This review is based on an ARC provided by Netgalley.

I enjoy teaching the novel version to my students each year and watching it fly off my shelves after first chapter Friday's so I was ecstatic they have a graphic novel version as well. This graphic novel has beautifully paired the verse with images to convey the story. I was blown away with how well depicted it was and how the voice still came alive. Definitely will be adding this to my class library. For those students still hesitant to read a verse novel this might be the golden ticket to get them interested.

Booked is the second of Alexander's books to be published in graphic novel format. I love the illustrations by Dawud Anyabwile- his style is engaging and interesting to look at. The art speaks just as loudly as the words. I highly recommend this book to readers of any age and am anxious to include it in my middle school library collection.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It is one I would add to my classroom library and recommend to students. The text and illustrations were wonderfully complimentary and would certainly add understanding for my students. Personally, I think I prefer his novels and building my own pictures as I read. I know my students will LOVE this book!

Outstanding graphic version of a popular free verse title. I felt like the graphic version of The Crossover was cluttered and overwhelming. This version of Booked, however, really brought the book to life. Though print version is less popular in my library than The Crossover, I think this graphic version will find many readers.

Wow, what a great book! I love the colors, the words, the flow! It's a book I think many students will love!

Booked is an excellent adaptation of Kwame Alexander's middle grades book, published in 2016, under the same title. Nick Hall, an 8th grader at Langston Hughes, is struggling to balance his position on the soccer team, parent's separation, friendships, school work, and crush. Told in a combination of verse and graphics, this is a novel that students of all ages, genders, and interests will love. Similar to his other novels, it's about sports without actually being about sports. Teachers and librarians alike will love all the vocabulary and book references intertwined through the story. Personally, I loved the characterization of Mr. Mac - as a school librarian, I aspire to be him. Alexander and Anyabwile have done a great job with this story. There are a few sections of the story that seem to skip a little bit, probably due to turning it from a full book into a graphic novel. It does not impede the storyline. I will, without a doubt, be adding this book to my collection when it's officially released.

Soccer fan, middle schooler and reluctant word enthusiast dealing with bullies, parents and a crush. Plus it has a super awesome rap star turned school librarian!

I loved Nick Hall and his buddies, Coby and April, and the coolest librarian, Mr. Mac the first time that Booked was released in 2016. Now, a whole new set of readers will be able to experience the pain, the love, and the friendships of Nick Hall in Booked: The Graphic Novel.

Kwame Alexander and Dawud Anyabwile team up again to recreate the tale of a soccer star down on his luck, his loyal friends, his strict-but-loving parents, and a cool librarian in this amazing graphic novel. You will definitely expand your knowledge of words, too (bonus for the teachers who assign the book for English class).

Have fun meeting Nick Hall for the first time or reuniting with him now.
Recommended for ages 10 and up (middle school perfection).

Booked, by Kwame Alexander, tells the story of Nick. He is a twelve-year old boy who loves soccer, is navigating first love, and is struggling with his parents' separation. I enjoyed the novel in verse. The graphic novel is my second read of the book. I enjoyed this version just as much as the novel in verse. The graphics are simple, but jump out to the reader and enhance the text. I think readers will enjoy this book!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the original version of Booked. It was a solid novel, though not as impactful as The Crossover. This is definitely a book where the GN version only makes it better. I see things in this version that I didn't see in the original. This is a well-done adaptation and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This was an interesting read. The story follows Nicky, the protagonist, through some typical teenage situations: unhappiness at school, parents separation, crush on a girl at school, disinterest in reading and learning etc.

The story felt quite disjointed in places and a little hard to follow, but I think that is due to the verse nature of the prose. I thought the illustrations worked perfectly with the text and really helped make this an appealing read.

I like the fact that the novel addresses some gritty issues: suicide threats (light), parents separation, bulllying, mild sexual attraction and educational difficulties. These feel real and handled in positive ways. The vocabulary is challenging and educational but it is presented in a way that is interesting and relevant to the story rather than patronising. How can a book that, on the face of it, seems to be about football offer its reader explanations on malapropism, limerence, sweven, onomatophobia, incompossible... amongst others? Intrigued? You need to read on! As Mr Mac says ' Books are fun... they're like amusement parks for readers'.

In this graphic novel, Nick, a twelve year old soccer star deals with authentic, relatable problems with family, friends, sports, bullying and crushes. Nick’s father encourages him to read and learn new words which he dislikes and avoids, at least for the first half of the book.
The illustrations are fantastic but I found the dialogue and story line hard to follow because the author does not use typical speech bubbles. I liked the introduction and use of seldom used vocabulary but the author lost me when he used the word callipygous to describe a female character’s body. This seemed inappropriate for a middle grade graphic novel. I then found myself skimming to reach the end (which ended with a “cliffhanger.”) I do not see myself reading the next book in what I assume is a series.

This was a great read! The characters are diverse and dealing with authentic issues with kids need to see and read. The pages are a non-traditional in that they lack dialogue boxes but this does not impede understanding the story and allows great focus on illustrations, primarily the characters. This actually underscores how much of this book is about dealing with the feelings associated with difficult situations. It's a great addition to youth libraries!

Turning Kwame Alexander's books into graphic novels was a genius idea. His books hold great value and now they are accessible to even more readers. The "Booked" graphic novel was an exceptional remake and I loved it and think young readers will too.

This book follows the same story line as the original novel written in verse that students loved. This adds in the element of being a graphic novel. I think that students will love the graphic novel version and read it even if they have already read the first one. I think that the story line is something that many students need to hear and will identify with. Another amazing book by Kwame Alexander!

Graphic novel adaptation of Kwame Alexander's YA novel, Booked, which focuses on soccer-mad 12-year old Nick's 8th grade year. Topics covered include strained parental relationships, divorce, sport, finding ones self, dating, and bullies. I haven't read the source material and because the graphic novel privileges speech, there were times I felt like I was getting only part of the story. The lack of traditional comic boxes and changes in font and size may have added to this, as I wasn't always sure in which order to read the text on a given page.

The graphic novel version of Kwame Alexander's Booked would be a good addition to the middle or high school library collection. The minimalist drawings are still attention-grabbing and build off of and enhance the text. I have actually not read the verse novel version of Booked, so the whole storyline was new to me. I did feel the story was a little jumbled or choppy at times, bouncing between aspect's of Nick's life. But the story was not hard to follow, the topics will be relatable for younger kids, and the pacing was appropriate Thank you to the publishers and #NetGalley for the ARC.

I read The Crossover in 2015 and rated it 5 stars. While I didn't love Booked as much, it was still an engaging story about a young boy who loves soccer and deals with issues related to family, bullies, and his first crush. My 4th grade students love graphic novels so I know they would enjoy the cute illustrations, but I'm curious how they would feel about the overuse of complex vocabulary and the various subplots throughout this book.

This book was received as an ARC from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children's Book Group - Etch/HMH Books for Young Readers in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I am a fan of the work of Kwame Alexander and have read Crossover and it is one of our most popular books in our collection. I could not get enough of Booked and how Nick had to deal with drama in school and in home with his overachieving father and controlling mother and he made a name for himself on the soccer field. Since this book has so much diversity of multiple cultures, I know this book will do very well in our library. I can see this book circulating very well in our library and potentially becoming the second graphic novel chosen for Battle of the Books for the future years to come.

We will consider adding this title to our JGraphic Novel collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.