Sponsored.  Best-selling author and illustrator Svetlana Chmakova is most well-known for her middle-grade graphic novels including those in the Berrybrook Middle School series and The Weirn Books, though her career spans decades and generations of dedicated readers.  Her fifth Berrybrook volume, Enemies, features a different side to some of the series’s most beloved characters while tackling tough questions about friendship, trust, and communication.  Likewise, The Weirn Books address real-life problems such as middle-school rivalry in a hilarious, supernatural fantasy setting, full of mystery and fun!  Fans of the Nightschool series are also treated to never-ending surprises with this new story being a part of the same universe.

In addition to their colorful, manga-inspired art, Chmakova’s books really sparkle thanks to her knack for relatable characterization. What middle schooler can’t find themselves reflected in Peppi’s awkwardness, Jensen’s bully troubles, or Ailis and Na’ya’s struggle to find their place?  With these relatable characters and universal themes of friendship, rivalry, and everything in between, Svetlana Chmakova’s graphic novels have quickly become timeless classics.