.