All's faire in middle school /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Calling all Raina Telgemeier fans! The Newbery Honor-winning author of Roller Girl is back with a heartwarming graphic novel about starting middle school, surviving your embarrassing family, and the Renaissance Faire.

Eleven-year-old Imogene (Impy) has grown up with two parents working at the Renaissance Faire, and she's eager to begin her own training as a squire. First, though, she'll need to prove her bravery. Luckily Impy has just the quest in mind-she'll go to public school after a life of being homeschooled! But it's not easy to act like a noble knight-in-training in middle school. Impy falls in with a group of girls who seem really nice (until they don't) and starts to be embarrassed of her thrift shop apparel, her family's unusual lifestyle, and their small, messy apartment. Impy has always thought of herself as a heroic knight, but when she does something really mean in order to fit in, she begins to wonder whether she might be more of a dragon after all.

As she did in Roller Girl , Victoria Jamieson perfectly-and authentically-captures the bittersweetness of middle school life with humor, warmth, and understanding.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Jamieson doesn't disappoint in her first graphic novel since her Newbery Honor-winning Roller Girl. Imogen Vega's parents perform at a Renaissance fair in Florida, immersing the family in a world of jousting and archaic language ("Thou qualling toad-spotted clack-dish!"). Imogen has been homeschooled all her life; now, at 11, she's headed to public school. In her first weeks, she falls victim to the wiles of a mean girl, hurts a girl who might have been a good friend, and throws her younger brother's treasured stuffed animal into the lake. As Imogen undergoes a period of self-enforced solitude, the extended family of the fair community offers unexpected support. Jamieson's sturdy artwork (her figures are decidedly unglamorous, as if to offer regular kids reassurance) and sharp dialogue make it easy to care about her characters. Readers will also appreciate the irreverent humor of the fair's adults: as a treatment for bullies, one recommends "a large quantity of chicken feathers and a few pots of honey." The fair emphasizes adventure and theater, but its unconventional performers teach Imogen about kindness, too. Ages 9-12. Agent: Paul Rodeen, Rodeen Literary Management. (Sept.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

School Library Journal Review

Gr 3-7-Imogene Vega has been homeschooled, spending eight weeks every year helping out at the Florida Renaissance Faire, where both of her parents work. Until now she was behind the scenes helping in her mother's shop, but this year she will serve as squire to her father's alter ego, the villainous knight Sir Hugo. At the same time she will be starting another, far scarier quest: navigating the treacherous landscape of middle school. Laura Knight Keating marvelously captures Imogene's voice, giving it just the right pitch and inflection to reflect her myriad emotions as she deals with friends, teachers, family, and the faire. The entire cast does their best to bring the faire and the middle school experience to life; however, as the original book was a graphic novel, listeners may often feel they are missing pieces of the story that need to be seen. VERDICT Young listeners will thoroughly enjoy the multiple voices and the descriptive text on audio, but to get the full experience they will want to have a copy of the book nearby.-Shari Fesko, Southfield Public Library, MI © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

After years of homeschooling, Imogene is excited to start public school for the first time. Plus, she finally gets to perform in the Renaissance faire, where her mom has a shop (or, shoppe) and her dad plays a knight. Imogene doesn't have much trouble sliding into her new role at the faire, but middle school is another story. Rules about who to sit with, what to wear, and how to fit in are confounding, especially when she's getting some seriously mixed messages from the popular girls in her class and realizing how different her family is. Jamieson's appealing, naturalistic artwork, full of warm tones, realistic-looking characters, and saturated colors, playfully incorporates medieval imagery along with Imogene's more mundane homelife, particularly when Imogene fears that her misbehavior at home, thanks to frustrations at school, makes her more of a dragon than a knight. Jamieson masterfully taps into the voice and concerns of middle-schoolers, and the offbeat setting of the Renaissance faire adds some lively texture. Kids who loved Jamieson's Roller Girl (2015) will adore this one, too.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2017 Booklist

Horn Book Review

Roller Girl (rev. 3/15) meets the Ren Faire in Jamiesons new read-alike graphic novel. After years of homeschooling, Imogene Vega, a squire-in-training at the Florida Renaissance Faire where her family works seasonally, starts middle school. Embarrassingly hilarious and tragic moments ensue, involving name-brand clothing and knockoffs, sexy romance novels, frenemies, maybe-crushes, retellings of Saint George and the Dragon, and a stuffed squirrel. Between classmates, teachers, parents, and Imogenes vibrant extended faire-mily, nobody seems to get how hard it is to be a sixth-grader in transition (until they do). Imogene is reflected with depth as she manages her anxiety and grows to better understand her familys precarious finances as well as microaggressions endured by her Latino father at the Faire and at his retail job. Roller-coaster moments stem from relatable, everyday adolescent experiences, always with a sense of high stakes. There is just enough commitment to the Renaissance theme to bring it to life without alienating those unfamiliar with Elizabethan English or other rennie references. The illustrations, loose, energetic, and expressive, let plot and characterization shine. Each chapter starts with third-person narration, presented within decorative borders featuring shields, dragons, and other illuminations; its as if Imogenes story is a Renaissance tale itself--an experience complete with tension, laughter, anticipation, heartbreak, and delight. elisa gall (c) Copyright 2017. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Kirkus Book Review

A home-schooled squireling sallies forth to public school, where the woods turn out to be treacherous and dragons lie in wait.Imogene Vega has grown up among "faire-mily"; her brown-skinned dad is the resident evil knight at a seasonal Renaissance faire, her lighter-skinned mom is in charge of a gift shop, and other adult friends play various costumed roles. As a freshly minted "squire," she happily charges into new weekend duties helping at jousts, practicing Elizabethan invective ("Thou lumpish reeling-ripe jolt-head!" "Thou loggerheaded rump-fed giglet!"), and keeping younger visitors entertained. But she loses her way when cast among crowds of strangers in sixth grade. Along with getting off on the wrong foot academically, she not only becomes a target of mockery after clumsy efforts to join a clique go humiliatingly awry, but alienates potential friends (and, later, loving parents and adoring little brother too). Amid stabs of regret she wonders whether she's more dragon than knight. In her neatly drawn sequential panels, Newbery honoree Jamieson (Roller Girl, 2015) portrays a diverse cast of expressive, naturally posed figures occupying two equally immersive worlds. In the end Imogene wins the day in both, proving the mettle of her brave, decent heart in finding ways to make better choices and chivalric amends for her misdeeds. Readers will cheer her victories, wince at her stumbles, and likely demand visits to the nearest faire themselves to sample the wares and fun. (Graphic fiction. 10-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Victoria Jamieson is the creator of the Newbery Honor winner Roller Girl . She received her BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and worked as a children's book designer before moving to Portland, Oregon and becoming a freelance illustrator. She has also worked as a portrait artist aboard a cruise ship, and has lived in Australia, Italy, and Canada. She maintains a not-so-secret identity as Winnie the Pow, skater with the Rose City Rollers roller derby league and has a not-so-secret past as a Renaissance Faire groupie.