Big fan of Jamila and Shirley! I've loved watching their friendship evolve. Especially with this book, it was good to see them put into the school environment, where they were drawn into separate directions. So what happens when two friends have very different interests and hobbies? How do they stay friends? How do friend groups interact? Then, put them on the case of a notorious blackmailer--exciting!

In another successful Shirley & Jamila story, the detectives have to figure out how to stop a bully while trying to navigate going back to school for the first time since developing their friendship. Different hobbies & new friends cause some bumps in the road, but the team eventually figures out a way to save the day. This series continues to highlight a racially diverse community. Also Shirley may be Autistic too, showing some neurodiversity.

In the follow up to Shirley and Jamila Save Their Summer, after their eventful summer together, Shirley and Jamila enter middle school. As Jamila becomes more involved in basketball and forms new friendships, this brings some changes to her friendship with Shirley. Shirley continues to do investigative work and draws on Jamila for help with a big case that is impacting many students at their school. The girls will need to pull off a complex plan to put an end to the bullying. Many upper elementary and middle school students will relate to the challenges in Shirley and Jamila's friendship. They will also enjoy the mystery and suspense components in this entertaining graphic novel.

A fast paced mystery for middle grade graphic novel fans! The friendship between Shirley and Jamila doesn't always so go so smoothly throughout the story, adding even more tension to the story being told. A perfect chilly day read and an ending you won't see coming.

Shirley and Jamila are middle school detectives. In this story, they’ve just started the school year. Jamila is new at the school and eager to join the basketball team. Shirley is ready for their next case. She plans to take down her enemy Chuck, who has been blackmailing students, threatening to expose their most dangerous secrets. Meanwhile, Jamila makes a new friend at her community centre who makes her question if her friendship with Shirley is real.

Shirley and Jamila are like a modern day Sherlock and Watson. Shirley is methodical in her investigations, willing to wear disguises to catch the culprit. Jamila is quieter and thoughtful, questioning her relationship with Shirley. This mystery was based on the story “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.” I haven’t read that one but I’m curious about it after reading this graphic novel.

This story had important lessons about friendship. Though Jamila didn’t have any obvious interests in common with Shirley, they had fun together and that’s what’s important in a friendship.

Shirley and Jamila’s Big Fall is a great middle grade mystery!

Thank you Dial Books for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

School has started for Shirley and Jamila, which means they don't have as much time to spend together. Jamila joins the local rec club basketball team and finds a new friend in Seena, while Shirley does, well, whatever it is Shirley does. When Shirley is stumped by a mystery she's been hired to solve, she asks for Jamila's help and, before they know it, they are breaking all kinds of laws! Will the girls find out the truth and help the other students at their school? This is an entertaining graphic novel about friendship and integrity that a lot of middle graders will relate to.

It’s fall and the girls are back in school. Jamila gets heavily into basketball, to her delight, playing on school and community teams. She meets and bonds with another girl, then feels a bit guilty about what this means for her friendship with Shirley. She also feels uncomfortable with how this girl sees Shirley as weird.

Shirley, meanwhile, is still helping kids, and pulls Jamila into a difficult case of a well-organized bully in grade six who has been blackmailing numerous kids. The girls know they have to stop this guy from hurting anyone else.


The artwork is dynamic and expressive, and I liked the focus on bullying and the costs upon the bullied individuals’ mental health. Jamila gets to expand her ideas about friendship, and the two girls get up to some derring-do as they deal definitively with the bully.

The story of these very different girls continues to be entertaining, and I like how though it’s a riff on Holmes and Watson, Jamila is not a sidekick. She’s a full participant, in their endeavours and though she may not have Shirley’s type of intelligence, Jamila’s smarts, kindness and sense of right and wrong balance Shirley’s more cerebral approach.

I hope there are more adventures in store for this pair.
Thank you to Netgalley and to Penguin Young Readers Group for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This book was such a good sequel in the Shirley and Jamila series. I loved the way they utilized the friendship challenges of middle grade and allowed the characters to discover what friendship really means and with a fun twist on a mystery and adventure likely to engage middle grade readers.

This was such a great graphic novel! We follow Jamila and Shirley as they navigate school, new friendships, and after school activities. Jamila is getting more into basketball, and even joins an after school league. There she meets a new girl, Seena, and the two become fast friends. Shirley is a detective that is currently helping her client, Eva, because another student, Chuck, is blackmailing her and demanding four hundred dollars or else. Shirley and Jamila devise a plan to break into Chuck's house and steal all of the blackmail information that he has on Eva and the other kids at their school. Will they be able to pull of their plan? Or will the two get caught and get in trouble? You'll have to read this to find out!

I really liked this graphic novel. I thought that it brought up a lot of great discussions about friendships and how you can be friends with lots of different people. I also thought that it addressed bullying and how you can handle it very nicely as well.

I received an electronic ARC from PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group through NetGalley.
Shirley and Jamila are back to solve a second case. This time, readers meet a Seena as well. She is another new friend of Jamila's and is clearly part of the case they are trying to solve. The three take on a bully and blackmailer at school and retrieve all of the information - videos, photos, notes - he has on others. Plenty of humor and relationship challenges to hold middle grade readers.
Goerz offers a realistic look at life at this age and readers will connect with many of the characters. The artwork offers further details about the case and the friendship storylines.
This one won't stay on the shelf as readers are looking forward to more adventures with this duo who are themselves and blend together in friendship too.