3,5 stars
this captures high school friendship dramas so well, how introverts always has to wait until an extrovert adopt them but the next thing they know they were being isolated from other potential friends. I love that the dialogues written in messy handwriting, not the neat typed text so somehow it makes the story more alive and real. But at the end, I still couldn't over that one character that was acting very concerning and didn't addressed properly, even kinda justified. So that's that.

Graphic novels are my students favorites. This book is going to be a hit with them. The art is so fun and the story keeps them interested. It is a cute fast paced book. I really liked the story showing the importance of communication and how much avoiding confrontation can harm friendships.

What a fun story and a quick/easy read! I know my patrons would LOVE this graphic novel. The pictures are vivid and bright. The story is easy to follow. And graphic novels are super popular at my library, so this would be flying off the shelves!

I admit that I had some strugles with this book... Not with the illustrations that I really liked! But the story lacked a few things in my opinion. Some passages gave the impression of having been rushed. I didn't like how the characters lacked development. The relationship between Jay and Beah was weird, for me their friendship was absolutely not enviable and toxic. And even if the ending gives some hope for their situation, I don't know if it's a very good example of friendship for middle grade students.

The artwork and story of Skip! did not really captivate me. I'm temporarily putting it down to pick up at a later date. I do think the bright colors and plot will appeal to many Middle Grade children.

Thanks to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for providing me with a review copy.

Oh, middle grade fiction loves taking on bullies, because they are so prevalent in middle school. In this case, the bully, Anabelle, doesn’t want Jay *stealing* Beah from her team. But Jay has done no such thing. They would rather just be left alone, and they are surprised by the attention.

Beah lives and breathes double dutch jump roping. She has left the team, with Anabelle on it, and wants Jay to do the slam-poetry for her new team. Anabelle doesn’t understand why anyone would want to leave her team.

It is an honest sort of story about how bullies think they can get away with everything, and how sometimes you really do just have to ignore them. It is fun how much Beah loves double dutch, even though Jay doesn’t, but loves being around Beah.

This is a fun, quick, passionate story. And Beah’s enthusiasm is amazing. And I love Jay’s reaction to being bullied is surprise that anyone would bother with them.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book comes out from Andrews McMeel Publishing November 7, 2023.

Hmmmm. This is a hard one for me to review. It started off challenging because of a combination of things, but most critically was the artwork. I just didn't like the way it was drawn, and as a result, it took me much longer to get into the story and the characters. There is pretty good character development, and the plot works through some things that are important life lessons, especially in middle school. I did, however, find that Jay's relationship with their parents and sibling was never dealt with in a way that resolved things. And I get that in real life, things don't wrap up with a nice bow, but I felt that they were never able to really work through the home challenges. And while everything with Beah worked out well, I'm not sure that she ever learned to be a better friend to Jay and the others. They were there to support her, but she was not as ready to support them.

What I did find unexpected was the fact that Jay's music did not factor into the final skip elements, and for a book that was very focused on double dutch, it wasn't really that key and faded into the background. And maybe that's why this was a bit harder for me to really embrace because I went into the book thinking that the skipping would factor more prominently and, in the end, it did not.

There was also a section at the start that really confused me when Jay was being bullied and Beah all of a sudden appeared. I didn't get the impression that their schools were THAT close together ....

But despite a rocky start, it was a good read. Still wish the art had been stronger.

This was a very cute story about navigating friendships. Being young is so confusing and arguing with your friends is also confusing!

I loved the non-binary rep in this story. I liked all the characters and felt they were fully formed.

Thanks for the opportunity to read this graphic novel.

💜 Arc Review 💜

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Title: Skip!
Author: Sarah Burgess
Rating: 4/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Release Date: November 7, 2023

I’ll say this at the start of the review, the Disney Channel Original Movies that you watched as a child stay with you unlike any other piece of media from that point in your life. They are an integral part of youth and I’m pretty sure anyone could tell you from a list which ones were theirs. For me, one of them was Jump In, a film about double dutch. Now it has been forever since I have seen the movie and yet whenever I see anything relating to double Dutch I always remember the film, in some small way. So when I saw this book on Netgalley I had to give it a read.

So first off the art in here is super fun. It is very loose and colorful and just really helps the story run. It has this semi-paneled thing but it isn't confined to boxes and more used the suggestion of a panel as opposed to actually having one, I like it.

The story is also super fun. It is your typical, growing up, making friends, and learning how to balance the different parts of your life. I thought the messaging was super solid. Like you can have friends who like different things and you don’t have to be as into all the things your friends are into. And you are allowed to have multiple friend groups who are completely separate for different things, they don’t negate your other friends at all. I also thought that this book was just so funny. The humor and writing style is like scratching an itch in my brain of something that I can’t for the life of me pinpoint. It is so achingly familiar yet, I can’t tell you what it is. Also Also, the casual queer rep was great, love to see it.

I would definitely give this a read, super fun.

Jay often feels that like they are a nobody. Beah, on the other hand, is fierce, charming, athletic—and OBSESSED with the street skipping art, Double Dutch. When the two meet, sparks fly, in this colorful slice-of-life graphic novel about the wonder of platonic friendship and finding your identity.

Jay is always scribbling poetry in their notebook. When they come across Skip, a Double Dutch team, they befriend the members—and decide to join, too. For the first time ever, Jay has a place to belong—and friends to confide in.

But Jay’s friendship with their new bestie Beah is intense, both in and out of Double Dutch. As Beah and Jay help each other grow into the people they will become, it challenges their friendship and their own identities.- Goodreads

I thought this was an adorable novel. What I appreciated about it was the fact that although Jay was the main character, Beah had a good part of the story where we got to know her and her challenge with her identity. It wasn't just about Jay coming out their shell on a physical or emotional level. It was about how people can change with the right now.

Art style was whimsical, but detailed and showed the diversity within each character; no one looked the same or had the same flow (thankfully). I wish it was longer or at least an idea for a book two expanding on the other characters; especially Beah's brother (I loved him). But overall, short but fulfilling read. Would recommend it for pre-teens trying to find a way in their world.

3 Pickles

This was fun.
It was a little bit hard to follow along a times but this may be because I am relatively new at ready manga.
The illustrations were colourful and full of expression.
I loved the main characters, they were relatable and funny.
This was a great book for a teenager scared to try something new.

I really enjoyed the animation style of this story. Our main character, Jay, is really into flowing words with things like rap and poetry, so being able to watch the words float from frame to frame very lyrically was a very well-done addition to the story to help us better understand their thought process.
I really liked that this story put an emphasis on the value of communication and how much avoiding confrontation can harm friendships. It showed how owning up for your mistakes and realizing when you’re in the wrong is an important contributing factor to maintaining the relationships in your life.
I will say, I felt that a lot of the conflict with a certain antagonist was brushed over. It was as if she was a huge deal one second, and nothing the next. I also wish more had been done than just calling her a bully. I think more depth on why what she was doing was wrong and watching her deal with that would have added a whole new element to the story. Switching from her being an issue in the story to not being mentioned at all made the story feel a little choppy. But I think it also allowed for her flaws to be reflected in another main character a little better so we could see how Jay dealt with that attitude in a friend versus in a foe.
Overall, a very cute and fast-paced story. I was able to finish this it in one sitting.

Thank you NetGalley for an Arc of this
Review is from my Goodreads page

Skip is about a young person named Jay who gets caught up in the world of double-dutch after meeting a new friend who has a team. It’s about Jay learning what it means to be a friend and has themes of bullying and rivalry from another double-dutch team in their area.

I liked it but I didn’t LOVE it. The friendship dynamic felt odd, (probably because the characters are so young)
Beah is just not really a great friend and is actually pretty selfish. But I think readers are supposed to like her and Jay’s friendship anyways? It’s kind of unclear whether she’s supposed to be seen as a good friend or a bad one. The story did feel pretty rushed and random at times, with new characters popping out of nowhere(beats brother in the cafeteria scene). I’m not really sure what the main message of the book would be because Beah doesn’t really evolve as a character in my opinion, she just seems to expect everyone to bend to her life which I wasn’t a fan of. I can see the vision for the story I just think it could’ve gone so much further and instead fell kinda flat. This is making the book sound really bad but I genuinely don’t regret reading it so if the book sounds interesting and you think you might like you should definitely read it. I think this book would definitely be better liked by middle graders or a generally younger audience. I did really like the art style it was gorgeous all the outfits,coloring and general aesthetic/colors of the characters and settings were really cool. Although I didn’t connect to this particular story, I did like the art so will probably read other graphic novels by this author in the future it wasn’t poorly written it just wasn’t fleshed out enough for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Andrews McMeel for the arc!

- if I still taught sixth grade, I would buy this book for my library immediately! It does such a great job of dealing with friendship and identity issues, which are so key for that age group.
- I loved the non-binary rep! A lot of books with trans kids have storylines that focuses on how hard coming out it, but this one has a MC who uses they/them pronouns without any plot lines about them getting bullied for being trans.
- Beah’s energy is fantastic, but I also think her passion becoming overwhelming is a great story line for middle grades.
- the though/speech bubbles in this matched the character’s energy really well! It’s not something I usually notice, and I kept realizing how frenetic their energy was in different parts.

This was an enjoyable read that I finished in one setting. I like the inclusive characters and the complexity of the relationships depicted in this graphic novel. The artwork was engaging and there was an overall message of acceptance and finding one's voice. I would recommend this to teenagers between 12 and 15 who may be struggling with their identity and fitting in.

This was a cute graphic novel! Definitely more suited for younger audiences.

Great queer and BIPOC rep! Not the most interesting or dynamic of characters, but fun nontheless. The art style is adorable.

So MUCH FUN! The characters were easy to love and very relatable! Loved that it was easy and simple and not long at all! Would be open to also reading characters individual stories. Art style is totally amazing! Use of colors are vivid and very imaginative.

i was just aimlessly scrolling on netgalley when i decided to read this, and i had no idea i'd love it so much?!! it genuinely had me beaming at some parts its so so sweet

firstly, the art is soo gorgeous and doesn't follow your "typical" comic/graphic novel format, by which i mean the panels flow into each other on the page and are still coherent and easy to read, and i loved that ! the art also kind of reminded me of heartstopper? something to do with the brushes? idk i'm not an artist,,,

this book follows jay, a nonbinary(?) kid who doesn't really fit in much, but makes friends who are interested in double dutch :) if you don't know what double dutch is, google defines it as 'a game in which two long jump ropes turning in opposite directions are jumped by one or more players jumping simultaneously.' its also associated with new york hip-hop culture. the more you know!

it shows jay as they embrace their talent in writing and lyricism, and their nuanced friendship with beah, and what making friends and embracing your interests is like for teens in general.

the only thing that i didn't like about it was how flat the characters were :( they didn't really have purpose or personality except for their respective passions. i also wish jay's gender non-conformity was mentioned more than simply one line where they mention not knowing whether they're a boy or a girl, but it was still nice to see how everyone respected them.

overall i'd really recommend this !! it was really sweet and the art is gorgeous :)

...i'm gonna go watch double dutch championships on youtube now, goodbye.