Published By: A Wave Blue World Written By: Stephanie Phillips & Dave Johnson Illustrated By: Marika Cresta ISBN: 9781949518122 Age: 13+
What do you do when your online rank drops? Your status on the social network Ranked is… everything. It allows you access to certain restaurants, faster lines at the coffee place, even Averee’s mom can no longer access her work building or the parking garage because of their new lower rank. The police are investigating, but no one knows how Averee and her mom suddenly dropped so far in rank – but Averee’s best friend has a plan. They’re going to find the app creator and make her fix it, because Averee can’t stand to live like this anymore!
Averee is a cautionary tale about letting social networking and your online ranking take over your life. The bright and colorful artwork is one of the highlights of this book. The story, while interesting, tries to be too much for a single volume – both a mystery about the drop in ranking and who the creator really is, as well as a pushing the warning about social networking being too important to people. There may be a little too much to unpack while reading this book, but it is still very much a worthwhile, engaging read. The story, along with the beautiful illustrations, is enough to make this a quality read, and one that would do well in a young adult graphic novel section.
Hi all! I'm a librarian in Southwestern Ohio, and I specialize in technology, digital resources, and graphic novels. Some of my favorite series are Ms. Marvel, Lumberjanes, Sandman, and Skip-Beat.