A fun middle grade graphic novel about a kid joining Yearbook Club and trying to solve the mystery of students from each class going missing. It was a little rushed at only 112 pages, I think if it had been closer to the 250-300 pages that middle grade GNs are learning toward, it really could have pushed into a 4. It reminds me of the high school episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, specifically the Sadie Hawkins episode and the disappearing girl episode.

Fearbook Club is a graphic novel about a new student-- Whit-- who takes photographs to deal with his dad's death. He finds himself at a new school and forced into the yearbook club. Unfortunately, he has started seeing ghosts through his camera lens every time he takes photos.

Parts of this story were really intriguing. The mystery was good and definitely threw me for some twists. I also liked the art style quite a bit. The yearbook advisor character was HILARIOUS. I totally loved him.... probably more than I was supposed to.

Sad to say, that's about all I enjoyed about this book. The story itself was pretty chaotic-- I had a hard time keeping up with what was happening and found myself rereading a bunch of panels to see if I had missed something (I hadn't). While the resolution of the mystery was pretty satisfying, the ending wasn't. I felt like there were a lot of unanswered questions and things that were glossed over. Additionally, the characters were barely one-dimensional. I needed a lot more character development to be able to genuinely enjoy this title.

I read only a black and white preview, but the story was engaging. I thought the cartoony style was wonderful and I know this will be a popular book with middle schoolers that enjoy jump scares and creepy stories. This graphic novel also touches on life experiences that students moving schools often have, from making new friends to family issues. I thought the bullying side story was well handled, honing in on the impact bullying has on the victim. The characters were fun to read. I can appreciate a ghost story with disappearing students that is not overly gory or awful, and will also not give my students nightmares. A great addition to a middle school library.

This was totally out of my comfort zone as I don't read graphic novels, and I rarely pick up books for such young audiences... though I'm so glad I took a chance and for the arc from netgalley. This was written so well, love the storyline, the artistry was beautiful and the characters are so enjoyable. I loved it

Pretty good for a middle grade/ya graphic novel. My main issue was the pacing felt rushed and didn't spend enough time fleshing out some of the scenes. Should have been twice as long to really let the story breathe. But I get it, young people have shorter attention spans nowadays.

A kid with an overprotective mother keeps seeing ghosts in his photos. Also, a kid has disappeared from the school since its founding. The yearbook club, made up of a collection of strange kids, decides to tackle the mystery, not really by choice. The set up is great and creepy, but the ending is confusing and doesn't really answer anything. Small growth for the characters was nice, and I did like the encouragement of therapy for those that need it. I still don't understand some of the characters, but they all made change at least a little bit.

A book with some spookiness around, teens with problems at home, the situation children commonly encounter when they go to a new school or when they have not that common hobbies.
It was a fast read, engaging, having a growing mystery but something was missing throughout the action of the book. The overall theme of bullying can be easily noticed since the beginning. I enjoyed the fact that the reader can have an occasional deeper look at death.

I don't know exactly why I didn't like this book, but it was very bogged down. with characters and didn't connect with me for any of them. DNF about 60% through

This had a decent amount of spookiness, a diverse cast of characters, and covers some important issues kids often face: grief, dealing with a mentally ill parent, and bullying. Whit Garcia, the new kid, gets roped into joining the yearbook club when the principal catches him taking photos around school. Looking through previous yearbooks, they find that each year, a child has gone missing, and this has been happening for more than 100 years. He and the three other members decide to investigate the broken-down school building when Whit, while developing photos he took of the old building, sees children in and around it that definitely weren't there when he took the photos. Their investigations leads to Whit disappearing to another realm - will he be able to return?
The story is pretty good for the most part, the ghosts of the missing children were creepy and menacing, and Whit and the issues he's dealing with (the death of his father, his mother's anxiety, being bullied) are sensitively dealt with. The "bad guy" wasn't what/who I was expecting, and Whit does get some character growth. The ending feels a little rushed though, there are several things left hanging, and the ending didn't read like this was the start of a series. However, I did enjoy this and would recommend it.

#FEARBOOKCLUB #NetGalley

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

Growing up I really didn't get too much chance to read comics so I was never sure about graphic novels. I have happily added them to my list of to be read as I find so many stories that really excite me in this medium.

Fearbook Club is the story of a shy teenager named Whit who, along side 3 other "misfits" also in the yearbook club, are being haunted by missing students. What a great start to an adventurous mystery involving ghosts!! The personalities of the characters really shine through in the circumstances they find themselves in. I did find that not all of my questions were answered but the overall theme of bullying came through loud and clear.

I saw the twinning from the shining in the beginning of the book and will let you all find more nods to to other novel/movies for yourself.





Thanks to #DiamondBookDistributors and #AfterShockComics for the opportunity to read and review this title through #netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Whit, the new kid in school, finds himself in yearbook club with other misfits and soon finds themselves uncovering the mystery of missing children -- “one student from each class goes missing every year, and no one seems to care.” Soon, the club finds itself in a supernatural realm in search of the truth.

I really enjoyed the eerie atmosphere and growing mystery. Despite Whit’s background, he experiences growth and I liked watching the other students accept him as a friend. As for the plot, I enjoyed the first half, though things become confusing once we reach the supernatural realm. The pacing is a bit jagged and I wasn’t a fan of the reveal but I loved seeing everyone work together. The illustrations were also well done and I feel like this is a solid book for middle grade readers.

Thank you Netgalley and AfterShock Comics for my copy!

Horror is one genre where traditional text can be superior to graphic novels. It can be difficult to achieve the right atmosphere visually. It's a failing of this book. It never feels properly frightening. It isn't gory, so that's definitely to it's credit.

Unfortunately, I wasn't the biggest fan of this. I liked the premise of the story, but a combination of rushed storytelling and awkward dialogue made it hard to enjoy. It felt like so many of the important plot points in the story were glossed over, which made the pace off-kilter. I think this graphic novel tried to move too fast and cover too many topics in the time it had. Because of the rush, I feel like I didn't get to know any of the side characters. The only fleshed-out character was Whit.

The dialogue being awkward was a huge barrier to me being able to enjoy this. The characters often don't feel like they're actually interacting with each other and instead are just monologuing back and forth to get some quirky language on the page.

I think this story has a lot of potential. The mystery is interesting and I enjoyed the photography and paranormal aspects of the story. For me, it just needed to be more fleshed out, with a clearer, more consistent plot.

This graphic novel was a lot of fun. It’s about young Whit who loves to take photos and his new school. We find out through the story that his father has passed while doing his job and it has made Whit’s mother a very anxious person. Whit is trying to adjust to his new school and keep himself hidden behind his camera and as such gets sentenced to the yearbook club. He finds things are darker in the school than he thought. There is a condemned adjoining school that has still not been torn down and every time he takes a picture, ghostly images appear. It’ll be up to him and the yearbook club to figure out who those ghostly images are and how to set them free. For the most part this book was lots of fun, and has great illustrations. Kids are going to love it. As an adult see holes in the story that weren’t filled in but overall this was an enjoyable book solid for great for any library collection.

FEARBOOK CLUB
BY RICHARD HAMILTON
Genre: manga, fictional, horror
This story starts with the new kid being thrown into the misfits’ yearbook club, which is led by a hilarious drama teacher. While working on it he goes through the previous yearbooks and finds that each year a child goes missing and no one seems to care. Even the principal of the school seems quite eerie. As soon as she steps out of the school boundary, she forgets everything related to the school. As they go investigating about it all the kids of the club will be pulled into the horrid mystery of the school.
This comic along with entertaining the kids will teach the children about the negative aspects of bullying and also it will lay emphasis on the fact that fear consumes one and that one should always overcome it.
Overall, the art work was fun. The plot was quite simple with some well portrayed characters. It has a 90’s vibe about it. I highly recommend it for middle graders especially those who are a fan of goosebumps.
But I too have some answered questions. One of them being about the mystery of the principal. I hope that it has a volume two.
Thank you Netgalley for proving me with this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Ratings: 4/5

Mysterious disappearances, ghosts in photos, and strange old spooky buildings at a school campus lead to some interesting adventures for this yearbook club. This fun, quick read with an occasional deeper look at death would be a great secondary purchase to help bolster a graphic novel collection.

Fearbook Club is a graphic novel with some horror elements that are perfect for middle-grade of high school students.
When the new kid is tossed into the yearbook club at his new school, the group discovers that mysterious disappearances have been happening at the school for years.
This was fun and a little creepy. This would be perfect for kids who enjoy the goosebumps books.

This graphic novel made me want to reach out to all the kids that have ever felt alone at school and just remind them that they are loved. Fearbook Club takes serious topics such as anxiety and bullying and puts them into a fantasy setting that is unfortunately all too real for a lot of kids. The art was gorgeous and the story flowed at the perfect pace! I wish this was a series. I hope we see more from this team one day!

Rating: 3.25 🌟
First and foremost, I'd like to express my gratitude to Netgalley for providing me with an e-ARC of this poetry book.
I appreciated how this comic could cover so many important subjects in such a short amount of time and in such a detailed way.
• Bullies at school use body shaming as a form of bullying.
• A single parent's struggle
• Friendships