cbr17bingo School
There have been days when I haven’t wanted to do any reading of late and then days when all I can do is read. Very Bad at Math by Hope Larson was part of one of those reading days. It is a graphic novel that is a coming of age story, therefore it has many of the familiar goodies, with a few new elements to keep it fresh. Everyone will have their own take on things due to their experiences and where they fall in the friendship group. Such as each character has one or two strong personality traits. One is perfect in everything, one tends to be a bit quieter and a little klutzy, another is the podcast gossip, and so forth. The artwork can be minimalistic, but does seem to fill the spots needed to move the story along.
And that story is simple, Verity (or Very) is perfect at everything she does. In fact she’s so perfect she is perfect at being perfect! Except she has a secret. She is doing poorly in math. The book is a tug-of-war between her trying to keep her grade up so she will not be forced to step down from being class president and doing everything else she has signed up for. There is a parallel story where two characters (form BFFs) become friends (separately) with Very and there is that dynamic happening. Plus, we had the podcast character who learns the difference between reporting the truth and gossip reporting. Therefore, we know this story, but it is a bit more energetic, moves quickly and has points that are not completely familiar.
The big part is how the system does not always work with people who have disabilities. We learn that Very has a disability that is like dyslexia but with numbers. This gives us disability representation, but a seemingly invisible one as we cannot see this issue like a wheelchair, someone with down syndrome. This “invisibility” is a relatable situation for all ages as is the friendship situation. However, while I did enjoy the book, and will read others by the author (and have read titles before) I do not see myself reading Very Bad at Math again, as it had a few bumps that made me not LOVE LOVE it, but found it enjoyable.