Mermaid Warrior Squad

Gr 4–7—With a humorous twist, this realistic fiction series centers on tweens navigating new social situations. In The Fake-Chicken Kung Fu Fighting Blues, Anthony and his family relocate from Chinatown to rural Ontario, where they are the only Chinese Canadian residents. To connect with his new, hockey-obsessed neighbors, Anthony makes a documentary about the town. In Mermaid Warrior Squad, Dylan and Coral cowrite a mermaid-themed comic book adventure at their summer arts camp. Reserved Dylan enjoys hanging out with the boisterous and larger-than-life Coral, but fears being mocked by a clique of popular kids. The book includes Dylan and Coral's comics, which mimic the social drama at the camp as Dylan must decide whether to protect her new friend from bullying. At around 150 pages, these titles are quite long for hi-lo materials; however, the comic vignettes interspersed throughout the books effectively break up the text.