This graphic novel was a fun story that had some pretty interesting characters in it. Was it groundbreaking? No, but it wasn't awful.

We follow Whit Garcia as he starts sixth grade. He wears a camera around his neck and enjoys taking pictures. Until he accidentally gets a pic of a new possible bully who can't stand having his picture taken.

The principal is a WOC which was nice to see and she puts Whit in yearbook club. There he meets the Kim twins, his possible bully (don't worry they're friends by the end) and the yearbook leader: the eccentric drama teacher who is more interested in his non-existent career than yearbook or teaching.

Like I said, nothing groundbreaking there.

Or with the ghosts. They can be seen through a camera, light messes with them, it's the usual kind of rundown.

It's the characters that make this an interesting read. Whit is an anxious kid but his mother is so much worse. I could see how a parent would end up that way. The school has tasked the mother with writing a comfort letter. Something Whit could read should the worst come to pass. It shattered my heart to imagine doing that.

Now, kids have been going missing every year and the principal keeps dropping the word centuries as she talks about her time as a teacher.

So much is rushed and I mean so much. Maybe this story would have benefitted from being a split volume situation. Then both could have been longer and it would have allowed for them to deal with the ghosts and spirits more and in more detail.

Time is a joke in this story. It passes wildly and you only know it has passed because someone says something or there's a little panel that says "x amount of time later". And that was honestly the biggest issue with the story. It was short because the entire story had to be wedged into a short format and the ending was harmed by it because it was so fast. All of the pacing was sort of harmed by the fact it was so short.

If it had been two volumes it would have been amazing just because it would have had room to breathe.

Overall I did like the story, I give it a three (3) star rating. Diversity was there which we love but there were just issues with pacing and things that just sort of stopped. Like the principal's situation was flustering.

All in all, 3 stars. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher, I received this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Fearbook Club is just what I'm looking for in my library. It's spooky, fun, and heartfelt, things my students are always after. It reminds a lot of Stranger Things, which is a good thing! It has a grieving mother trying to find her lost son, a quirky group of kids on a mission, and a really similar monster. All of this made it a super-fast and entertaining read. Also, I really was creeped out at times, so that's a bonus.

I have two small issues, which is that the plot felt choppy and the art didn't always work for me. I was bored by it some times, other times it really popped. I think its overall not a style that appeals to me but could easily appeal to our students. I also wish some characters had a little more depth, but that could just be because this is for and about 6th graders.

Overall, I think this is a fun book that kids will really dig. It checks several boxes on what I like in a graphic novel.

This is such a interesting comic, Tha happens around the fear of the characters, what made me Give this note is It's just that I thought the passage of time in this comic It happened too fast.

Whit has to go to a new school. His father has died, and left him his camera, and so that is what he clings to.

And this school that he goes to has an older campus that has ghosts.

But the ghosts have been forgotten.

Until Whit discovers them.

That is the basic story, but the problem is, we have to go all around Robin Hood's barn to get there. It is never clear that this has been going on a long long time, and that no one has noticed it, until Whit discovers that there is a missing child in each year in the year books, dating back to when the school was founded.

Could be better executed, but not bad.
<em>Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. </em>

This book was so great!!! I really really enjoyed it. The artwork was excellent, and the story kept me hanging the whole time. I love how the ghost kids showed up in the photographs.

This is a fun one! Love the art, story, and characters. Missed opportunity for a bit diversity in this cast. Rounding up from 4.5 stars.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I would actually give this book 3.5 stars

Here are some of the things I enjoyed about this book:

*I really loved the art style! The style and color scenes used seemed to really fit the vibe of the story, and was clear to understand and follow along with what was happening on the page.
*The story was really interesting! I’m always a sucker for a good ghost story, and this one was really unique in how it was set up and how everything connected
*I loved how the story explored themes of facing your fear, bullying, and victimization, especially towards the end!
*I thought the characters were cool, especially Hester! She had some moments that made me laugh out loud!

Now, here are some of the things I didn’t really like:

*Some of the scenes didn’t quite make sense to me in terms of how they fit into the story, or they just didn’t make sense in general. I think that mostly had to do with the organization of the story
*I feel like we were sometimes not given all the information for things, or it almost seemed like a scene had been skipped over. Like, when Whit told us that a student went missing every year, I would have liked to see them actually discover that from the yearbooks, instead of him telling us in a quick comment. It seems like a core element to the story should have a bit more focus
*Some of the dialogue felt a bit stiff in places, although for the most part I enjoyed it, especially because it often played into the weirdness of the characters and their language

Overall, I thought this was a fun read, although there were some issues, mostly minor, that could help with the clarity and the reader’s understanding of the story.

Surprisingly appealing young teen horror, as a new kid in school gets to see what he shouldn't through the lens of his recently deceased dad's old Leica. He would appear to have gained the ability to photograph dead people – and every intake seems to have had a contribution, with all the yearbooks missing one student never snapped for it in time. But what if he awakens said dead people? And what is doing the killing in the first place?

There are hurdles here, such as some rather cheesy and over-active thought bubble generation by our main character, bickering for the sake of bickering until the real plot is allowed to start, and again a cheesy way to cross from there/then to here/now, but I liked the way this was put together. It probably doesn't do too much that is new, but it does what it wants to well and with some bravura energy, and it deserves to be a hit with the target audience. It's much better than its title might have you think.

This was so lovely, quirky, funny, scary and all the things it's supposed to be!
I loved all the characters, the concept, the pace, the art style and the author's letter by the ending made me tear up.
Loved it!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Fearbook Club by Richard Hamilton is an excellent, spooky graphic novel for teenagers. The story revolves around Whit, a 6th grader in middle school (but honestly, if it weren't for the synopsis, I would have thought the characters were in high school). Whit discovers that he can see the ghosts of missing students. He and his crew decide to solve the mystery. Why are the ghosts here? According to the synopsis, this book is "all about fitting in, fighting ghosts and forming friendships with other misfits, especially when you're a misfit yourself."

Overall, Fearbook Club would make the perfect gift for any tween or teen fans of Goosebumps. One highlight of this book is the artwork. The characters were well-drawn, and the monsters and ghosts were drawn in a scary way, but not too scary for the tween/teen demographic. I took off 1 star, because I'm not a fan of ghost stories.
Although this isn't the type of graphic novel that I personally enjoy, I can see many readers enjoying this book, especially during Halloween season. If you're intrigued by the synopsis, or if you're a fan of spooky graphic novels, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in January!

This book was good but had some flaws.

In my opinion the plot was amazing, I loved the concept of it but the some of the language used or some things the characters would say just brought the overall rating down in my opinion.

I would give this a 3.5, I personally loved how it showed a kid years and years before the actual man characters stories because it grabs the readers attention right off the bat.

I liked the mother son relationship, some books neglect the relationship between them and I personally think it added a great moment between them and overall made the book more enjoyable and definitely contributed positively.

I think some things could in this book such as the use of words used in this sentence on page. 11

“ Meaning what exactly, emo weirdo shutterbug boy. “

I just personally think different words could have been used to make it a little less cringe. Again though the plot was amazing and could have been used more to its full extent.

Overall: 3.5 ⭐️

Whit Garcia is the new kid in school. Whit’s father was a photojournalist, where Whit got his love of photography, but he was killed while working in Kabul. Whit’s mother is overprotective and has crippling anxiety about losing him in a fire slash earthquake slash active shooter emergency, understandably.

Whit is thrown into the Yearbook Club because the principal wants him to take more pictures around school. Also in the club are three other kids and their drama-inclined advisor. During their meetings, they uncover a mystery than spans decades — a child has gone missing from each graduating class.

I really enjoyed the premise of the story and it’s supernatural elements. Whit is thrown into a new situation that he doesn’t want to be in but he makes the most out of it and finds his place. I loved seeing him use the dark room and develop his own photos; as that was my favorite part of high school. The twins, Hester and Hillary, were really great side characters, and Press came around too.

CW: bullying, missing children, death of a parent, anxiety