I love reading middle grade graphic novels, they are a great way to get reluctant readers into books and they have a lot of important messages that they can share with those readers.


All Summer Long is a graphic novel about growing up and the challenges of changing friendships and getting older. It was a good read and I enjoyed it. We follow Bina whose best friend is going away to camp and she will be alone all summer long. The novel is about her coping with the change in their friendship and how things just change as you get older. She isn't ready to accept any of it. The story is her summer vacation as it progresses and she learns what it means to get older.

The illustrations were pretty simple but they capture the feeling of the story really well. Bina though, is kind of obnoxious, but then again - I'm not a teen any more, so this angsty behavior and feeling might hit home for younger readers. I think it is a graphic novel worth picking up. I think pre-teen readers will get a kick out of it and catch all the feels. It is very relatable overall.

I loved this book! Bina is so vulnerable, sweet, tortured, TEEN. I liked the development of the friendship with Austin and that they didn't need to become boyfriend/girlfriend and could continue their friendship even as they developed different interests over the years.

I didn't love this as much as I would have liked to--but I know my patrons will gobble it up and be satisfied.

Well written and illustrated. Really tackles some legit feelings and dilemmas that kids face. I loved the characters.

A refreshing story from Hope Larson. When Bina's best friend and neighbor, Austin, heads to soccer camp for the first month of summer vacation, she's at loose ends. In the course of that month, as well as the following one, Bina discovers that she can make her own fun--and friends--and still maintain her friendship with Austin. What I enjoyed most about the story--in addition to the theme, is that the diversity (Bina is mixed race, with parents of different races) and LGBTQIA+ (her older brother is married to another man) are just...there. Not a part of the discussion, just treated as normal. To me, that is the standout feature.
I am disappointed by the simplistic artwork, however, so I'm knocking this down. 3 stars here, but is really more of a 3.5

Thirteen-year-old Bina is not looking forward to this summer. Not only is her best friend, Austin, heading off to soccer camp this summer, but he doesn't even seem interested in keeping up their Summer Fun Index anymore! Bina consoles herself by getting lost in music and finding an unlikely friendship with Austin's sister, who has similar taste. When Austin comes home, he's acting more distant and weirder than ever. Can Bina and Austin ever get their friendship back on an even keel? This great graphic novel will resonate with tweens who are navigating their own growing pains and the evolution so many friendships go through in that summer space between middle and high school. It's funny and touching, loaded with understanding. An A+ summer read. Hope Larson is an Eisner Award-winning comic and graphic novel artist whose books include Chiggers (2008), Goldie Vance (ongoing), and Compass South (2016). Her 2012 adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time earned her a second Eisner.

This graphic novel was a fun coming-of-age story with friends Bina and Austin spending their first summer apart. Bina feels betrayed when Austin wants to go to soccer camp, but she discovers that she can make friends and discover ways to fill her time without him. Growing up is hard, and Hope Larson portrays this fact in a fun way with relatable characters.

I enjoyed this book. It's in a similar vein to the author's past work like Chiggers and has a resemblance to books like Smile and Sunny Side Up. I would recommend it to fans of those.

Good middle grade GN about growing up growing apart and together, trying on identities and working out who you are in relation to friends and people around you.
Liked the fact that there was a strong female protagonist getting good advice from another girl. Like the flakiness and awkwardness of teen friendships depicted with the need to be cooler than the next person depending on who was around.

ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley, for providing an advance egalley of this book in exchange for honest feedback!

All Summer Long focuses on Bina's coming-of-age through her music and through two friendships: her changing friendship with her best friend Austin, and her new friendship with his older sister, Charlie. I love how Bina's growth through music ties the book together, and I like the complexity of Bina's friendship with Austin, but Bina's friendship with Charlie sets off warning bells for me.

<spoiler>About halfway through the book, Charlie takes Bina with her on a babysitting job and then abandons Bina (who has never babysat before) with a very young child as she leaves with her boyfriend. She then blames Bina in front of the mother when things go wrong. While Charlie is supposedly remorseful later, she never apologizes to Bina, and the end of the book even has Charlie repeating her previous behavior. But their friendship is framed as positive and a sign of Bina's inherent "coolness." I like that Charlie is a complex, multifaceted character, but I wish she were held accountable in some way for using her friend.</spoiler>

I like how expressive the illustrations are! One caveat: the book's cover is colorful, but inside, the book's illustrations are done in a blander orange, black, and white, and I didn't like that scheme as much.

What a fun and relatable middle grade graphic novel! I love that it captures the weird, painful, exhilarating awkwardness of growing up—changing friendship, changing relationships with parents, learning to know and trust yourself. Wonderful!

I think fans of Raina Telgemeier will be into this one. I'm not sure how I feel about the color scheme ( I actually got more excited about the cover than the actual illustrations) but in terms of the story, I like how Bina is all about staying true to herself. Her boring summer gave her a chance to figure herself out, something that you can't always appreciate in the moment but when you look back you can see how important it is that it happened.

This book was totally me in middle school. Awkward, trying to find my "thing," gaining and losing friends. Probably everyone in middle school, really. All Summer Long is about Bina, a thirteen year old who enters summer break without her best friend Austin at her side. He is off to soccer camp for the first part of the summer, putting a hold on Bina's plans for summer fun. To occupy her time, Bina gets more into her music and takes up babysitting with Austin's older sister, Charlie. The summer has it's up and downs while Austin is away and when he comes back, leading to some strained moments between the friends. Growing up can be hard, that's something we've all dealt with, and Larson handles the personal subject with a story we can all relate to. Presented as a graphic novel, it's a can't miss middle-grade choice. Side note- I really appreciated the way this story handles things like adoption and the lqbtq+ community. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this. It really spotlights the growing pains of the teenage years. Bina is 13 and her best friend Austin is spending the first part of the summer at soccer camp, so Bina is left to entertain herself for the first time. She is really bored at first, but then she starts getting into music and playing her guitar and soon she is out enjoying the summer. By the end of summer, she is still best friends with Austin, but their relationship has grown and Bina has developed interests of her own. A great read!

Hope Larson nails it with this summer of change graphic novel. It was a one sitting kind of read and I can't wait to share it with students. Bina and Austin have been best friends since infancy. Now that they are in middle school, things are changing. Bina wants everything to stay the same this summer while Austin is off on new adventures with soccer camp, new friends and maybe even a girlfriend. While Austin is off at soccer camp, Bina is stuck at home with nothing to do. Through interesting interactions and her own adventures, Bina discovers her own "thing", new friends and that change can be okay, but you have to talk about it.
I loved the characters and the reality of their situations. I also greatly appreciated the different family types represented in this story. I appreciated the main character, a girl, being into and good at music. I think this book will hit a home run with lots of kids.

Coming of age graphic novel that should have broad appeal with the grade 5-8 set. While I assume this is intended to be a stand alone work, I think there's space for a continuation of Bina's story as she begins to develop an identity beyond her relationship with Austin.

Growing up can be tough. This middle grade graphic novel is a great addition to the ranks of Roller Girl, Awkward and Smile.

The summer between 7th and 8th grade is not what Bina expects when her best friend goes off to soccer camp for a month. Bina is left alone to find herself and mature in this coming-of-age graphic novel.