Olive and Willow head off to camp, and while Olive has no problems making new friends and getting along with the other kids, Willow starts feeling abandoned. It all comes to a head and they fight over things like Willow being clingy and antisocial or Olive paying more attention to her new friends than to her, going as far as breaking their newly made friendship bracelets. Of course, this story has a feel-good ending, and everyone comes to their senses, while learning a few things about themselves along the way. Like Victoria Jamieson's Roller Girl (2015), this is a great example of how you can be friends with someone who is into totally different things. Camp Acorn Lake is a positive environment where the kids are encouraged to explore what they like, and the counselors are written in such a clever way, showing the reader how they are always coming up with compromises and solutions that ensure everyone is happy. Fans of the first book, Click (2018), will especially appreciate this all-around excellent summer read.--Kristina Pino Copyright 2019 Booklist

Gr 4--7--Olive and Willow go to sleepaway camp together, but will they still be best friends when they return? Olive (first introduced in Miller's Click) easily befriends fellow campers, but Willow is more reserved and becomes jealous of Olive's new pals. Willow is soon demanding all of Olive's attention, and Olive, in turn, grows resentful. Readers will love the depiction of realistic friendship drama and the fun camp setting. Camp counselors intervene when necessary, but both girls show a lot of growth by the end of the story as lessons are learned and friendships healed. The activities will make readers wish they were at camp, too, especially at the end of the book when groups team up to film a Rube Goldberg machine for a music video. Expressive cartoon artwork is eye-catching and brings the setting to life. Olive and Willow are both white, but racial diversity is well represented among the campers. VERDICT Hand to patrons looking for something after Raina Telgemeier's Smile or Victoria Jamieson's Roller Girl. For every library.--Allison McLean, Elkhart Public Library, IN

For these kids, friendship is the hardest test of all. But mastering its mysterious codes is worth it. MIDDLE SCHOOL IS FRAUGHT with shifting dynamics. As tweens drift away from adults, they find themselves in the thorny world of friendship, with its ever-changing loyalties, mysterious codes of conduct, and complicated social structure. Middlegrade literature has become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, but even among all the new genres, titles and characters, one element is forever universal: the power of friendship, for better and worse. In these graphic novels, the main characters have no trouble making new friends. They're just not sure about the ones they already have. RYAN ANDREWS'S THIS WAS OUR PACT (FIRST SECOND, $14.99, AGES 8 TO 12) takes US to a nameless town's Autumn Equinox Festival, when everyone gathers to release paper lanterns in the river. According to legend, the lanterns soar into the Milky Way and become stars once they sail out of sight. Ben, stubborn and determined, makes a pact with his friends to follow the lanterns until they know whether that's the truth. The pact has two simple rules: No one turns for home and no one looks back. With this bond in place, the five boys set off on their bikes. But there's a sixth wheel they hadn't counted on. He's pedaling behind them, asking them to wait. Nerd alert: It's Nathaniel - uncool, pesky, with a bag of homemade Rice Krispies Treats from his mother. "It's not that I didn't like Nathaniel," Ben tells the reader. "It's more that, well... no one else did." Unfortunately for Ben, his pact-mates drop like flies until only Nathaniel remains. Kindhearted Nathaniel takes the pact seriously - despite not having been originally included - and promises Ben he will see it through. Once Nathaniel and Ben are on their own, the story truly becomes magical, both in narration and creative execution. The first order of magical business comes in the form of a talking bear, dressed in a winter coat and scarf, who explains that he's searching for a legendary fishing spot that appears only once a year. This sets off a series of enchanted discoveries that stretch the imagination in wondrous ways. The novel's cover shows Ben looking over his shoulder, making eye contact, inviting readers along for the ride. The subsequent artwork and narrative are worthy catalysts to fulfill that promise. The color scheme, with a limited palette of mainly blues, pulls readers into the abounding nighttime magic. The relationship between Nathaniel and Ben provides the true heartbeat of the novel. Left uninhibited, Nathaniel shines as the more charismatic, adventurous and likable of the two. He's unfazed by his "nerd alert" status and chooses to embrace new discoveries with open arms - a stark contrast to Ben, who becomes a killjoy once he's separated from his pack. Ben soon discovers that he has much to learn from Nathaniel. Readers do, too. in contrast to Andrews's magic-brimming adventure, Kayla Miller's camp (HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT, $10.99, AGES 8 to 12) takes us into a familiar scene deeply grounded in reality. Best friends Olive and Willow are eager for two weeks of summer camp. All goes smoothly at first. The girls want to participate in all the activities together, despite having few things in common. Olive is athletic, active and outgoing. Willow is quiet and shy. So they make a compromise: Olive will sacrifice skateboarding to take magic class with Willow, and Willow will try softball and moviemaking. Soon, however, Olive finds herself making more and more compromises to appease homesick Willow, who shuns the friendly overtures of other campers and prefers to settle under Olive's comfortable shadow. Olive is smothered yet sympathetic as she struggles to make Willow happy. As with any codependent relationship, however, this does not work. "It's really nice that you're trying to be there for your friend, but Willow's happiness is not your responsibility," says Laura, a camp counselor. "If you're making yourself miserable trying to cheer her up, that's just solving a problem by creating a new one, isn't it?" Although summer camp and wayward friendships are nothing new on the middlegrade scene, Miller tells a story that isn't often told - that of an overbearing friendship that threatens to develop into codependency. Tweens are well-served to have this dynamic represented in "Camp," particularly through the character of Laura, who provides a refreshing voice of reason without being overly pedantic, condescending or intrusive. Tweens will also benefit from Miller's playful and communicative artwork, featuring a cast with varied ethnic backgrounds and gender expressions. At more than 300 pages, "This Was Our Pact" is the weightier of the two and has a narrative that allows for more visual wiggle room, including several astonishing two-page images. "Camp" offers a more traditional comics approach, but includes enjoyable and useful supplemental material in its end pages, such as character sketches, instructions on how to make friendship bracelets and a map of Camp Acorn Lake. Both of these graphic novels offer an original and much-needed view of the complex world of middle-school friendships. The social landscape for this age group is dotted with quicksand, and young people need books like these to pull them through. Whether that's done with some magic or a story that sticks to reality is simply a matter of preference. ERIN ENTRADA KELLY IS the author of books for young readers including the Newbery Medalwinning "Hello, Universe" and, most recently, "You Go First."

Summer camp tests the bond between best friends in this new graphic novel. Olive and Willow are besties who are lucky enough to go to summer camp together at Acorn Lake; they even share a bunk bed in their cabin. Initially, they are inseparable, always together during camp activities. Right away, Willow begins to become anxious and homesick, while Olive is enjoying the ride and making friends. Willow doesn't like the food, she doesn't want to join in with most of the activities, and she wants Olive by her side at all times. At first, Olive feels obligated to take care of Willow and stays close by, but inevitably, the two get into a fight and spend the next couple of days apart. But eventually Willow begins to make new friends, joining a newly formed band with the other kids, and she and Olive slowly find their ways back to each other. The emotional beats are believable, and Olive and Willow are well-enough developed that readers will sympathize with them both. Miller illustrates a very culturally diverse group of campers, representing different races and a range of gender expressions. Though the races of the protagonists aren't specified, both are light-skinned, Olive with dark hair and Willow with blonde. All in all, a sweet summer camp story about friendship in a multicultural setting. (Graphic fiction. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.