The Brinkley Yearbooks

Sarah Sax

Jun 2023 · The Brinkley Yearbooks Ukukhishwa okungu-#1 · Penguin Random House Audio · Kuchazwe ngu-Felisha Wong, Em Grosland, Davu Smith, Beth Hicks, Jamie K. Brown, Valerie Rose Lohman, Giordan Diaz, Mirai, Keylor Leigh, ne-Michael Crouch

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Everyone knows the most stressful day of middle school is picture day! And that's exactly where this yearbook-worthy series opener begins: with reinventing yourself, drama, popularity, and the friends who see you through.

Seventh-grader Viv never looks forward to picture day. It’s just another day where she wears a boring braid and no one notices her. (Her two best friends, Milo and Al, don’t count, of course.) 

But enough is enough. This year, she’s taking matters into her own hands. Literally. Viv grabs a pair of scissors, her phone for live-streaming, and, well, bye-bye braid.

Suddenly Viv is an over-night influencer at Brinkley Middle School. Everyone wants her help planning their next big moment—from haircuts, to dance proposals, activist rallies and mathlete championships. She hardly even has time for her friends anymore. It’s exactly how she dreamed of reinventing herself…right?

In the tradition of modern classics like Vera Brosgol's Be Prepared, Svetlana Chmakova's Awkward, and Kayla Miller's Click, Picture Day brings answers to perennial questions of what it means to be true to yourself—and a true friend.

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Sarah Sax is an author-illustrator based in Portland, ME. She studied illustration, animation and storytelling at Hampshire College. Sarah has a background in arts education and she was a former Creative Director at Lumos Labs (Lumosity) in San Francisco. Sarah cares deeply about how, why and what people create (and how to foster the creative spark in those who've forgotten or are fearful to try). Picture Day is her graphic novel debut.