Zemke, Deborah. My Life in Pictures. illus. by Deborah Zemke. 144p. (Bea Garcia). Dial. Mar. 2016. Tr $14.99. ISBN 9780803741546. 

Gr 1-3 –Bea Garcia is an artist. As far as she’s concerned, the world is her canvas; however, her family insists that she confine her drawings to her own book, titled My Life. It’s all there: things she likes, things she doesn’t, places to go, and things she’d like to happen. Readers meet Bea just as her best friend and next door neighbor Yvonne moves all the way to Australia. This blow was amplified when Yvonne’s former address is taken over by Bert and his family. Bert is mean to Bea, terrorizes her little brother Pablo, and shows up in her classroom on the first day of school. Bea fears that her creativity has fled to Australia with Yvonne but finds that sending Bert across the world via her doodles helps her deal with the bully next door and even wins over her teacher and classmates. This is the first in a forthcoming series and offers young readers (both reluctant and otherwise) a smooth transition to chapter books with plenty of pictures breaking up the text. This precursor to diary-style middle grade books has enough action and personal conflict to hook readers early in the story and keep them coming back for future installments. VERDICT Bea Garcia is an honest and funny protagonist with whom readers will identify and want to check back with regularly.–Lindsay Jensen, Nashville Public Library