A unique graphic novel about using virtual reality to help others, coping with grief, and dealing with parental opioid misuse. Surprisingly profound.

LOVED this sweet story. This is a middle grade graphic novel that was so much fun to read. The art draws you in and the text makes you fall in love with the characters. There are also a few mysteries that keep you reading to the end. This was a fun way to learn more about the science behind VR and all of the things it can do and applications it can have. I would recommend this book to anyone at all. I LOVED how the author was able to take some really hard topics (like opioid addiction) and introduce them gently in a way that those who have never heard of it can understand and that those who have lived it feel heard.

Lo & Behold is a very heartfelt middle grade graphic novel about two new friends who tentatively bond over innovations in virtual reality. The friendship and family angles worked better for me as a reader than the virtual reality components. I just couldn’t get as interested or excited about the VR innovations as the characters. Although this one isn’t a personal favorite for me, I have no doubt that many readers will find a lot to love, especially in the very moving final chapters.

I am not going to review I think this a good book for parents to read with children or use as an opening for a discussion about anger and resentment that they can hold on to. Often the issues an adult faces is too complex for a child to understand, more so the actions that are taken by an adult in the midst of the issue and how they are perceived by a child. It can be quite difficult for a child to admire and look up to a person only to have them make a mistake that the child struggles to understand. This book explores the topic in a way that allows children to talk about it and what their feelings and ideas are, something important when so many heroes of children fall short of the perfection that they are seen as having.

I also appreciate that rather than just having the main character focus on herself, she is given an opportunity to work on a project that can help others. Along the way she is able to meet others who are also facing issues and finds comfort in knowing she is not alone. Both of these are great ways of helping a child cope with a difficult situation.

I am big fan of books that present difficult topics because it can open the way for a discussion between parents and children.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me the chance to discover such an incredible story and character!

Dad has a summer job at a University and Addie has no choice but to join him. The story leaves you guessing as to what happened with the mom. Eventually we find out there was an accident followed by an addiction to pain killers. The plot keeps that in the background while Addie is introduced to the world of virtual reality. The university students are creating worthwhile explorations for the headsets that will help cancer patients and others in need.

The friendship between Addie and Mateo takes time to develop. They each have family secrets but soon their own virtual reality project brings them closer to being real friends. The ending will leave you smiling.

The style of artwork is both colorful and bold. Seeing what Addie saw while she had on the virtual headset made it evident why a graphic novel approach was chosen.

The heavy topics of parental separation and opioid addiction were realistic and handled well for a middle grade audience. LO & BEHOLD is full of compassion and heartwarming moments. Even if you don’t usually read graphic novels, this one is worthy of your time.
FIVE MORE THINGS TO LIKE ABOUT: LO & BEHOLD by WENDY MASS

1. The dad is a nerdy and lovable guy. His character is always doing something to help his daughter like introducing her to his students and at one point taking her to a pet shelter. Every kid deserves a father like Addie’s dad.
2. Virtual Reality takes a positive spin on how it can be used help people cope with a crisis or find empathy rather than just for gaming purposes.
3. Addie and Mateo are memorable characters whose way of facing life when there are bumps in the road will help others.
4. Geocaching is not an activity seen very often in middle grade books. Finding out how much fun it is for Addie and Mateo will encourage young readers to give it a go in their own neighborhood.
5. The author’s website has additional augmented reality activities you can use with the book. There’s one on moon seeds and more will be coming.

This interesting and unusual graphic novel for middle grade readers and young teens examines how the use of virtual reality, something I've only ever considered for its entertainment value, can help many people better deal with real world issues. The author's characters are engaging, and their situations believable, and Gabi Mendez's art is terrific.

There's a lot going on here, so hopefully the book will inspire discussions, and further exploration of many issues. Highly recommended.

This Graphic Novel is a fun and well told story. We all have mixed feelings about spending time away but the story is complex and heartfelt. I had to get it for our Library. My hope is the students checking it out will love it as much as I did.

Wendy Mass was one of my favorite authors when I was in middle school, so I was really excited to revisit her work as an adult. I'm happy to say that this didn't disappoint and even exceeded expectations. This graphic novel follows Addie, who is facing some familial challenges and is forced to spend the summer across the country with her father as he works on a virtual reality project at a college. Over the summer, she bonds with a unique cast of characters and gains a new appreciation of her dad's work. At the center is her temporary neighbor, Mateo, who pretty much leaves her no choice but to be his friend. He is truly wonderful, and he and Addie bring out the best in each other, Also, I worried the conversations about science and technology in this would really bore me, but the way Mass talks about these things is so smart and hopeful. In a world that often makes tech seem scary, this reminded me of all the good it can do for things like health and philanthropy. Mass reminds us of the everyday magic it provides, and of the good people who work in these spaces. The stunning illustrations by Gabi Mendez drive this home more, toeing the line between reality and virtual spaces beautifully. I also want to say that what Mateo and Addie end up doing with what they learn about VR is so smart and lovely and truly made me tear up.

Speaking of tearing up, I read Mass's Every Soul a Star over and over when I was a pre-teen. Lo and Behold truly feels like a spiritual successor to that book. I mean, the solar eclipse? I can't see the word "totality" without being hit with a wave of nostalgia, so I did get weepy here. Mass constantly uses science to remind us that the universe is so big, that our problems barely matter. And if I can recommend this book to get young readers to feel the same peace I did reading her books, then I will. Wendy Mass forever!

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the eGalley to review!

Wendy Mass' writing style and Gabi Mendez's art style made for a pleasant read altogether. I think this is a winning collab.

I had never heard of the moon trees before this book nor the tortoise Adwaita, so I felt like I learned quite a bit reading this. I appreciated that these were special interests and sources of comfort for Addie, who could be projected onto by children on the spectrum or have experienced a similar trauma. I especially appreciated that Mateo was a good example of how to healthily approach a potential friend who has issues and simply needs patience and understanding. The empathy VR project can really help in this for real, like it did in the story.
And the VR/AR aspect I pretty much had already known all about as a geek myself, but the crash course Addie and Mateo receive in the subject could definitely introduce children and other newbies to the technology. I did feel like some of the feats the "Gang" reached with their projects felt a little too fantastical, but literally anything is possible given enough time and effort on our part. I do absolutely love that Wendy Mass has listed resources at the end of where readers can find more information about all these things, including the database for the real moon trees!

My only issue was the reveal of what actually happened to Addie's mom. There was an expectation set up from the beginning and I suppose the letters and disappearance of Lightning the tortoise should have been hints, but it still felt like it came out of nowhere with a heavy hand. My mouth literally dropped in shock at the choice. But I'm glad the VR therapy was extended to this plot line, as it came full circle.

Overall, this was a nice story about friendship, connection, and healing, with a pinch of dreams coming true. I think many children are going to relate to Addie (and Mateo) and be inspired when they read this.

Addie is a science loving kid who is getting ready to spend the summer at a university with her dad, who is a futurist, studying virtual reality. Addie's mom is out of the picture for reasons that become clearer as the story progresses. Addie likes space and tortoises and comes to virtual reality reluctantly but finds that it might have bigger applications than she initially thought. There are two main storylines and in true Wendy Mass fashion, you don't really find out the whole picture until almost the end of the story. This is a fun read and the graphic novel art work is fun. The images help to convey the depth of emotion of the characters. My students love graphic novels that are realistic fiction and I know this one is going to find a big audience in my elementary school library.

12-year old Addie and her dad are moving across the country for the summer, and she is less than thrilled. Things haven’t been great ever since her mom’s accident, and the last thing she wants to do is make new friends. The boy next door, Mateo, is persistent and kind, even when Addie blows him off, and once Addie stops being a jerk to him, they develop a close bond. The two of them take the ideas behind the virtual reality projects that her dad and his team have been working on, and change the lives of people in the hospital where Mateo volunteers.

There is a lot going on in this debut graphic novel from Wendy Mass! I learned a lot about moon trees, geocaching, tortoises, and all of the wonderful things that you can do with virtual reality. The storylines involving with Addie’s mom and Mateo’s brother were poignant and helped contribute to the book’s themes of empathy and compassion. Recommended for gr. 4-7.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Don’t be fooled by the friendly looking cover or the approachable graphic novel format: this book is packed with difficult subjects that I don’t think are appropriate for readers under the high school age. Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I just don’t understand why so called “middle grade” novels are so heavy. This book tackled opium addiction, incarcerated parent, drug dealers, childhood cancer, and tragic death of a young child. If you think your reader can handle these topics then this book is a very good read. It intertwines virtual reality technology with acts of empathy and stresses the importance of human kindness without being preachy. The graphics are interesting and engaging and the technology aspect would definitely appeal to high tech kids. Overall a very good book but the heavy topics gear this book toward older readers in my opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Graphic for the advance read. All opinions are my own.

This was a clever way to share stories around heartache and loss and rebuilding things with virtual reality. It certainly gave me a few ideas to bring people together in my own life. I really enjoyed the story’s unfolding and the characters throughout. Loved that the ending found a way to bring family together.

I received this eARC from NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review and I am so glad I did.

The art? Stunning, adorable. A fantastic skill. Gabi Mendez did wonders making the faces of the characters readable and truly emotional. I saw some expressions and they felt familiar in the way that I knew I’d made them myself. They looked real but still sweet. And the rest of the art? I love how round some things were, roundness always makes me smile. The art style was perfectly paired with the story.

As far as the story itself, it was so good. And it kind of hit me in a hard spot with things I have going on in my own family. Life imitates art and all that. Because of that, it was hard for me to get started but this actually helped me. It helped me work through some of those really hard emotions I was dealing with.

And I’m an adult. Imagine the help this could give kids.

Our main character is an adorable kid named after the worlds oldest tortoise. Not turtle, get it right.

Addie’s dad’s job takes them to a college where the students are making amazing things using VR. She meets Mateo, her across the hall neighbor for the summer.

Addie is standoffish but it’s only because she’s hurting. She’s lost her friends and her mom in the course of a year. Her friends, because of her mom. Her mom suffered an injury to her leg after a bike accident and wound up being given a prescription for pain medication.

Addie isn’t ready to open up to anyone about her mother so she’s not trying to make friends. She’s also obsessed with moon trees. Which, after learning about them, I think they’re really cool. She’s more than just interested. She wanted to be an astronaut as a kid, right now maybe it’s on hold, but it’s still a want.

Through the VR tools of the college students and Mateo, she learns to open up and even forgive her mother and it’s a beautiful story. As an adult it’s on I appreciated.

I’m giving it 5 stars. The story was great, the characters were great. The way they all had a hand in bringing Addie out of her shell (ha tortoise pun) and I really loved it.

I’m going to recommend this to everyone. 5 stars.

I have not seen anything like Lo & Behold and boy oh boy I want some more like it. Lo & Behold tells the story of Addie who goes with her dad to work on a VR Project and it is here that she meets Mateo. There is so much to unpack in this very cleverly written Graphic Novel but the main things were how VR can be used in different areas, empathy by the bucket load and an issue concerning Addie's mum which I have never seen in any Middle Grade Books and I have read quite a lot and I feel Wendy handled the topic very well.


I now want to talk about Gabi Mendez's illustration which were amazing and suited the writing to a tee. For all the reasons above Lo & Behold is getting 4 stars.

What a unique story! Grief, addiction, virtual reality, friendship drama… this is going to resonate with so many upper elementary and middle school readers.

This book does fall into uncertain territory: it seems to be almost, but not quite, a science-fiction story. On the other hand, I would argue that our current cultural climate is almost, but not quite, a science-fiction story, so maybe I ought not to be picky about genre-straddling.

The idea of using virtual reality to foster empathy is an intriguing one, and I think modern kids will like that approach to interpersonal relationships. The last several pages did fall prey to "info-dumping" (per our meeting) with regard to the main character's mother, but truthfully, I thought it was done well.

The positives are strong and the negatives are hardly negative at all!

I LOVE THIS. It was incredible. Absolutely amazing across the board. I learned so much about VR! I loved the addition of grief and addiction and the difference in loss. I thought it was such a hit across the emotional board.

The story is very good, and not one addressed much in middle grades. The graphics are wonderful and I especially like how the VR squares are shaped and colored. My students in grades 4-7 will love Lo and Behold.

When I decided to review this book, it was quite out of character for me. For one, I'm not a big fan of reading Middle Grade fiction. For another, I'm not a big lover of graphic novels. But when I read the description of Lo & Behold, I couldn't help but feel like I should give it a try. I'm glad I did.

This graphic novel made me think. You never know what someone else is going through or what they've been through. Whether it is having to move across the country for a few months, losing friends, or losing a loved one, you just don't know what might be behind the things another person says or does. Lo & Behold does a beautiful job of showcasing that.

One thing I thought was interesting was the actual placement in the book of Addie's story about what happened with her mom. I'd have thought it would have come right in the beginning as an explanation of why it was that Addie and her dad were alone. But it doesn't come at the beginning, it comes later. When it does come, it's easy to understand why it wasn't put at the beginning.

I also loved the use of tech in this graphic novel. Things I'd never have thought VR could do... and honestly, it's pretty amazing (even if it isn't real - or is it?). I loved the way the kids decided to use what they knew and what they were learning to help other kids.

I think this is a great book for middle grade kids and even older kids/adults to read. They can learn about grief, having empathy for others, and helping others. I gave this book 4.5 stars and highly recommend it.