Ellie in First Position

Ellie is miserable following her parents’ divorce and her move to a new town with her mother and inattentive older brother. Luckily, working on her Super Stella comics makes life at home bearable for introspective Ellie, and she’s attending the same school as her cheerful yet sometimes pushy best friend Chloe. When Ellie laments that her new classmates only seem interested in sports, her mother—who is often dismissive about Ellie’s focus on art—urges her to join one of the school teams. What follows is a comedic string of disasters as Ellie attempts to participate in various activities, including volleyball, swimming, and archery. A family trip to the ballet helps Ellie find her passion, despite her mother’s brusque opinion of dancing. With a peer’s encouragement, Ellie sneakily pursues the art by joining a ballet class, unbeknownst to her mom. While the plot is familiar, the illustrations’ exuberant energy and vivid hues, combined with the laugh-out-loud physical comedy from Ellie’s numerous athletic missteps and her dogged determination to be true to herself, results in an impassioned graphic novel from Freschi (The Vertical Sea, for adults) and Triolo. Characters are portrayed with pale skin. Ages 8–up. (Oct.)