All’s Faire in Middle School

Jamieson, Victoria. All’s Faire in Middle School. 2017. 217p. ISBN 978-0-525-42998-2. Available in the Graphics Novels section of the library.

Imogene’s family is rather unique. Both her mother and father live for the Florida Renaissance Faire, and they work there throughout the year, she as one of the shop owners, and he as Sir Hugo, Lord of the Dragon and the villain of the story. Imogene has grown up among the Renaissance Faire folks her entire life, and she has been homeschooled. This year, she decides she wants to go to middle school with other normal kids instead of pursuing her education with the Faire people. Simultaneously, Impy has been promoted at the Faire to the role of Squire to Sir Hugo.

Impy now finds herself in uncharted waters. Middle school is not what she expected. The kids are mean and vindictive. They bully each other. As the outsider, Impy does not fit in any cliques but manages to acquire some friends. At the Faire, being a squire is hard work and she has trouble adjusting to her new role. Anita, a student at her school, is bullied because she is smart and doesn’t hide it, but at the Faire she dresses as a princess. Impy feels she can connect with her there, but not at school where Anita is treated as a pariah. Trying to fit in with odd clothes and odder manners, Impy does everything she can to ingratiates herself to her crowd, even if it means drawing mean pictures of teachers and students, including one of Anita. But when that picture spreads around school, following the knight’s code of chivalry, honesty and bravery proves harder than she thought, both at school and at the Faire.

Beautifully illustrated, Imogene’s tale of woes and redemption when joining middle school will entertain readers experiencing similar adaptation to a new environment as well as those who lived through those awkward years.