Squished

There is something appealing about large families, especially now that there are not as many of them as when my mother was growing up in the 1940s with eight siblings! Certainly, my Gen X friends and I, all of whom seemed to have just one sibling, adored the chaotic household of The Brady Bunch. What makes Avery's story particularly appealing is that she enjoys her family, who present as Asian, for all the grief they sometimes cause her. She's patient with Max and Peal even though she wants her own room. She used to play a lot with Theo before he became a teen, and the two do band together when it's necessary. She is frequently pictured holding Bea, and clearly has a lot of affection for her. There is an illuminative conversation with her mother about WHY there are so many children, and aside from wanting her own room, Avery doesn't have issues with her parents, and doesn't fight with them. She lives in an enjoyable community and has some good friends. Again, the appeal of the Bradys was that while they did have problems, they weren't MY problems, and they weren't so bad that just reading about them made me feel traumatized. This will be a wildly popular book with my students.

I almost wish that this had been a blended family, because we do see some larger sibling groups, but they are almost always combinations of children who share parents.

This will be popular with fans of this duo's Allergic and other graphic novels with family drama like Harper's Bad Sister, Fajardo's Miss Quinces, Russo's Why Is Everybody Yelling? Growing Up in My Immigrant Family, Jeong's Kyle's Little Sister, Edwards' A Tale as Tall as Jacob: Misadventures with My Brother and Knisley's Stepping Stones.