Every book in the Emmie & Friends series focuses on a main character and a secondary character. We are back to Emmie Douglass, aka Invisible Emmie, the shy, quiet and intelligent character who started the series. As a middle school-aged girl, she doesn’t always have a lot of self-confidence. Many of us can related to those feelings in junior/middle school, right?

It is approaching the end of the school year and there is a sleepover class trip to Camp Blue Lake. Emmie is sad that one of her BFFs Sarah has a family celebration at the same time and cannot attend the trip. However, Emmie is so excited that she is paired up with her other BFF Bri, that is, until Bri falls ill and cannot go on the trip. Good thing Emmie’s college-aged sister Trina will attending as a chaperone so Emmie won’t be alone as they will spend quality “seester” time. Unfortunately, the campers and counselor monopolize Trina’s time, leaving Emmie feeling deserted without anyone to hang out with.

Joe Lungo, the secondary character, had no intentions of attending the class trip but his BFFs Tyler and Anthony persuade him to attend because they will have lots of fun like the Three Musketeers. Until they don’t. Tyler (also Emmie’s crush) meets an athletic girl at the camp who claims him as her own and Emmie is heartbroken. And Anthony hangs out with his girlfriend, leaving Joe in the dust.

Well, what can Emmie and Joe do but make the best of the situation. They are paired up as partners on the bus travels and activities. Joe is the class clown and Emmie learns how to deal with his off-handed jokes which humiliate her and makes her become even more quiet and isolated. I loved reading how Emmie and Joe navigate through their unintended camp partnership while dealing with being turned away from their friends and family.

As always, there is a lot to learn on how to deal with situations and issues from these series books. The excerpts are always cute and funny without being too overly gross and offensive. The author has quite the imagination with the text and illustrations providing exactly what a middle school reader might be thinking. I hope this is not the end of the series because I always want more!

Entirely Emmie is a fantastic addition to the Emmie & Friends series. It was nice to circle back to Emmie, the character we started the series with. The forced together companionship turned friendship of Emmie and Joe was fun to watch. This title is essential where the series is popular!

The ninth book in the "Emma & Friends" series circles back to the original Emmie who is more confident and secure in her upper middle school years and Tyler, who always seems to be the class clown on the fringes; always the third wheel and the one who begs to be included. Both young teens are somewhat forced into a school-led campout by their parents. Both are left without a mandated buddy, so they are teamed up. Both get to know and understand each other better.

I do love this graphic novel series - it is one of my favorites. The characters are all relatable, so all students can easily find a character they relate or connect to. I do think this title, though, has gravitated to more young adult issues and conversations, so it may not be entirely suitable for an elementary aged library, especially where all shelves are open access for all grade levels. It's a great series addition - but in my professional opinion, more suited for young teens as opposed to tweens.

I received an electronic ARC from HarperCollins Children's Books through NetGalley.
Emmie is back and not thrilled to go on the class campout especially when her two best friends cannot go. She ends up paired with Joe. I'm delighted to see him get a chance to shine and let readers see how more there is to his character. As the campout unfolds, readers see that everyone has some hidden struggles and needs support from friends. They will identify with at least one of the characters and connect to the situations.
Libenson captures the middle school experience and offers a light touch on complex situations. She offers readers a chance to think for themselves and decide how they would react as they watch the characters respond.

Thank you to Netgalley for the free arc!
As always, I enjoy reading about the adventures of Emmie and her friends. I love how this series rotates the narrators of each books so you hear from different characters' perspectives. It was fun to read about them in a different setting in this book, a camp setting instead of school!

I loved it!! As a children’s librarian, I sometimes struggle with recommending books to my tween patrons. They are often a little too young for Younger Teen, but have outgrown middle grade books. This series is perfect for them. And I love reading them too! I heard a rumor that this was the last one, I really hope not!! I have enjoyed reading about Emmie and all her friends!

Once again, Terri Libenson can do no wrong.

I, admittedly, have only read one other Emmie & Friends title ("Invisible Emmie"), but this series is a very popular one with my students. My Emmie & Friends bin is usually empty, and for good reason. Libenson writes about middle school life with flair, understanding, warmth, and joy. I only wish that I had a series like this one to commiserate with as I experienced a lot of what Emmie does in this book.

Emmie is thrilled to be going on a three day school camping trip with her best friend Bri. And to top it off, her big sister Trina gets to be a camp counselor and she'll get to spend lots of time with her crush, Tyler.

But when Bri ends up getting sick and Trina gets caught up with counselor duties, Emmie is forced to endure camp alone...kind of. She finds herself paired up with her worst nightmare; Joe Lungo, the class doofus. Will she be able to handle the isolation of camp and her crush falling for Basketball Girl without her support system?

I cannot wait to add this to my school library, and I will be reading the rest of the Emmie series ASAP.

The Terri Libenson series as a whole has been a lovely addition to the middle school graphic novel collection. Emmie and all of her friends are evolving and learning together, but it has been a long time since Emmie dropped back into the picture in a more substantial way. This book was well written and, as with all of the previous books in the series, there is an alternating POV that also alternates the style or format from more visual to more textual. This works well, because it serves as a clear signal to a less advanced reader that things are shifting.

As always, the artwork is well done. Clear and distinct illustration as well as characters who are easy to pick out from one another which is not always the case in graphic novels.

Ultimately, though, it was that we got to get back together with Emmie that pushed this book to a 5 star for me. First, she is a great character. But more critically, this book shows how the lessons she learned in Invisible Emmie are still being learned and that she is evolving and growing as a person throughout the series. Joe was the perfect character to help her figure out the next step in her growth. Not only in learning to stand up a bit taller and work through her shyness, but also in helping someone she thought was not the nicest to be a better person. Joe starts out in the series as a really annoying person and it is only in the past few books that he has started to really stand out as someone who maybe is not fully understood and is more than just the (cruel) jokester. I did want a bit more time with Joe, because I feel like some of his back story was still too light, but ultimately through his relationship with Emmie in this book, albeit a forced one, he grows and helps her to grow too.

If you have not read the rest of the series, I want to say wait on Entirely Emmie. Go back, get the first book and the rest of the series so you can truly appreciate the characters. Is it necessary? No. But I think it will make for a better experience. I even went back and thumbed through my daughter's books - she has the series and still asks for them even though she is well past middle school - to remember the good bits.

Entirely Emmie was a heartwarming story of belonging, friendship, and navigating new relationships. I can't wait to get this book for my classroom and into the hands of students. I will encourage kids who are feeling left out to read this because it does help give insight to speaking up for yourself and encourages making new friends. Luckily, I can get the book before the end of the current school year, because I have a few that will want to read it! Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!!!!!

Note: I received a DRC from NetGalley and Edelweiss in exchange for a review.
“The ninth book in the New York Times bestselling Emmie & Friends series—told from the alternating POVs of shy Emmie and class-clown Joe as they embark on a school camping trip.

Crushes. Camping.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

These days, Emmie doesn’t feel so invisible. At least not around her best friends and her crush, Tyler.

Class-clown Joe’s jokes aren’t landing the way they used to. Who doesn’t love a good prank? Apparently not his so-called friends, who don’t even seem to care if he’s around.

When their class goes on an end-of-year camping trip, Emmie and Joe find themselves stuck together—and expect the worst. But what happens instead turns out to be entirely unexpected.

New York Times bestseller Terri Libenson is back with a story about finding friendship in the least likely of places.”

I’ve been reading the “Emmie & Friends” series ever since I was in Middle School, and each entry has been better than the last. Of course, this one was no exception.

I loved this book, and the change of scenery from the usual books, in this case being the camp, was a nice change of pace. The illustrations were lovely and get better with every book. And I absolutely loved the character development of both of the main characters, Emmie and Joe. There is a lot to love about this series, and I’m really glad that it is still going on. I would recommend this book to fans of the series and kids from 5th to 8th Grade. This book was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed my time with it.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

So excited to see this series return to its original main character. Emmie goes on the class trip with her older sister serving as chaperone. Emmie is excited but nervous. She hopes to spend time with her sister, her best friend and her crush. Things don't work out quite the way she was hoping and Emmie battles her anxiety once again.

E ARC provided by Netgalley

Olive is excited to head off to Camp Acorn Lake, with friends Bree, Willow, and Max. She's not thrilled that the very negative Nat is in her cabin. When Bree and Max have a fight, Olive gets dragged into the middle of it. When a donor proposes a contest for how her money could be used in the camp, the campers all come up with ideas, and have to present them as skits. These include creature comforts like air conditioning, but Olive thinks the camp would benefit from a garden. She is also building bat houses, and when she tries to hang one up, the weather goes bad. Nat finds her, and the two have a heart to heart about why Olive is so invested in Bree and Max's fight, and about why Nat is so negative. This was a fine addition to a very popular series, and my students will be eager to read it.