Pokethon – Fortree Gym

On Saturday, October 26, I attempted a pokethon gym – a patreon readathon for Jaderayreads. While I had books chosen for all of the prompts, I read only three. Sometimes pushing myself to read several stories in a row will make my brain rebel. That being said, I enjoyed all three graphic novels that I read. I chose to combine the reviews into one post since my reviews of graphic novels – especially those less than 50 pages in length – run on the shorter side.

This graphic novel featured two middle school age best friends who live at an orphanage. One finds himself the subject of bullying and the other has limited hearing. Thus, they frequently communicate in sign language. While evading bullies, the two find themselves in a fantastical world and in the process of attempting to find their way home, gain new friends and fight a big bad villain. I loved how the “disability” of limited hearing became a superpower in this world as well as the way the author opened the door wide for sequels.

I always love a Miles Morales story, especially when told by Jason Reynolds. My students love these stories as well so I always seek them out to add to my classroom library. This one fit the bill for an engaging teen superhero read. I have just one issue. That resolution? I have no idea how they actually defeated the bad guy because Reynolds and Leon did not show or explain the effect of the final action from Miles against the bad guy. I suppose that explanation that came after as part of Miles’ monologue but that felt like a bit of a cop out. Overall, I still enjoyed it and thing that most of my middle school students will not find this to be an issue.

This graphic novel was by far my favorite of the three that I read this day. Tara, the main character, finds herself about to start high school on the day after the book opens. She has skipped the 8th grade as part of some program and now has to deal with feeling like a tiny fish, way out of place, in the big pond of high school. She finds help from her best friend and 22 month older sister, another of her classmates who also skipped a grade, and a new friend she meets in her … interesting … English class. She also has a highly active and inventive imagination which also spills onto the page. Words cannot contain how much I loved this.