Tegan and Sara: Junior high is such a fun read! I think readers all of ages but especially middle school girls will find a lot to relate to here about typical middle school struggles like making new friends, figuring out how to maintain old friendships, fighting, drama, rumors, bullying, following your interests, and standing up for yourself. This book follows a year in Tegan and Sara's lives, when they move before 7th grade, so the main conflicts have to do with social hierarchies (Tegan and Sara end up in a friend group with a Mean Girl) and with Tegan and Sara's relationship as twins taking on more independence. So many moments had me reflecting and reminiscing about my own adolescence. I also really loved watching our main characters pick up a guitar for the first time (and fighting over it) and start making music as GUNK! Tillie Walden's art style is perfectly fit for the messy and sweet moments here.

My only gripe with this book would have to be with the way that they placed it in the present day and fictionalized certain elements. I understand that this might be to appeal to modern readers and make things more relatable (conflict happening over texts, and FaceTime), but it made me question what did and did not actually happen to the real-life Tegan and Sara. I think I personally would have preferred a graphic novel that didn't purport to be a graphic memoir - even if the main characters were still two musically-inclined twin tweens just with slightly different names or something. Or just leaving it in the 90s, since I think there is plenty of desire out there to read stories set in the 90s! The plot is so solid and relatable, following a year in the twins' lives, that I don't think the time-change would have been necessary to make this book appealing.

Overall, this was a great middle school coming of age story, and I can't wait to read the next one! We are so lucky to have so many great, honest, and fun stories about queer adolescence getting published these days!

I didn’t know much about this graphic novel going in, but I knew it was geared towards kids and I loved Texan & Sara’s memoir “High School”, so I was excited for it. This is largely their memoir, but adjusted for a contemporary setting and for kids. As such, I didn’t connect with it nearly as much….but as I am 33 I am hardly their target audience. I’m sure that kids will find it as heartwarming and relatable as I found their autobiography, though. And it is certainly a more age appropriate choice for their younger fans, or younger members of the LGBT community looking for a cute and fun graphic novel they can relate to in general.

Tegan and Sara have a great story to share and they have the perfect illustrator in the talented Tillie Walden. TEGAN AND SARA: JUNIOR HIGH is an excellent version of their story for younger teens and tweens. The colors to differentiate the twins are extremely helpful and also bring in the reader so they feel the same annoyance when people can't differentiate between the two girls.

However, it's too young for my high school writing students. I'll stick with Tegan and Sara's memoir HIGH SCHOOL for them.

I really enjoyed this! It felt accurate to how 7th grade feels and really delves into complicated friendships, changing bodies and sibling dynamics, and finding who you are and your passions. Tillie Walden's illustrations are gorgeous as usual, and I loved the interludes of the twins talking. A solid middle grade read! 4.5 stars

I grew up listening to Tegan and Sara with my mom, so I was beyond excited to see this graphic novel! Semi-autobiographical in nature but modernized, the story of pre-teen Tegan and Sara is relatable for people experiencing changes like a new school, new friends, and new feelings.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Macmillan for the opportunity to read and review!

A beautiful graphic novel about the trials and tribulations of navigating middle school as a young girl and twin. I read this book having heard of Tegan and Sara, but I really did not know much about them, their music, or their musical journey. This is a great book for middle school readers and beyond. I think middle school girls and twins will especially love this book. Watch as Tegan and Sara learn how to make new friends together and apart. They have their first experience with music and songwriting. They deal with typical middle school issues and drama, with the added struggle of being new to town and being twins. The illustrations are fabulous and really help tell the story.

This is such a great YA graphic novel. The story follows a modernized account of Tegan and Sara's first year of middle school. They navigate friendships, first crushes, and all the crazy things that happen when you start to grow up. perfect read for fans of the Raina Telgemeier and the Berry-brook Middle School books.

Very sweet story! I always love Tillie Walden and I love Tegan & Sara so it was an exciting combination! I didn’t realize while reading that the story was more modern than it would’ve really been—that confused me a bit while reading. But I love Walden’s art and colors. They helped make Tegan and Sara’s words and feelings bloom.

Before they were Tegan & Sara: indie pop twin-sister duo they were kids embarking on scary junior high in Calgary.
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As Tegan and Sara enter junior high, both have plans to stick together as much as possible and try to make new friends. Both girls are also dealing with identity issues in relation to their queerness and for the first time ask themselves who they are without the other.
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This was a great middle grade graphic novel that deals with lgbtq coming out experiences, as well as self-identity and learning who you are. Even though they attended middle school in 1991, this book is set in 2023 to make it more relatable to preteens. It’s great for fans of Varian Johnson’s Twins and Raina Telgemeier. It is also an awesome prequel to their adult memoir High School. The illustrations by @tilliewalden were amazing! This book releases May 30!

CW: coming out themes, bullying

Thanks to Mac Kids and Netgalley for this art!

I haven't actually listened to much Tegan and Sara even though I've been following them on Instagram since like high school? Haha. But I knew I wanted to read this semi-memoir illustrated by one of my fave graphic novelists--Tillie Walden!


This was super cute and really captured the incredibly complicated and frustrated feelings of junior high-- although admittedly T&S seemed to have it more together than I did at the time! I loved the twin bonding (I have read a lot of books featuring twins lately???) And falling apart and coming back together and discovering who they were.


The illustrations are my favorite part! Tillie Walden is incredible and I will keep reading everything she puts out until I die. This was super cute and I look forward to the future installments!

CW: bullying, homophobia

A semi-autobiographical (it takes place in the present and not when they were actually in junior high in the 90s) graphic novel about twin sisters Tegan and Sara starting junior high and discovering their love for making music. It also deals with all the BIG feelings you encounter for the first time as a budding teenager - first crushes, making new friends, social hierarchies.

I loved this. I loved the story - it was cute, emotional, and funny. The "twin-speak" pages were fun. The artwork by Tillie Walden was wonderful. I look forward to their next one!

TEGAN AND SARA: JUNIOR HIGH is a middle grade graphic novel inspired by the junior high experiences of twins Tegan and Sara Quin. The story explores classic themes of fitting in at a new school, balancing family and friends, and being vulnerable. Tegan & Sara's real life experiences in junior high have been translated to modern day, complete with cell phones, social media, and references to current pop culture. I think many middle schoolers will love this graphic novel, especially since it features the undeniably gorgeous artwork of Tillie Walden.

However, I question the value of having this story translated into modern day. So much of the vibe of the story seems to be set in the 90s, but it is weirdly shoehorned into modern day. So many graphic novels are not contemporaneous, and readers love them! Additionally, with how trends change, the period changes to the story will be outdated in a few years time. I'm a huge Tegan and Sara fan, so maybe my review is bias by the fact I wish it was just autobiographical.

I think that this book is absolutely amazing for young readers. Whether they know who Tegan and Sara are does not matter because overall this is just a great graphic novel about starting middle school, the highs and lows of making new friends, having crushes for the first time, and so much more. I think when looking at it in that aspect it is almost a must read for young readers. The representation is amazing and something that all young readers should be reading. For those of us who are reading it for it being a Tegan and Sara bio it is good but not great. I think the idea to fictionalization their story and make it new and relevant is amazing but don’t expect it to be like a hard hitting biography (which if you are going into this with looking at the book or description you really shouldn’t expect that anyway). Overall this was a good read but I find and hope that this is impactful to the everyday young graphic novel reader.

A wonderfully illustrated graphic novel that manages to be heartfelt, well-paced, and emotive. This was a real winner for me.

I'm feeling a bit torn about this one, because I love Tillie Walden and the art definitely deserves a 10 out of 10. I also love Tegan and Sara, but the writing in this felt incredibly juvenile, even for a middle-grade book. There were some elements in the book that felt quintessential of a junior high coming of age story, but on the whole there wasn't anything particularly special or captivating about the narrative. The fact that Tegan and Sara are twins is really what the entire plot relies on, and it gets old after about 75 pages. Disappointing.

A cute graphic novel based on the authors’ junior high experience. I liked how it portrayed the difficulties of twins discovering their own identities while maintaining their sibling relationship. I also liked how it portrayed the parents as supportive and loving.

What a sweet, vulnerable middle grade graphic novel! Tegan and Sara do a fabulous job of updating their own stories about the tumultuous and exciting years of junior high for a modern middle schooler. This is such a transformative and often terrifying time for young women. Our bodies change, our worlds expand, we truly begin to discover who we are as whole people from our general interest to romantic ones. Tegan and Sara: Junior High perfectly captures all of this while putting their unique twin spin on it. The art is also STUNNING and heartfelt.

This should be a must read for the middle school/junior high girl in your life!

Tegan and Sara are iconic musicians whose work has touched the lives of so many queer women. Now, they’re sharing the story of the beginning of their career through this graphic novel, Junior High.

To start: I thought this book was so sweet! The illustrations were beautiful and the prose felt very natural. I’ve read other reviewers criticizing the writing style, describing it as clunky and awkward but I saw that as a feature, not a flaw of this book. Being a 7th grader is clunky and awkward and this felt exactly like what it was: the inner thoughts of two seventh graders who are trying to figure out the complicated feelings of getting through junior high, while also discovering their love of music and coming to terms with their identities as queer people.

Is it the most well-written book I’ve ever read? No. Is it the most intricate, fascinating story I’ve ever read? Also no. But, is it a story that I needed when I was younger? Is it a story that plenty of young queer people will need? Absolutely. I think this book does exactly what it was written to do and will connect incredibly well with the audience it needs to reach: young queer people.

A nice middle grade graphic novel, but I struggled with the choice to modernize their story instead of keeping it in the '90s. I didn't realize it going in, so it was jarring-- and I think some '90s content could have been fun (even for today's tweens!), as well as giving an idea of being queer in the '90s vs being queer today.

As a fan of Tillie Walden's art and Tegan and Sara's music, I was excited to learn about this graphic novel collaboration! The graphic novel follows a fictionalized version of Tegan and Sara Quin as they start grade seven at a new school, make new friends, navigate typical teen issues such as getting their period, and discovering that it's possible for them to make friends separately without losing their special twin bond.

The beginning of the story felt like a typical middle-grade school story: mean girl at school, friends forced to pick sides, unrequited crushes on friends, and the like. It picks up in the middle once Tegan and Sara discover their stepfather's guitar in the garage and begin writing their own songs, discovering their talent for music. The twins form their own band and begin performing, which gives the girls huge boosts to their confidence as they gain newfound self-esteem through their music.

The story is described on the back cover as "lightly fictionalized", which I could immediately tell upon seeing young Tegan and Sara with cell phones, asking their father for a Nintendo Switch, and watching modern TV shows like Atypical. While I understand this is more likely to hold the attention of its intended audience, I wish the story had taken place during the early '90s. It would have made for a more interesting story to see how Tegan and Sara grew and developed their band and new friendships without the ubiquitous modern technology used in the story.

The writing was rather confusing in some places, like at the dance toward the end when Sid suddenly appeared and I couldn't find where he'd been introduced. Many of the characters looked similar and were hard to distinguish at first. However, I didn't let these hold back my enjoyment of the story. I'm looking forward to the second volume, and hope some of the issues present in this book will be more polished and refined by the time the second book is released!

Big thanks to NetGalley for providing a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.