Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me free access to the digital advanced copy of this book.

I absolutely loved this, and, as a former band kid, I can speak to the accurate portrayal of school band life. The humor felt so natural and real, while also including real issues that I can see middle schoolers dealing with, like not being able to be yourself around your friends and trying to balance your wishes with your friend's. I thought the ending was so sweet and just the whole thing was lovely. And the art!! I was a fan of Jade already (and the whole Hello Boyfriend collective) but I have to say how much I loved it!!! I kept taking a few seconds on pages to really appreciate the art and colors! Overall, this was such a great love letter to middle school and band life that I just enjoyed so much!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children's Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this graphic novel.Honestly, I believe this is a graphic novel that I would add to my collection of ones that middle school aged children need to read for the lessons of working hard to get what you dream about but also discussing fandom and true friendship. Some of the humor was not my favorite but thankfully it didn't deter me from the story too much plus I loveeeed the art!!! I also would recommend this graphic novel if you love the Webtoon Brass and Sass. Overall, I don't think this will be for every middle schooler out there, but I still think they could benefit from it. Solid 4 out of 5 stars.

Scout absolutely must find a way to get to the festival where her favorite author will be. When asking her Dad doesn't work out, Scout finds a band flyer and it promises a trip to the festival where her author is! Quickly, she hatches a plan and bluffs her way to the trombone section of the school band. This plan is flawless except that first chair Merrin, wants the band to go for gold for her own personal reasons. Scout learns that playing a trombone isn't an easy task. After botching the first school concert spectacularly (granted, the band also did not sound so great), she finally realizes that if she wants to stay in band get to the festival, she is going to have to take Merrin's help and properly learn trombone.

What follows is a solid middle school tale of navigating friendships, finding your place in the world, and not judging someone by appearances. Scout is a bubbly personality and has a great "can do" attitude, but can and does come off as a little clueless. Merrin is determined and aloof for her own reasons. The band kids are typical band kids (in it for their own reasons, but enjoy it). Scout's "friends" might not be friends at all and Scout's best friend is an online friend who guides her and helps her in their own way.

This book was a solid read and I'm so happy to see a solid middle school title where a character is trying to decide what is true for her. She loves the fantasy series by the author but her "friends" don't. She navigates this as a typical tween would: bluffing until she moves into her truth. There's a little disability rep in the title as Scout drops she has an eye condition and sometimes needs glasses. There's a little LGBTQ+ rep in one of her "friends" having a crush and her best friend being non-binary.

Overall, band kids will enjoy this tale of friendship. Those looking for more stories that hit that solidly middle school readership and issues will enjoy this. It's not must have, but highly recommended.

I loved reading about a kid that would do anything to meet her favorite author. It reminds me of how passionate I was as a kid lol. Very good graphic novel. :)

My Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

My Review:

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for a place on this blog tour and an honest review – thanks TBR and Beyond Tours!

I don’t know if I can find the words to explain how happy this book made my grew-up-in-a-small-town-in-Eastern-Ontario heart. I wasn’t expecting to connect with this book on such a deep level, but it made me so nostalgic. I couldn’t put it down, and I may have read it in one sitting… oops. Scout is Not a Band Kid is a coming of age story about finding yourself during that weird gap between middle school and high school, and accepting the natural breaks in childhood friendships.

I have to start off talking about Armstrong’s story telling style because it was everything! I loved the illustrations, how even in the black and white pages there was so much life in the panels. I recently finished Persepolis and found the graphic style to be very similar, and easy to follow. There were also several Canadian English translations which I thought were adorable, and other * notes that were very helpful to define words that may not be familiar to every reader or just explain a niche part of living in Canada (like awful reception and expensive data plans).

The story itself was not flat at all, and had so many different elements that were combined in such a great way. I loved that Merrina and Scout bonded over their love for the same video game / comic book series, and that meeting the author was the main driving point of the story. I think its great to have a MG narrative where the MC finds a group who appreciates and understands their ‘nerdy’ hobbies. The cast of characters was amazing, and even if they showed up a handful of times, I felt that I could connect with them and understand them. They were all the cutest.

I also loved the internet friendship that Scout and Lou have. As someone who had a lot more internet friends than IRL ones during that transitionary period in my life, my eighth grade self would have very much appreciated seeing that represented in the books she read.

Overall, I think this book could be a favourite for many people, even more so who have that connection to Eastern Ontario (and who understand the excitement/rarity of having the opportunity to meet your idol when you live there.) Fans of Check, Please , Bloom and Mariko Tamaki will love this one too.

This was cute. Scout goes on a little journey of self discovery and embrassing herself. It does a great job we with the 'be who you want to be not what others want you to be' lesson. This actually made me think about middle school for me too which is weird to think about.

I loved this chaotic main character. I'd hate to be in band with her, but she was fun to read about. This was a nostalgic read for me remembering what it was like to be in a close-knit band.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

As someone who has been in Scout's shoes, this was HIGHLY relatable, The artist perfectly captures the frustration and disdain Scout has for learning anything related to band. While her motives are questionable at the beginning of her journey, she makes a new friend and learns how to value things that are important to other people as well. Scout is the epitome of a middle school student and only cares about the things that will benefit her but she also learns a valuable lesson about expanding outside of her own interests to support others that are also important to her. This is definitely a novel that all middle schoolers should read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Childrens for the review copy of Scout is Not a Band Kid by Jade Armstrong. As a former band kid, I was very intrigued by this title, and I am always on the lookout for more graphic novels to recommend to my students.

Scout's hero is going to be in town, but her parents will never let her go to the festival. Unwilling to give up, Scout soon realizes that if she was in band, her parents would have to let her go to the festival because she would need to preform there. With a bit of a white lie, Scout makes her way into the band class. At first, she doesn't take it seriously, and she isn't fooling the lead trombonist. However, she soon realizes that there may be benefits to being a band kid. The illustrations are great and the storyline is engaging. I really enjoyed my time with this story!

Thank you to netgalley for providing an e-galley for review. Scout is Not a Band Kid was such a fun, sweet graphic novel about a girl who wants to meet her favorite author and finds an unconventional way of doing so. Scout figures out that she can meet this author by joining the middle school band. The problem is, Scout doesn't play an instrument. Merrin is serious about playing trombone and is tasked with showing Scout how to play. Through their time together a friendship emerges. Will Scout get to meet her author? Will Merrin allow herself to be vulnerable to have friends? This is a story of friends, band, cosplay and being true to yourself.

A cute, funny, and entertaining read for middle-grade graphic novel lovers. The perfect coming-of-age story about a middle schooler, Scout, who joins band not because she loves the trombone, but because she wants to meet her favorite fantasy author. This story deals with friendships and hobbies and passions and has some great representation. Illustrations were in the unfinished stage in the ARC I received, but they look cute and fun! Can't wait to purchase the finished product!

'Scout Is Not a Band Kid' with story and art by Jade Armstrong is a graphic novel about a young girl who joins band under false pretenses.

When Scout finds out that her favorite author will be at a end of year festival along with her school's band, she sees it as a chance to meet her idol. She joins band and ends up in the trombone section, even though she doesn't know how to play or read music. Soon she is being tutored by the first trombone who takes band very seriously and can't stand what Scout is doing.

As a band nerd, and former trombone player, I enjoyed this story of a person with no right to be in band who finds her place. The art was fine for the story, but I hope there is more color in the finished product.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Random House Children's and NetGalley. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

As a former band kid, I'm going to gravitate towards books on the subject. It a part of that natural desire to see ourselves in books. That being said, I didn't find the characters in this book especially relatable. They're a bit too extreme to be realistic. The ideas behind the plot are pretty standard middle grade fare but the story remains readable and reasonable entertaining. A decent choice for fans of Raina Telgemeir

This was such a cute graphic novel! I loved the illustration style and the colors scheme. Scout joins band to meet an author she loves, but soon she realizes that she wants to try to be good at band. Along the way she realizes who her true friends are and that she can be herself with them.

By now it's no secret how much I adore graphic novels. And when I saw the cover for this particular graphic novel on NetGalley, I just knew it was going to be great, so I of course requested it! Then life happened, and for whatever reason, I didn't pick up any graphic novels for a few months while life was busy. But this book was constantly on my mind, so it should come as no surprise that it's one of the first books I picked up as soon as finals were over. And I'm happy to report that I ADORED this book!

Scout Is Not a Band Kid follows Scout, who desperately wants to meet her favorite author at a signing. She thinks there's no chance of that happening, until she finds out that the school band is going to the same festival that the signing is taking place at. So Scout does the obvious thing. She pretends she knows how to play an instrument in order to get into band and meet her favorite author. No biggie! What ensues is hijinks, hilarity, and heartwarming moments!

Like I mentioned, I had a feeling from the cover as well as the premise that this book would be a fun one. But my gosh, it was funny! There were little background elements and details that the author obviously added in just to have fun, as well as complete scenes that had me cracking up from the way it was written. I actually stayed up later than I normally would just so I could read the story from start to finish in one sitting, because I was having such a great time.

However, beyond being funny, this book also very much dealt with themes of friendship in all forms. Toxic friendships, internet friends, making new friends - this book had it all! Most of it was relatively subtle, which I appreciated, but the friendships and their importance were definitely the forefront of this story.

Of course, as this is a graphic novel, I'm going to take a moment to comment on the art style. But I don't have to take too long, because I simply adored it. I loved the clean lines, the coloring, the little details, basically I loved this graphic novel!

15 Reactions to Scout is Not a Band Kid

Oh, the colour schemes of this book are so beautiful. All the pastels and wait, oh why is there black and white panels. I love it! 😍
“Did you know she [author Scout wants to visit] was born before computers? How is that even possible” what even, my sweet summer child. Kids are so funny 😂
What schools have silversmithing as a club?! Why did my school not have that?
So the school band club is going to the festival Scout wants to go to, how convenient, is she actually going to join? Can she play an instrument?
Ohhh, no she can’t… Hahahaha
Merrin is an absolute treasure!
Bless Scout for thinking she can fake it till she makes it but I don’t think you can do that with an instrument 👀
Each character has a top trumps style abilities card when introduced. They’re being marked on strength, charisma and wisdom, that’s so cool!
Is this a love story? Because Scout looks like she is in awe and in love with Merrin playing. Merrin even has flowers and sparkles in the shot, so beautiful, so elegant.
Scout playing is just “BWOP”, I totally did not laugh out loud for that WOW 😂
I feel so bad for Merrin, it sucks to be so serious about something you love and other people make a mockery out of it, I hope we see Scout change her ways!
I love how this is basically Scout finding her real friends who love her for the things that she loves!
Like yes, let’s celebrate fandom and art and music and nerdy stuff, enjoy all your interests because they’re important!
Oh, this has the cutest art style ever, I need more of it ASAP 😍
Definitely need more graphic novels from Jade Armstrong!

This was such a cute novel! I liked the illustrations and messages throughout.

Thank you to Netgalley for this eARC.

A fun middle grades graphic novel that shows kids that sticking with an activity that they may not like. Scout wants to go to the city to meet her favorite author. She joins the band as a way to attain that goal. Luckily,,she's forced to take it more seriously, and that's where the fun and learning begins. I love the expression of the characters and how music is shown.

A sweet account of trying something new in high school , failing miserably, and finding friendship in the midst of it all.