![]() ![]() Young readers will appreciate Brianna’s insistence on the truth, whether in evaluating her bat mitzvah options or deciding if new friends are truly interested in getting to know her or only in receiving an invitation to a big party. Always alert to adult inconsistencies, Brianna responds to her mother’s assertion that a bat mitzvah is a “family tradition” with a factual correction her mother’s bat mitzvah had actually been the first in their family. Lively and humorous pictures work together with text told from Brianna’s perspective, as she struggles to reconcile her ambivalence about the performative aspects of this event with questions of her commitment to life as part of a Jewish community.īrianna’s account of her bat mitzvah unfolds in flashbacks, beginning with her mother’s original attempt to convince her that the ceremony should be part of Brianna’s future. Brianna’s questions about the meaning of the religious ceremony form the core of the book, but Libenson also integrates concerns about friendship, family conflicts, and financial realities into her compelling coming-of-age story. Becoming Brianna, the most recent book in the Emmie & Friends series of diverse graphic novels, explores the joys and difficulties of middle school through the lens of Brianna’s upcoming bat mitzvah. ![]()
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