Stella knows that she's different and it didn't matter before because she found ways to make things work. In her 5th grade year, her and her best friends are excited when their favorite TV show gets a game, they are all in. There's one problem for Stella: to advance in the game you have to read the guide book and for Stella, the guidebook is too much.

Stella is dyslexic and starts to find out there is help for students like her. She's not dumb. She just thinks differently. This is a fantastic graphic novel that readers who suffer from dyslexia will find hopeful and potentially a way for them to speak up about their own difficulties. Garcia does a fantastic job bringing a difficult topic into a digestible story that is helpful to adults and students. A must have in your library.

I have just the student in mind who will love this graphic novel! This girl is also dyslexic, loves graphic novels, and excels at art. I think reading about a girl with similar struggles will mean so much to her.

A middle grade graphic novel about a disability with dyslexia-friendly font? Sign me up! If you have a mdidle grader who enjoys books set in a school you'll have to snag this at your next visit to the library or your local bookstore.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel. We follow Stella who just started fifth grade but is struggling and falling behind. We find out that Stella has dyslexia and that's why she's been struggling so much. Her teacher, Ms. Marin, helps her to learn how to work with her brain and teaches her some techniques to read easier. I've read a lot of Kami Garcia's graphic novels and I think that they fantastic. I think that this one would be great for any kid around the same age as the protagonist. It shows that everyone is different and that if you're struggling, those around you can help you. I love the illustration style and I thought that the plot was good. There were some times where I felt we were jumping around so the pacing seemed a little bit off but that was the only thing that bothered me. Overall, a really solid graphic novel.

This is a great graphic novel about Stella, a kid who struggles with reading. It starts to alienate her from her friends and she falls behind on homework as the increased reading has less pictures. She gets diagnosed with dyslexia but it's just an obstacles as she reconnects with her friends. I love the weighted text which is friendly to kids with dyslexia. Brittany Williams artwork is fun and light, with strong lines to contrast real life with Stella's graphic novel and the world of Witchlings, a show the girls love.

A great graphic novel about a young girl who is diagnosed with dyslexia. It shows readers that it's ok to get support from others. Stella also experiences friendship challenges which readers are sure to relate too. Recommended for grades 3-6

Mixed-Up is about a girl who struggles to read, and this starts to feel like her only identity. This could be purposeful, in that children with dyslexia feel alone and isolated in their struggle. While reading, the shallowness of the characters did not bother me because I was still invested in their struggle. I don't have learning problems, but this book helped me understand what it must be like to live with those neurodivergences.

Description: Stella and her two best friends are excited to starts fifth grade. The trio become even more ecstatic when they are all in the same class and get to sit next to each other. But when Stella seems to struggle more and more keeping up with class work, and all the reading and comprehension works begins to pile up she starts to distance herself from her friends. She feels like she can't be a part of thier group anymore because she can't read the guidebook for the game that they play. Stella is approached by her teacher to try and get her some help and interventions!

Thoughts: I LOVED the positivity that this book has and how it shows that we can all learn, we just all learn a little bit differently. Our brains are all unique and all learn in different ways. I think it is very well done and relatable for upper elementary and middle level readers.

741.5/ Graphic Novel

Tags: Dyslexia, Learning Difference, Friendship, Coming of Age

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.