This is a fantastic read about a fifth-grade girl with dyslexia. Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier, it’s a relatable story that helps teach children about learning difficulties.

I love that dyslexia is getting more representation, and the friendship dynamic was very realistic and relatable. Stella felt embarrassed that she was struggling, but her friends wanted to be there for her. Graphic novels helped me SO MUCH with my reading comprehension and I love to see young readers learning to love to read because of them. Bonus, Stella enters the Young Authors Competition with a graphic novel!!!

In MIXED-UP Stella is excited to start fifth grade, especially since she’s in the same class with her two BFFs. She soon finds herself overwhelmed by the assignments that require reading, falling behind and getting frustrated. When a new guidebook is released for her favorite online game and Stella finds that can’t read the directions so she can join her friends in the game, a rift begins to grow between the trio. An observant teacher notices Stella struggling and helps her to get testing to identify the root of Stella’s challenges with reading.

A spot on portrayal of dyslexia and neurodivergence that will resonate with many middle grade readers who have experienced similar challenges and frustrations and serve as a window into this experience for others.

This graphic novel was wonderful! As someone who has always loved to read, but struggled with it, I know many kids will find themselves beautifully reflected in this book! Not only does the book provide important representation of dyslexia, and the struggle of learning to read when your brain works differently than others around you, but the book is very intentionally designed for ease of reading. So many graphic novels have font that is difficult to read, but the design of this one makes the reading experience more pleasant for all! I loved this book, and can't wait to recommend it to other readers both young and grown!

This was a fantastic read that I am sure many students will connect to. While I do not have dyslexia, I have worked with many students who do, and Mixed-Up helped give me a window into their worlds. I know that my students will love seeing themselves in this book and the added bonus is that it has been lettered in Dyslexie to make it comfortable for readers with dyslexia.

Stella is entering fifth-grade and it looks like it will be the best year ever. Not only did she get the cool teacher, but her two best friends are in the same class. When she starts struggling to keep up, especially with reading, she is diagnosed with dyslexia.

I hate when books about elementary school feature mean school librarians! I work so hard to build relationships with all of my students, despite only seeing them once a week. However, this school librarian is the WORST. When she implied that Graphic Novels are not real books, I had to side with the kids. Then I realized that she was NOT the school librarian but was covering while the librarian was in a meeting. Whew! That was so much better, it created the conflict without vilifying the best position! The fifth-grade teacher (my grade before getting my library media endorsement) is awesome, which certainly helped make this book awesome!

I cannot wait to add this to my library. It is a fantastic book that is perfect for any school or public library. The images are gorgeous and the use of the dyslexie font is amazing. Thank you Kami Garcia for adding this representation!

Thank you to First Second Books and Net Galley for the DRC! All opinions are my own!

Having worked with children and having my own children with various neurodivergence’s, it was so nice to read from a child’s perspective. The story is well written and the illustrations connected me to the characters more deeply than some.

Stella is in fifth grade and school is so much harder this year. She loves her favorite show and she and her friends love playing and pretending to be the characters. So when a new video game about their favorite characters comes out, they are all thrilled! Except, it requires reading clues from a new guidebook, and reading has always been hard for Stella. Why can't she just get it, like everyone else?
This is such a great story about discovering a learning disorder from the child's perspective. It will help others understand the helplessness and frustration of not being like eveyone else, and kids who experience it everyday will feel seen.

This was a lovely graphic novel about learning differences. 5th grade is very reading-heavy, and Stella is struggling so much that it's impacting her friendships. When she learns she has dyslexia, her teachers support her and help her realize she just needs the right tools and strategies to harness her way of thinking. This was realistic, hopeful, sweet, and humorous, with great art. I especially loved Stella's graphic-novel-within-a-novel. A must have for middle grade graphic novel fans, perfect for fans of Guts, Buzzing, Button Pusher, and Living With Viola.

Stella and her two besties, Latasha and Emiko, are excited about being in the same 5th grade homeroom together. They are also excited to find out about the new announcement coming from their favorite TV show Witchlins. But as Stella struggles to make it in 5th grade because of all the reading involved, and the Witchlins announcement involves more reading, she can’t hang out with her friends as much, and she isn’t into the new Witchlins thing like they are…will 5th grade just keep getting worse? Or is there some hope for Stella and her friendships?

This will definitely be a winner with the students at my school. It is a relatable contemporary fiction story of friendship and personal challenges. The dyslexia elements of the story are portrayed in ways that honor those with such challenges and provide hope. It will also help those who have friends with dyslexia better understand their challenges. We have a number of students with dyslexia at our school, and I know they will appreciate having this story available. This will also appeal to the huge number of students who can never get enough contemporary fiction graphic novels. I like that they made the font dyslexia-friendly too, that was an important detail. Highly recommended.

Notes on content [based on the eARC]:
Language: None
Sexual content: None
Violence: None
Ethnic diversity: Stella appears to be from a white/Latino family. Latasha is Black American, and Emiko appears to be Asian American.
LGBTQ+ content: None specified that I remember.
Other: One person pushes friends away out of fear of telling them the truth.

I received an ARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a wonderful graphic novel for upper elementary students or middle schoolers showing the struggles of a young girl in fifth grade who learns that she has dyslexia. She begins to retreat from her best friends because she is afraid to tell them about it, but ultimately realizes that they are there to support her through it.

Mixed-Up is a fantastic middle grade book about friendships and learning differences. This is perfect for middle grade readers who aren't quite ready for Click or the Berrybrook Middle School series.

This book is perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier or books like Swim Team. A great depiction of dyslexia and I really loved that it showed a female with this disability. I have found many books choose to highlight male characters with things like dyslexia and ADHD. Growing up I could have used books like these! My one complaint is that the main character is in 5th grade which is a little young for my middle school students. Reviewing books, I have to look through the lenses of my students and deciding what I will purchase for our library. If my students see the character is in 5th grade, they automatically assume the novel is a little too young for them. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book and review it!

This graphic novel had adorable artwork and was super easy to follow while reading. I think it gave a good overview of dyslexia overall and I felt like I really understoof Stella's personal motivations and experiences relating around it. I'd be interested in learning more about some of the other characters as well if there were any spin-offs or sequels. I loved the support for both graphic novels and audiobooks as reading and hadn't considered how much easier typing assignments could be just in having spell check/grammar check as an accessibility accomodation. My only critique is that this did do a lot of telling rather than showing in terms of characters interactions/emotions especially in bigger scenes, but I think it's still very strong and I'd recommend it to elementary and middle schoolers readily.

"Mixed-Up" is a realistic graphic novel that follows Stella as she begins a new grade and discovers she is falling behind in reading. While her friends enthusiastically devour the new guidebook for their favorite show, Stella can barely get her homework done, and feigns disinterest in the book and game to hide her embarrassment. This book is a wonderful exploration for how a child with dyslexia can struggle without the proper accommodations and learning techniques. Books where children explore disabilities/neurodivergence are popular with most middle grade readers. "El Deafo" and "Guts" being the most popular, but the OCD-protagonist of "Just Roll With It" also is a big hit for readers.

The best thing about "Mixed-Up" is the use of Open Dyslexic font, specifically designed to make the words easier to process without mixing them up. I also appreciated illustrator Brittney Williams making sure Stella and her two friends were always color coded for that extra context clue in reading the pictures. It's easy to see how invested the creative team is in making this book accessible to those with learning neurodiversity. The strength, and what some might find as a slight let down, is how prominent Stella's journey over dealing with her dyslexia is to the graphic novel. While her strained friendship with her friends is part of the plot's stakes, it is entirely tied into her learning issues, and the book is very streamlined to focusing on that. I appreciate that the book takes such a measured pace to explaining how a diagnosis isn't the easy solution to adapting to dyslexia, but the start of a journey, but I also understand some readers may want some supplemental material to round out the story.

This is a great intro before getting to Raina Telgemeier's graphic series - with so many learning differences being diagnosed in elementary grades, it can be hard to find a way to help readers relate. With a graphic novel about Stella's struggles leading to a dyslexia diagnosis, this may help a lot of students get the help they need with a fabulously written story!

Perfect story about a fifth grade dislexia diagnosis and the steps taken to supportive home and school environment and the struggle a student still goes through navigating that support, important for kids who have a diagnosis or may get one and everyone else who nee to understand what it's like.

I adored how real this book was. Many kids are going to be able to relate and see themselves in this story.

Readers with and without dyslexia are going to enjoy the storyline (gaming is the thing right now) and the graphics are well developed. I hope that it may give others that glimpse into how those with dyslexia may feel. I also love the fact that the font chosen is one that is helpful for those with dyslexia.

I can't wait to purchase this for my library and share it with my students.

Thank you NetGalley and First Second Books for the ARC

I received an ARC of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My daughter has been behind in reading from the start. Every teacher that she had provided her with extra support, and she worked with a reading specialist for all three years that she was at our lower elementary school. They kept telling me that she just needed more time than other kids and not to worry, but as I watched her struggle and her confidence deteriorating, I knew that there was something else going on. We were fortunate enough to get her officially diagnosed with dyslexia in the third grade, about a month ago. That knowledge has been life changing for her. And she now has accomodations that make learning more accessible to her.

When I read this book, I saw all of the emotions that my babygirl struggle with on Stella's face. I completely understood her actions and experiences. This graphic novel is going to be a huge deal to some of the kids who read it.

Mixed-Up by Kami Garcia follows Stella, a fifth grader who finds herself overwhelmed by the workload, especially the reading, in her new school year. Stella has two best friends, Emiko and Latasha, and a supportive family and teachers, but she doesn't understand why she continues to fall behind in school. Eventually, working with support staff at school, Stella learns that she has dyslexia. She begins developing new techniques to help with reading and other schoolwork. Stella pushes away her friends because she's embarrassed by her difficulties reading. She doesn't want them to know that she can't play a new video game because it takes her too long to read the guidebook. Eventually, Stella's new reading strategies help her catch up in school and she even submits a graphic novel to the fifth grade author competition. When she wins the competition, Stella finally opens up to her friends about her struggles.

I really enjoyed this story, especially because it covers a type of neurodivergence that isn't often introduced to children. Dyslexia is quite common, but not represented in media very frequently. I think this story is relatable to most kids, as it touches on themes of friendship, challenges at school, and self-esteem. But it will be particularly important for kids with dyslexia to so a story that they're reflected in. Mixed-Up is also written in a dyslexia-friendly font which will make it more accessible to readers.