Member Reviews

This title was a great look at how a younger sibling can feel, and how an older sibling may think they are helping, but they make it harder.

I honestly felt a lot for Grace, as I have an older brother about 2 years older than me. Living in his shadow could be frustrating, and it is because we are different kinds of people.

I honestly think this is a great age appropriate title.

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Thanks to NetGalley for this review copy.
I saw this in a Yen Press webinar and thought it sounded cute. It was! Very sweet on friendship and siblingship. Will definitely recommend this to kids.

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Middle schoolers will love this novel. The transition from young to old is always a trying one and it is conveyed in this story.
The relationships between brothers and sisters is explored and, although the distaste and annoyance between siblings is highlighted, the sweetness and love shines through. Being in the shadow of her older brother, Grace is having a difficult time coming to grips with growing up. Readers will most certainly be able to identify with her dilemma. The graphics are fun and the dialog so deftly written.

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E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Grace is just entering 6th grade, and will be rejoining her older brother Kyle at school, where he is a popular and athletic 8th grader. Grace resents him, especially since her friend Jay has a crush on him. Their friend, Amy, often pushes Jay out of her comfort zone, and soon the girls have a falling out. Grace has worried about fitting in at middle school, since she is more of a quiet gamer, and now finds herself eating lunch alone. When popular but mean spirited Cam befriends her, "accidentally" bumping in to Amy and spilling things on her, Grace is a bit leery, but glad to have a friend. Cam continues her mean streak, refusing to let a new girl sit at their table, and asks to be introduced to Kyle, on whom she also has a crush. When Grace refuses, Cam cuts her off and is very mean. Amy and Jay, who have reached a détente, see how Cam is treating Grace and tell Kyle about it. Kyle confronts Cam, which doesn't really help things. Will Grace be able to reconnect with her friends and find a way to be les resentful about her brother?
Strengths: Friend drama is a huge attraction when it comes to plots that my students request, and this has plenty of drama! Yen Press also publishes Svetlana Chmakova’s Awkward, Brave, and Crush which I have had to replace several times, and the themes are very similar. There's a wide range of middle school experiences, and we get a few glimpses of Grace's home life, which is supportive even though her father is away. There's also a decent amount of true-to-life middle school romance.
Weaknesses: Grace is perhaps the single brattiest character I have ever encountered. The cover is very indicative of her every sulking move in the book. She's not even very nice to Amy and Jay. The art style will appeal to younger readers, but the manga style always makes me think that the story is being performed by the cast of Speed Racer.
What I really think: I personally do not understand the appeal of Telgemeier's story lines (would anyone read a novel about dental trauma?), but this tale of mean girl drama in middle school will probably go over well with my students, who even like the Tessier and Amandine Chloe graphic novels, which make me cringe whenever they are checked out. Will probably purchase, but this was not a personal favorite. It's probably "toxic positivity" to suggest that maybe if we quit telling students to be anxious about middle school, they will stop being so anxious.

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Overall, this was a nice read. I think it is perfect for middle-grade readers but if you’re older, you might like it a bit less and find Grace a bit annoying. At least, I know I did. That’s why I am only giving three stars to this book.
The story is sweet but there wasn’t the conflict resolution I wanted. I was hoping for something a little deeper I think, on the side of Amy and Jay instead of focusing too much on Grace. She was not my favourite character. However, I think she represents well how middle-grade students think and view their world so that’s why I think this book is well suited for its audience. The art style worked well for this story and made the experience better.
I recommend it to middle-grade readers only.
3/5

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A really cute story about friendship and siblings. Being the younger sister of an outgoing and very liked boy looks hard! The story was interesting and the art was really cute! I thought the plot was very well done and I liked how, no matter how much they fought, the big brother cared a lot about his little sister.

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Kyle's little sister is a graphic novel about a girl who lives in her brother's shadow. Kyle is popular and liked by just about everyone... except for his younger sister Grace. This was a pretty fast read, I thought that Grace and Kyle's relationship was relatable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Yen Press.

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Grace struggles with the usual identity and friends upset that is 6th grade but she feels like every part of it is made worse by living in the shadow of her older brother. The friendships in the book are really well developed and realistic. I was also really pleased with the depiction of Grace's mom, their open and caring relationship that encouraged Grace to confide in her was a great aspect of a great realistic fiction middle grade book.

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Grace thinks her brother is really annoying but is he really? This a cute book about friendship and big brothers.

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*3.5
this was such a sweet graphic novel about friendship, siblings and forgiveness with a bit of a mean girls spice ;)
i do recommend it if u want a heart warming and quick read!
also, if u have a sibling, u've got to read this - it's highly relatable 😂

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Grace is quiet and a little bit nerdy while her big brother, Kyle, has always been social, athletic, and highly popular. Grace assumes her brother doesn't care about her and that everyone (parents, teachers, classmates, etc) all prefer him to her. When her small group of grade school friends (who genuinely like Grace for Grace) is temporarily torn apart, Grace is drawn into a new group of friends who genuinely are using her for access to popular Kyle. Grace ultimately learns about friendship, her own value, and sibling love (which does include sometimes fighting)

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Middle school is rough, but it is worse when you have a sibling in your friend group! This book really brought me back to middle school. I think kids of that age would like and relate to it. Nicely written and made me want to read the rest of it.

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The art style worked really well with the story. The story itself was a good representation of middle school life, as friendships can become complex and fragile over the smallest things. Heck, I still see some of this nonsensical drama at work.

I like Grace as a character. She handled herself in the situation she was put in quite well. Do I agree with every action, not really, but I'm sure most people would've done the same thing. I'm glad she was able to realize what was wrong and was able to mend and value her friendships. Also, her brother wasn't annoying or anything, just a typical brother character who happened to be popular.

Overall, this was a nice quick read.

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Grace has two friends from grade school, who are also there in middle school. But one of her friends has a crush on her brother Kyle. In fact, a lot of the younger girls have crushes on Kyle, and Grace, sometimes feels overlooked, or used, so they can get to her brother.

She has a falling out with her friends, and makes new friends who want to use her for just that. But they are bullies, at heart, and only care about getting close to Kyle.

It is one of those stories where you want to grab some of the characters and shake them, to get some good sense in them and not go with the bullies, and make up with their friends.

it is very much middle grade stuff, and the bullies are real bullies, and the hate and anger and sadness are all part of growing up. But, if ou aren't into that you might want to skip this book.

If you want you some girl anguish, then this book will fill your desire.

<em> Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.</em>

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Kyle's Little Sister is a cute comic about friendship and siblings. I'm week for sibling rivalry and shenanigans, since I have a little sister and I always wished that I would also have a big brother. Grace is finally going to middle school and now she's in the same school as her two years older brother once again. Kyle is outgoing and everyone loves him and Grace is always Kyle's little sister and it makes her mad. She has two friends, but they end up fighting and Grace makes new ones, but they are in it for Kyle only. The annoying older brother becomes decent along the way and helps out! The whole friendship thing was nice and believable. Everything about the story is great, but I have hard time believing that Kyle and his friends want to hang out with their little sisters and over all, Kyle and the boys are quite childish. This eats credibility in a sense.

The art is simple and works out nicely for younger readers. The story is coherent and with enough drama not to suffocate the reader still. I'm glad comics like this are made and that they show normal girls. Kyle's Little Sister is good and cute even if it's not something out of this world. A great read for younger girls and there's not enough comics for them surely.

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Grace is sick of living in her older brother Kyle's shadow. He is two years older and her whole life, she has been compared to him. He is athletic and popular and she is quiet and plays video games. Now that they are in the same school, things get even worse. Grace has to navigate changing friendships, growing up, and being in Kyle's shadow.

This was a fun read, but at times it was bit too much. The parts that were funny were too over dramatized, as were the serious parts. The book was both too silly and too serious. The art style was fun and I did like the characters, but at times they all just became caricatures. Overall I liked the book and I think it will appeal to a broad audience, but there were some parts that I just didn't care for.

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Grace feels overlooked and undervalued and like she will always just be known as Kyle's little sister. She has an argument with her two best friends, and joins a different group of friends. Unfortunately, it becomes clear that the leader of this group only wants to be friends with Grace so that she can introduce her to Kyle. Will Grace ever feel like her own person? Will she ever make up with her friends?

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