Dreamover

When eighth grader Amber works up the courage to confess her feelings to her crush Nico while on a class trip to the beach in the early aughts, the event jump-starts a romantic summer during which the couple unwittingly neglect the other members of their tight-knit gang. Starting high school proves disorienting, prompting Nico and Amber to retreat further into each other and continue to disregard their dismayed friends. After staying up late one night to play video games together, Amber and Nico fall asleep on the couch and enter a jointly created dreamscape. At first, the two enjoy venturing into the video game–inspired settings, where they can finally be alone together until events in the waking world begin to disrupt their haven, forcing Amber and Nico to confront the consequences of their self-isolating behavior. The effervescence, intoxication, and all-encompassing magic feeling of being totally immersed in one’s first romantic relationship is on full display in Diaz’s debut graphic novel, which astutely encapsulates a young adult rite of passage while examining the ways it can change the world around its dynamic protagonists, who read as white. Ages 13–17. (Jan.)