The Love Report Vol. 2

Gr 5-8–Grace, Lola, and friends continue their investigations into how love and romance will play a role in their lives as they grow older, beyond their current tween years. This volume features bullies, attractive older boys, a trip to Sardinia, “girl power,” a kindly father figure, and a new character who has a backstory of family neglect. The girls are pixie-featured and present various skin tones and stages of physical development, from childlike to early adolescence. The settings are gorgeously illustrated and lighted—whether they are interiors of school rooms, old houses, or the illustrator’s own Sardinia. While the group seems to be universally straight and cis-gendered, the storytelling and character development by the French creative team will speak to the concern many tweens hold with the question: “Will I be able to recognize romantic love in my own life?”