Truly Tyler in the Emmie & Friends series might be my favorite of the group. I have enjoyed the others by Terri Libenson, but after a bit it felt like I was reading the same one over. This time we are focusing on a side character who is male. In the author afterwards, Libenson mentions how this was for them, among other fun facts.
We follow two of the characters, Tyler and Emmie (switching between their points of view) and see how the same situation can be taken two different ways, similar ways or not even aware of them. The reactions of the characters are mostly realistic and seem to be fleshed out well. The wording of some of Tyler’s thoughts show a maturity and yet, still how young he is. And Emmie’s reactions are perfect for her character. The switch in artistic styles to show you Tyler’s half and Emmie’s half was a fun visual cue, though sometimes the font in Tyler’s side was a little hard for me to read. The art project that the two characters do together (and having a third and fourth style to match Tyler’s personality and talent or Emmie’s particular flair and talent), was clever.
While reading, I was hoping we would get the supporting character, Sarah’s story next. I like Sarah’s spunk. And while I have to read Ruby first, May 2023 HAS SARAH!
While there were a few bumps and clichés for me (SPOILER: To name one: the character Joe teases Sarah because he likes her), overall, I think it is a good modern voice dealing with modern themes, and yet is a classic story of being in middle school and all the “mystery meat” that comes with.