 Hi everyone, my name is Steph. This is Little Bookish Teacher and today I wanted to share my review of Booked by Kwame Alexander. This is actually the graphic novel adaptation of the novel of the same name. This is the story of 12 year old Nick who absolutely loves soccer and he really hates reading. And in this particular book Nick is learning how to navigate a new tricky family situation when his parents separate alongside his commitment to soccer, the fact that he needs to bring up his grades in school and he needs to read the books that he needs to read for school but he doesn't want to do that because he wants to play soccer and how he balances all of those elements together. And sometimes it's easier than others, sometimes it is really tricky for him and he finds it really challenging and he's trying to unpack and understand what his parents are going through and why it has such a large impact on him. He's also learning how to stand up to bullies in this book. He has a crush on a girl for the first time and doesn't really know how to behave around her and ends up agreeing to host her book club and how to deal with the highs and lows of being involved in sport, particularly when sometimes things don't go well and you can't always participate in the way that you would like to. This was really great. So it is a graphic novel but not necessarily in the traditional way of having panels all over the page. So you do have some panels, you do have some larger chunks of text but you have lots of really great images. I loved that it's all in black and white with the green elements to it. It's very visually appealing. Kwame Alexander is known for writing in free verse which this is also told in free verse. I'm trying to remember, I think we might have the original novel at work if we don't, we have crossover which is the first book in the series but I haven't had a chance to read it in that format yet so I might try and grab those and have a read through of them. I really appreciated the representation of a preteen having to work through the complicated nature of his parents separating the highs and lows of that, the family therapy that might be needed of that, the anger and the resentment and just missing the parent that you don't get to see all the time, having that and seeing how Nick has to work through that and how his parents have to work through that and help him to work through that is great to see in an upper middle grade younger YA title. Obviously Nick is really passionate about soccer and that comes through in this book. It's what he and his best friend are passionate about doing together even though they play for different teams. They train together and it's something that gives them a really strong friendship bond. There are some really positive teacher role models in this book as well including the librarian who is constantly giving Nick different books to read and knowing that he just needs the right book to hook him so that was really important to see in this book. There's also an element in the story because Nick's mum makes him take etiquette classes so there's this lovely contrast between being the sports player and having to go to etiquette classes and learn how to be a gentleman and that's where he gets to spend a lot of time with the girl that is his crush and also the realities of being sick or injured and the impact that that can have on the things that you are passionate about. So there is a period of time where Nick is in hospital and he can't participate in a really important soccer trip that he has been looking forward to and that really brings him down and he has to work through that. So it's nice seeing all of those realities for kids in a book. I loved the free verse style in it and I loved how it linked in all what was happening with the illustrations. Like it was just a really really enjoyable read so I need to go back and read the crossover and yeah I wouldn't mind reading this in its original novel form as well. I will leave links to where you can check out booked down below. In the comments I'd love to know if you have read this book or any other of Kwame Alexander's titles. I know he actually has some books on writing for kids which I really want to find because I think they would be great books to have in my school because I know they're a lot of our grade five six kids really like these books because they're about sport and they see themselves represented in the characters. Thank you very much for watching. I hope that you guys have a really wonderful day no matter where you are in the world and I will see you in my next video. Bye everyone.