08/21/2026
For the next few weeks, our picks will be focused on books to help kids cope with back-to-school anxiety. Middle grade readers will love the graphic novel "Fresh Start" by Gale Galligan:
"Ollie Herisson's dad is a diplomat, which means her family moves around a lot. She has already lived in Singapore, Korea, France, and the United States. When Ollie starts at a new school, she doesn't worry about making a good impression because she knows that when her family inevitably moves again, she'll get a fresh start somewhere else. A complete reset. It doesn't matter if her classmates think she's weird for pretending that she lives in the world of an imagined anime, or if she makes an enemy out of the most popular girl in her class, or ifshe does something hugely embarrassing! And it definitely doesn't matter that all her mom wants is for Ollie to be more of a proper Thai daughter.
But after moving from Germany to Virginia and having a mortifying first day at her new school, Ollie is shocked to learn that her parents are going to buy a house so that Ollie and her sister, Cat, can finish grade school in one place. Can Ollie figure out how to both be herself and make real friends when she can't run away from her life?"
