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Chmakova, Svetlana.
AWKWARD
New York : Yen Press, 2016
IL 5-8, RL 3.3
ISBN 0316381322

(4 booktalks)
Click on the book to read Amazon reviews
  Booktalk #1

Peppi Torres knows that her first day as a “new kid” in middle school is going to be  difficult, but when she starts out by tripping into a not-so-popular boy, and then getting teased about being his “nerder girlfriend”, it becomes downright AWKWARD.

Peppi tries to manage the crisis by:

* pushing away any of the boy’s attempts at friendship to make sure no one thinks she “likes” him, and
* joining the art club, to get to know kids who like the same things she does.

But, she’s feeling guilty about being mean to someone who was just trying to be nice to her, and her beloved art club is being threatened with closure due to a “prank” they pulled on their rivals, the science club.  Will Peppi’s first year at Berrybrook Middle School end as awkwardly as it began, or will she figure out a way to smooth things out?

Once you start reading Awkward, you won’t want to put it down until you find out!  (Booktalk by Great Stone Face Award Committee, 2017)

Booktalk #2

Cardinal rule #1 for surviving school: Don't get noticed by the mean kids. Cardinal rule #2 for surviving school: Seek out groups with similar interests and join them. On her first day at her new school, Penelope--Peppi--Torres reminds herself of these basics. But when she trips into a quiet boy in the hall, Jaime Thompson, she's already broken the first rule, and the mean kids start calling her the "nerder girlfriend." How does she handle this crisis? By shoving poor Jaime and running away! Falling back on rule two and surrounding herself with new friends in the art club, Peppi still can't help feeling ashamed about the way she treated Jaime. Things are already awkward enough between the two, but to make matters worse, he's a member of her own club's archrivals--the science club! And when the two clubs go to war, Peppi realizes that sometimes you have to break the rules to survive middle school! (Vermont DCF Book Award 2017)

Booktalk #3


Peppi has just moved to a new town and a new middle school. As she trips into school on the first day, a small act of kindness from a stranger turns into an awkward moment of meanness on her part. As time goes on, Peppi realizes she must make amends. While navigating through her life at school, she discovers a true friend. While she and her new friend stumble together through a rival competition, the two begin to work to join some great (but very different) minds for a production that benefits the entire school.  (Louisiana Young Readers, 2018)

Booktalk #4

Going to a new school can be difficult. Going to a new middle school can be even harder. Join Peppi in this graphic novel as she gives insights into surviving middle school and also how to bounce back from those mistakes we make. After all, middle school can be rather…awkward. (Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award 2017-2018)

SUBJECTS:     Clubs -- Fiction.
                        Graphic novels.
                        Middle schools -- Fiction.
                        Popularity -- Fiction.
                        Schools -- Fiction.

 
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