GABBY TORRES GETS A BILLION FOLLOWERS

Everyone’s a suspect when someone leaves Gabby a mean social media comment.

As the youngest member of a student environmental club known as the Sea Musketeers, 9-year-old Gabby Torres is eager to stand out, and she decides that starting a social media account for the group is just the ticket. The others are encouraging, but Gabby’s worried parents lay down some guidelines for online safety. Her best friends, Kat and Priya, who also hope to join the Sea Musketeers, are supportive, but Gabby makes a mess of things. Kat and Priya are upset when the test to join the Sea Musketeers proves harder than they realized, Gabby ends up breaking her parents’ social media rules, and, when she notices a rude anonymous comment on the club’s page, she begins to levy accusations against everyone around her. Short paragraphs of text are mixed with traditional comic art. Zippy cartoon illustrations adeptly convey emotions, while ample white space and simple backgrounds keep the focus on the endearingly earnest protagonist. Set in the same world as Dominguez’s Stella Díaz series, the tale offers a nuanced and compassionate depiction of forgiveness as Gabby works to make amends and realizes that making a mistake can be an opportunity to learn and grow. Gabby is biracial (her mother presents white, while her father is Mexican American), and Spanish words are occasionally used; Kat appears white; Priya is Indian American.

A gently edifying and wholly genuine depiction of a young person navigating relationships.