I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

Fun YA graphic novel about a group of three high schoolers who get hired to sign backup for a famous pop star and end up becoming friends and starting their own band.

In this charming graphic novel, three rising seniors at the Brooklyn Performing Arts High School land the ultimate summer job: singing back-up on tour with pop superstar Nika Nitro. But tour life is tough when you’re twenty feet and a world away from fame. Add in an accidental beef with an underground punk band, a blossoming crush on Nika’s supporting act, and a secret that could end the star’s career, and you have all the backstage / onstage drama you need for summer!

Thanks to the publisher for my advanced copy!

Let me start by saying I don't usually gravitate towards graphic novels so you can consider me a non graphic novel reader without a question, that being said I really enjoyed this cute graphic novel about three girls who become backup singers super popular pop star. It brought back so many childhood memories reading Archie comics as a young reader. The story is not just cute but also heartfelt and funny, the simple plot has romance, some wholesome moments and enough drama to keep the reader entertained as the girls get ready for their performance. This book will be a great read for any music lovers regardless of their interest in graphic novels, the illustrations are beautifully done, overall an enjoyable read!

Thanks to Fierce Reads for the digital arc of this title! All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed The Backups by Alex de Campi. The story center around three students for the Brooklyn Performing Arts High School who get summer jobs as back up singers for pop star Nika Nitro.

Things I liked about the graphic novel:

- The artwork was really well and visually dynamic
- There are diverse characters of various shapes, sizes, ages, and sexuality
- The story line is all about girl power and a diverse group of unlikely characters coming together to be friends.
- I appreciated that over the course of the story you see all three girls with their hair in various states of perfection to disarray. I especially appreciated that they showed the black character, Lauren, with her hair in a bonnet when she woke up first thing in the morning.
- While there is fat shaming - I thought that the support that the character received from her friends was handled well.

Overall this was exactly the kind of graphic novel I want my daughter to read. It is fun, and honestly a little juvenile from an adult perspective, which means it is 100% spot on for the age group it is intended for. Combine that with wide representation and I feel like this title would be great for the junior high set.

It's too unrealistic that high school kids would be picked as backup singers for a famous pop group; doubly dubious that this kind of job would be the last one available. The ending was too fast so I didn't feel the full catharsis of growth. Loved the relationship between Tommy and Jenni.

Very cute graphic novel. I enjoyed reading it, I wish there had been the whole tour- unless maybe that's a possibility for more in this series?
Characters were well written, I liked the story, but I did feel it wrapped up quickly and there wasn't a whole lot of resolution.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Backups: A Summer of Stardom is a sweet and wholesome story of three girls who come together to become the backup singers for Nika Nitro, the popular beautiful popstar. Jenni, Lauren and Maggie couldn't be more different, however that doesn't stop them from becoming fast friends. These girls are all charming, lovable and unique. Their story of friendship and first love is one that is sure to have any reader smiling.

The artwork is absolutely beautiful! The bright and colorful style really captures the feel of the story. It adds a fun element to the overall reading experience.

If you like fun graphic novels where the characters grow and learn a little this is something you should definitely give a try. It's cute, it's fun and so so sweet.

A super fun graphic novels about three girls who only have music in common who end up being backup singers for a famous pop star. The girls learn that friendship doesn’t always need a common start, and that protecting yourself and your friends is what makes someone punk. I loved this so much!

4.5

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the arc of this graphic novel!

Three high school girls get a summer job singing backup for a high profile pop star, and end up learning about themselves, forming friendships, and changing in ways they never expected.

Wow what an adorable graphic novel! I loved the myriad messages in this book- fat positivity, friendships, and love! It was absolutely adorable.

The art in this book is gorgeous. I loved every panel and the way it moved through each chapter.

I really loved that this book only focused on a really small space of time! I think it allowed it to really dig into the characters and their personal development! I loved the humanization of the pop stars and especially the journey that one of the girls had to take to accept her body after being told it wasn't good enough for the industry.

Basically this was very cute and wholesome and I definitely recommend this quick read!

Pub date: April 13, 2021


Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Fatphobia

I received an electronic ARC from MacMillan Children's Publishing Group through NetGalley.
Three diverse young women audition to be back up singers as a summer job. They're selected and have to figure out how to work together. Jenni is a pop music fanatic; Maggie is death metal all the way; Lauren is a classical cellist. Love that they're all challenged to step outside their norms and learn from each other and from this new world they are involved in.
The illustrations are lovely. Facial expressions tell so much of the story.
Great for young teens.

Adorable! I loved that it took clichés and turned them on their head, and at the end of the day is a book about friendship and music.. The art was great, the story was funny, I could have read more!

A sweet story about finding new friends. The MCs are recruited as backup singers for a pop star's tour; along the journey they get to know each other and support each other. There's also a cute love story between one of the MCs and a heartthrob supporting act, and an adorable supporting character in the pop star's meddling (but well-meaning) little brother.

📚 The Backups: A Summer of Stardom by Alex de Campi 📚
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This one was an interesting one!!

This graphic novel follows this trio of friends who are backup dancers for a famous pop star. I have mix feelings on this one.

I haven’t really read many graphic novels, but I do want to read more. I think this one definitely portrayed the story in such a great way. The artist also did a fantastic job!!

This definitely shows how becoming popular can tend to change your personal life. As these girls start learning and changing, they later start to realize that their friendship is also changing. This was a really quick read and I enjoyed it for the most part. There are definitely moments that shined more than others.

I personally feel like they’re could’ve been more to it. Maybe it’s a personal thing, but I just didn’t connect with the story. I can appreciate what the author did, but I think it’s one I won’t remember in the future. As I mentioned, it was a great story and a fantastic read, but I think others will definitely enjoy it more than I did.

Overall, this was a good and fun read. I’d still recommend this book because it’s very eye opening, especially with the world we’re living in right now. It was a great story with beautiful illustrations.

**Huge thank to NetGalley, Macmillan, and Alex de Campi for allowing to read this in exchange for an honest review.**

I don't read graphic novels often, but I really enjoyed The Backups. It was playful and fun and had just enough drama to keep things interesting. I loved that all the characters were so diverse and stayed true to themselves. On the surface Jenni, Lauren, and Maggie couldn't have been more different, but I really loved how they all came together for each other. The female friendships were fantastic and the artwork was amazing.

CW: Bullying, homophobia

*I voluntarily read an advance review copy of this book*

I wanted to like this because the premise sounded so cool, like we would get a dramatic story told from the perspective of characters that you don't normally hear from (the back-ups). But it started out so unrealistic that I couldn't take anything else seriously. I mean, a mega-star hiring inexperienced teenagers to since backup three days before her tour? And it didn't get any more believable from there. I think the author confused dramatic for good, without making sure the dramatic stuff was still logical and interesting.

If it's a realistic-fiction graphic novel aimed at teens, I will read it. No matter what. I keep saying this, but we need more graphic novels.
This one did not disappoint. I'd been wanting to read it since I saw the first description in 2019, and I guessed that it would be pretty similar to "VIP: I'm With the Band," which I read in middle school, but entirely in graphic-novel format. It wasn't exactly like it, but it's close enough that anyone who read the VIP books will certainly enjoy it as well.
Lauren Monroe, Jenni Giovinazzo and Maggie Koh have just finished their junior year at a performing arts high school when they are selected from thousands of applicants to be backup singers for the pop star Nika Nitro on her upcoming tour. In the beginning, we see certain pages only belonging to one character, so we already know who they are by the time they are selected-- Jenni is a huge fan of Nika, and dreams of singing professionally, Lauren is a skilled cellist who has to decide if she is going to stick with it, and Maggie is a drummer who doesn't care at all about Nika's music, but just wants the exposure and the money. I'll admit that Maggie bothered me for most of the story, as she gave off a "not like other girls" vibe and took any chance she got to complain about pop music. But she's not an antagonist at all. The real antagonist is the band The Spoils, who Maggie used to be a fan of, and are extremely elitist when it comes to music.
I will mention that the majority of the book takes place during one show day, so there isn't a lot of traveling like the VIP books. But that was completely fine. Everything else made up for it, from Jenni's romance with the opening act to the depictions of the hard work that actually goes into "silly pop music."
I will say that sometimes Nika and Maggie looked too similar, but I was able to tell them apart after not too long.
I read it in only a few hours, so I highly recommend this, even if you normally don't like reading.

The Backups focuses on 3 teens chosen as backup singers for one of the world's biggest stars. The action is quick, with lots of characters, but that's what makes this such a fun read. The range of the diversity and differences of the characters is a real highlight, as well as the friendship between them. I'd classify this as young adult but on the younger side, it has a lot of appeal for older middle grade readers too.

This book was so much fun. The teens are all realistic. The situation is logical, and the high jinks are totally plausible.

I loved the in-fighiting. I loved the cattiness of the music industry, and I loved how the story all came together to make it work.

It is the story of three very different teenagers, one who is into classical music, one into heavy metal and the third into pop who get a summer job touring with a famous singer as their backups. It is fun, realistic, and very caring. It was a whole lot of fun.

And if I say much more, it will give away the story, and then it won't be as much fun.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Loved this graphic novel. The characters were fun to get to know. The artwork was beautiful. I would definitely read more in this series.