Everyone questions their sense of place and belonging at some point in their lives. For the young, school can be a minefield of self-doubt and friendship conundrums that threaten ones esteem and self-assuredness. Click is Kayla Miller's pert interpretation of the topic of 'fitting in' smartly conveyed in a colourful graphic novel.Olive has a wide friend base. She is neither an overt leader or follower but mingles aka 'clicks' with the lunch crowd and bus chums with an easy disposition. That is until a school variety show is announced and friendship groups immediately begin to cluster based on their variety act ... without Olive.
She feels adrift in a sea of rejection. Why don't any of them want her to be part of their act? Karate spectacles, singing duos, cheerleading squads all enthusiastically plan their performances heedless of Olive's growing consternation.
Her family are some comfort but little help; Olive's mother typically wants to intervene and rectify, oblivious to the fact that this would create further feelings of ostracization for Olive. Only her more 'with it' Aunt Molly seems to understand that what Olive really wants is to be asked by her friends to join them, not forced to out of pity.
As the night of the show grows closer, Olive finally decides upon a role that appeals. She sets her heart on hosting the whole shebang and after a lot of research and gathering of jokes, feels ready to take on her first live audience. Meantime, her friends realise their oversight and invite her to join their act, but is it too late to make amends? Will Olive fulfill her destiny or flip to her friends in the name of fitting in with the cliques?
This is a tale that tiptoes on the precipice of preachy teachy however the page-flipping pace, winning comic strip styled illustrations and balance of text prevent it from falling into a didactic mire. Click is spot on for the upper primary schoolers age group who are still essentially kids who want to hang with the crowd but are beginning to experience the complexities of clique warfare. I use the term warfare with respectful flippancy for at this age, the art of friendship can be brutal and challenging.
Fortunately books like, Click help almost-tweens-teens survive this period of childhood with more grace and good humour.
For a chance to win your very own copy of, Click plus Kayla Miller's brand new graphic novel, Camp, enter our Double Pack Giveaway competition, open this Saturday 8 January 2022!
Title: Click
Author Illustrator: Kayla Miller
Publisher: Walker Books Australia, $17.99
Publication Date: October 2021
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781760654870
For ages: 8 - 11
Type: Graphic Novel, Junior Fiction
