Comic Book / Emmie And Friends

Left to Right: Jamie, Emmie, and Brianna.

Emmie & Friends is a series of coming of age Middle Grade graphic/illustrated novels by Terri Libenson.

The series centers around various connected middle school students attending the same school, with each book narrated by one or two students dealing with struggles such as self-confidence, identity, early crushes, social perception, toxic friendships, and more. Each book is told in two different styles and from two different viewpoints: the primary narrator (named on the cover) in illustrated novel style, and the secondary narrator in graphic novel style.

The title of the series comes from the protagonist of the first book, Invisible Emmie. Other novels star characters seen around her or in the background as they take the stage in their own books.

Books in the series thus far:

1. Invisible Emmie: Emmie is The Quiet One: an artist who is shy, withdrawn, and almost never noticed—she doesn't stand out at all and only has one real friend. Katie is the Class Princess—pretty, popular, and athletic, who has the picture perfect life and tons of friends. Their connection is closer than what meets the eye, especially when an embarrassing note ends up in the wrong hands.
2. Positively Izzy: Brianna is a “Book Smart” brain who aces all her schoolwork, but wants to be seen as more than that, even as she's reluctant to participate in the school talent show that her mother convinced her to be in. Izzy finds interest in everything but her schoolwork, but her real talent is drama and acting. The two girls' lives connect on the night of the middle school talent show.
3. Just Jamie: Jamie is on the verge of losing her long time Best Friend to the Alpha Bitch of their Girl Posse, Celia. Maya is torn between staying friends with Jamie, her Childhood Friend, and doing as Celia's asking her in order to stay part of the popular girls. They both figure out what friendship really is and what they mean to each other on the last day of seventh grade.
4. Becoming Brianna: Brianna prepares for—and participates in—her bat mitzvah, which her mother asked her to do. As the sole narrator on both the day of the event and various events leading up to it starting months before, Brianna wonders if what she's doing is worth it and what she believes.
5. Truly Tyler: Tyler—Emmie's crush-turned-friend—and Emmie have gotten closer as friends since December. Tyler's friends, basketball teammates, and ex-girlfriend Celia have been giving him a hard time for it, while Emmie's mixed up between her crush feelings and worries about not being cool enough for Tyler's friendship. While the two are working on an collaborative comic for an art class project, peer pressure for Tyler to focus on his sports skills, Emmie's lack of confidence, and a cruel online joke combine to threaten their growing friendship.
6. Remarkably Ruby: Ruby and Mia are total opposites—Ruby is awkward, nerdy, and klutzy with skills in poetry and no friends since she started Middle school, while Mia is a smart Type A popular girl focusing on the election for class president. The former close friends have absolutely nothing in common anymore...or so it appears.
7. Surprisingly Sarah,: Sarah and Leo have been friends since they were young and share everything—until Sarah starts crushing on Leo’s friend Ben. When Sarah is faced with a big choice, she has two options—ask Ben to the school dance or chicken out—and both stories are seen, with Sarah's chapters telling the path of her asking Ben out and Leo's chapters on the path of her chickening out and not asking.
8. Always Anthony: Told from the viewpoints of popular student Anthony and shy Leah, who both challenge their budding friendship when one of Anthony's teammates is caught bullying another student at school.

There is also a separate interactive guided journal and art/activity book, You-Niquely You, released after Just Jamie; it has a themed chapter for Emmie, Brianna, and Jamie, with the last lined pages for a personal journal. It also spoils the plots and endings of the first three books, so it should be done after them.

Tropes seen in the series thus far:

In General / Overall / In Multiple Books

• Alliterative Title: All but the first two books have had alliterative titles with the starring character's name: Just Jamie, Becoming Briana, Truly Tyler, Remarkably Ruby, Surprisingly Sarah, Always Anthony.
• Art Evolution: Terri Libenson discusses the evolution of the series on her blog, including how her characters have become more proportional, the backgrounds more detailed, and her writing more detailed and layered.
• Art Shift: The main narrator's chapters are written as paragraphs with frameless illustrations interspersed with the text, while the secondary protagonist's chapters—or in Becoming Brianna, the current day chapters—have a framed, more comic-book page style.
• Black Bead Eyes: While character eye colors are sometimes described, everyone is drawn with these.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Since these are middle-schoolers who are making their first forays into testing the strength and meaning of friendships and early relationships, this is all over the series.
• Character Title: Every book has the protagonist's name in the title with an additional adjective before it.
• Childhood Friends: Several, most since elementary school: Emmie and Brianna; Jaime, Maya, and Grace; Tyler and Anthony; and Sarah, Leo, and Ben (though Leo is friends with both, Ben and Sarah are not). Ruby and Mia were best friends until they stopped being close in middle school. Still sisters, though.
• Class Clown: First played straight, then deconstructed with Joe Lungo. Emmie sees him initially as only a bully who constantly tries to pick on her, and he embarrasses her by reading aloud the love note she writes to her crush. He thinks he's always trying to make people laugh, but the way he does so is spitting spitballs at people and going after the other kids in seventh grade, making him as much of a bully as the kids that once teased him in elementary school. Even Tyler, one of his best friends, notes that Joe's comedy can be a two-edged sword when you're on the other side of it, and Joe's oblivious about how much he leads the charge in hurting people's feelings. He also gets suspected of mean pranks, even when it turns out he had nothing to do with them. It comes to a head in Truly Tyler when Emmie, finally fed up and thinking that Joe is behind a mean meme of her circulating, humiliates him with a well-deserved comeback after hitting her Rage Breaking Point. Joe for the first time is struck silent, and has a Heel Realization that he's been a big jerk; he makes up for it by finding who created the meme and making them delete it, and apologizing to Emmie in person for how he's treated her. By the time of Surprisingly Sarah, while he's still a jokester, his jokes are no longer hurtful or at the expense of others who don't want it.
• Continuity Overlap: All the books connect to each other in some way, with several students being seen in the background of each other's books. Examples include how the talent show is seen in both Positively Izzy and Remarkably Ruby (as Brianna and Ruby both perform) and that Becoming Brianna references events in Invisible Emmie and Just Jamie.
• Crush Blush: Emmie about Tyler. Tyler about Emmie. Brianna about Anthony—until she stops crushing on him. Dev about Brianna. Sarah about Ben. Joe about Sarah, once he confesses it to Tyler. Leo about Sarah, when he tries to apologize about his actions (in both timelines). It's the visual indication the characters have feelings for each other (or the other, in the case of one-way crushes).
• A Day in the Limelight: The other books after Invisible Emmie star characters seen in her book and others, often secondary characters, extras, and background characters from the first book who each go on to have their own turn to star in and narrate a story. Brianna actually stars in two books, with Becoming Brianna only narrated by her.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Every middle-school age character that has had the spotlight title in a book so far was first introduced, even if just briefly, in Invisible Emmie. It takes until their own books for Jamie, Maya, and Ruby to get properly named, however; they were initially only background characters to Emmie's story. (Maya is briefly referred to by her last name only.) Terri Libenson has stated she takes suggestions from her readers for which character to feature next in their own book.
• Interquel: Every book released after Just Jamie (and several of the flashback chapters in Becoming Brianna) happen during the school year, setting them before as Just Jamie is set on the very last day of seventh grade. Furthermore, several chapters of Becoming Brianna are also a Prequel to Invisible Emmie (as they happen before December and the day of Emmie's embarrassing note) and a Sequel to Just Jaime (as they happen after the last day of school when Jamie and Maya are both no longer part of their former Girl Posse).
• Former Friends Photo: Not always photos, but yes. In Positively Izzy there's one that rips as Izzy talks about her former friends Hannah, Gabi, and Becca. In Just Jamie a picture of the four-girl group is shown when Jamie is wondering what changed to make her friends so mean now. In Remarkably Ruby there's many illustrations of Ruby and Mia as friends before Mia started to push Ruby away. In Surprisingly Sarah an illustration of one is shown when Sarah's talking about how her former friend Kerri Kowalski blew her off for the cool crowd right after starting middle school.
• Heartfelt Apology: Given that it's a series about middle school—and all the friendship tensions and lessons that come with those years—these are done often and done sincerely. For example in Truly Tyler Emmie apologizes for being distant to Sarah and makes her art to make up to her, Joe apologizes to Emmie (awkwardly) for picking on her over the years, and Tyler apologizes to Emmie for blowing her off on Saturday.
• Kids Are Cruel: With the exception of Positively Izzy and most of Becoming Brianna, each book has at least one character who picks on the main one. Celia is the Alpha Bitch who judges and talks about everyone. Joe (until his Heel Realization) is a Class Clown who picks on others, especially Emmie. Ben calls Sarah creepy for hovering around him (due to her crush) and nicknames her RWR for "Really Weird Reyes". Many students post mean memes about each other. Emmie is humiliated by a meme spread through the school of her being a downgrade from Tyler's ex-girlfriend, Celia, on SnapGab. Ruby is the Butt-Monkey of many of these and is often made the butt of jokes due to her klutzy accidents in school—and until her own book she is only referred to as "Baked Bean Girl" because of an incident of her rushing to the bathroom while stating what she just ate that upset her stomach. Always Anthony is centered around the plot of bullying in school.
• Local Hangout: Taystee's, the local ice cream shop.
• Morning Routine: The narrators are often shown at home prepping before they get to school; variations include them on the way to school, boarding or riding the bus, or arriving at lockers before homeroom.
• Named After First Installment: Invisible Emmie to Emmie and Friends.
• Protagonist Title: With an additional adjective before the main narrator's name.
• Protagonist and Friends: Emmie and Friends.
• The Reveal: Three of the books have had a reveal that shows the characters and/or events of the story in a new light.
  • Invisible Emmie: Class Princess Katie isn't real. She's a person Emmie made up to be the popular, skilled, confident girl she wishes she could be. When Emmie confesses this to Brianna and lets her go, Katie fades away in the background.
  • Positively Izzy: Mrs. D., the drama teacher and Brianna's mother who is pushing Brianna to try something outside of her comfort zone, is the same person as Izzy. Izzy's story is actually set in the past when Mrs. Davis was in middle school herself.
  • Remarkably Ruby: Ruby and Mia are sisters—Mia is one grade ahead—and Mia has been ashamed of her younger, awkward sister, who she feels keeps embarrassing her and could ruin her popularity and chance at becoming Class President.
• Running Gag: Among them:
  • Dead rats in the school.
  • Mrs. Winn's many "Word of the Week" vocabulary words, often called Winn Words.
  • Frequent Imagine Spots showing character mental states, daydreams, and exaggerated or metaphorical thoughts (e.g. Emmie picturing herself as a puddle of slime; Jamie picturing a long time passing as her becoming a skeleton).
  • Trips and gatherings at Taystee's, the local ice cream shop.
• Slice of Life: The series follows the everyday events of several middle school students.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • It's seen as a good thing that Emmie gains Character Development to speak to people other than Brianna and speak up against people teasing her. In fact, her older sister is proud of her for standing up for herself, and Brianna mentions she likes how Emmie speaks her mind. The problem, however, is that when Emmie delivers harsh truths, she sometimes lacks the tact to deliver them in a way that doesn't hurt the receiver. If it's someone like Joe who deserves her vitriol, it's one thing; it's quite another when she does the same with her best friend Brianna, who naturally takes offense at the suggestion that she's being used by another student and couldn't have anything in common with popular Zoe.
  • Maya, after not speaking up while Celia treated Jamie horribly for a month or longer and being the one to kick her out of their group of friends at the start of field day, has a sudden Heel Realization when Celia starts to insult and dismiss Maya in the same way she did Jamie, using the same words. Maya leaves the group and goes to Jamie's house to apologize and ask if she'll be forgiven. Jaime, after a lot of thought, says that she'll forgive Maya...in time, and that it will take a while, rather than Maya being Easily Forgiven for what she's done. The epilogue—set at the end of the summer—has Jamie explain that they're best friends again, but it was hard at first to be close to Maya again; it took lots of time together and Maya ensuring her that she wouldn't break Jamie's trust again.
  • Brianna spontaneously invites her now-new friends Jamie, Maya, Tyler, and Anthony to her bat mitzvah after-party. Rather than her mother brushing this off casually and allowing them to attend regardless of the costs (or any wacky get-rich-quick shenanigans), Mrs. D. says that unless the money can be made up for four extra plates, they just can't come and Brianna will have to tell them that. After failing to get much money in selling books or extra clothes, Brianna agrees to earn the extra money from baby-sitting and paying for her extra guests with her bat mitzvah gift money.
  • Tyler and Emmie, after lots of friendship angst, come together in the end to work on an excellent, dual point of view comic they submit to the Student Showcase—and Emmie's skilled artist friend Sarah Reyes wins the art division, rather than the protagonists. Emmie explains that Sarah was serious competition and she and Tyler were so caught up in their own story (literally and figuratively) that they forgot she was.
• Switching P.O.V.: Every book but one switches between two narrating characters. This setup also allows for The Reveal in three of the books.

Invisible Emmie

• Art Shift: A subtle one, separate from the overall back and forth chapter shifts, in the last main chapter. When Emmie confesses that Katie is really a girl she made up, she rips up the art of Katie. The next illustration immediately after that is brighter and more vivid than the previously washed out, pale illustrations that have been through all her chapters.
• The Ending Changes Everything: When Brianna asks Emmie who the girl in her sketchbook is, Emmie tells the truth: It's Katie. Katie is a character she created as the popular, confident, friendly girl that Emmie wished she could be. After her confession, Emmie rips up the page with the drawing of Katie; the day's events, good and bad, have made her realize that she can stand up for herself and make other friends. Katie slowly fades away in the background as Emmie is looking out the window—symbolizing Emmie metaphorically letting Katie go. This means that all Emmie's interactions with Katie over the course of the book while in class were also Emmie's creation, making this a Daydream Surprise and explaining how Katie became more invisible and ignored by others as Emmie started to be more confident.
• Extremely Short Timespan: Invisible Emmie takes place over the course of a single school day in December.
• Love Letter Lunacy: At lunch, Emmie and Brianna write playful notes to the boys they're crushing on, Tyler Ross and Anthony Randall. Emmie loses hers on the way from lunch, and Class Clown Joe Lungo picks it up and proceeds to humiliate Emmie by reading it aloud in front of others, including Tyler.
• Nested Story Reveal: All of Katie's chapters are daydreams of what Emmie would do if she was less shy and confident. This is why they become shorter and more downplayed as Emmie gains confidence.

Positively Izzy

• Book Smart: Brianna has been known as "The Brain" ever since kindergarten. This is in contrast with Izzy, who is more artsy and often Brilliant, but Lazy.
• Drama Club: Izzy is part of the drama club. For Brianna, Mrs. D.—her mother—is the new drama teacher at school and has tried to talk Brianna into joining, all to no avail. She's a grown up Izzy, trying to get her daughter to try new things and let them have something they connect over, like Brianna and her dad already do.
• Extremely Short Timespan: Both Izzy and Brianna's stories take place over the course of a single day, during the day of the school talent show. Albeit decades apart.
• Performance Anxiety: Brianna freezes on stage during the start of her and Dev's performance at the talent show, only snapping out of it when a mic feedback startles her. They then perform without issue.
• The Reveal: On the very last page, Izzy is revealed to be the same person as Brianna's mother, Mrs. D.
• Struggling Single Mother: Izzy's mother is a single mom who works various shifts as an ER nurse, with Izzy's father nowhere to be seen. Her oldest daughter does a lot of cooking and all three girls are expected to help with chores around the house. Mr. Davis is implied to be deceased at the end when Brianna is talking about her mother's side of the family, and this is confirmed in Becoming Brianna when Brianna's mother Izzy says her father—Brianna's grandfather—is dead.
• The Un-Reveal: Brianna looks over the order list for the talent show and remarks worriedly that the fifth performer is good. Izzy is said to be performing as number five, but this is actually a Red Herring. Since her talent show—and story—happened in the past.
• We Used to Be Friends: Izzy used to be friends with three other girls in grade school: Hannah, Gabi, and Becca. Hannah went to private school after moving across town. Gabi's father lost his job so they moved away to live with her grandmother. Becca and Izzy started drifting apart in sixth without the other two. She reaches out again during the talent show, and they start to reconnect.

Just Jaime

• Alpha Bitch: Celia, who pushes to have Jamie kicked out of the Girl Posse. Jamie says Celia is able to sway people towards her and her desires through what her mom calls "charisma" (her dad calls it sorcery). She makes backhanded compliments, talks about people behind their backs, and convinces others to do the same. She even tries to humiliate Jamie at the pool after she's been kicked out by undoing her bikini top on the sly.
• Distant Finale: Not super far in the future, but still counts. The epilogue is set months into the summer and close to the start of the new school year. Maya and Jaime have made up as friends, become friends with Emmie and her friends, and have learned that without them Grace has become Celia's new insult target in the new Girl Posse she's formed with Lindsey.
• Easily Forgiven:
  • Jamie is accepted into Emmie’s friend group with relative ease, as both Emmie and Sarah are willing to forgive and forget all the times she gossiped about them behind their backs before getting to know them. They seem to do the same with Maya later on, after Jaime takes the time over the summer for Maya and her to restore their friendship.
  • Downplayed with Brianna, who is initially more reluctant to let things go as she heard much of what Maya and Jaime said about her, Emmie, and other people. However, she ultimately states that she's willing to be friends with Jamie now that she's gotten to know her over the course of the day.
  • Averted with Jamie and Maya. Jamie forgives Maya only slightly after she comes over and tearfully apologizes for all she's done over the past month. She does offer to let Maya earn her trust back over time, and by the epilogue finale they are not only close friends again, but both girls are now part of Emmie's friend group.
• Extremely Short Timespan: Like the previous two books, the main story takes place over one day: the last day of seventh grade and Field Day.
• Girl Posse: Deconstructed and discussed. Jamie has, at the start of the book, been teased constantly by the group for around a month because she's not into the stuff the others like (including makeup, fashion, and boys) and always talking about topics they don't care about such as volleyball and old Vine videos. She's been left out of group hangouts and gets backhanded compliments and jokes about her from the other girls, mostly Alpha Bitch Celia. On the day of the book's setting, she is kicked out of the group by Maya on Celia's orders and pressure. The very same day, Maya receives the same treatment for speaking up against Celia's constant bashing of Jamie (using the same phrase that was used against Jamie, "don't be so sensitive") and leaves the group immediately. Months later, Grace is hinted to be the new Butt-Monkey in their place, picked on by Celia who has formed a new group with Lindsey Donsky. It’s pretty clear that whomever Celia decides is the target of her insults is picked on by her and backed up by the others that follow her.
• Heel Realization: Maya obeys Celia out of a desire to remain part of the popular girls, even doing her dirty work for her and kicking out her best friend Jamie by text. When Celia attempts to humiliate Jamie at the pool by untying her swim suit as revenge for Jaime "knocking" her shirt off during a field day sport (which Jamie didn't do on purpose), Maya finally realizes that Celia is not the friend she should stay loyal to; she leaves and goes to Jamie's house to beg her for forgiveness.
• Inelegant Blubbering:
  • Jamie, shortly after Maya dumps her as a friend and kicks her out of the friend group over text message. She tries not to react but when her French teacher asks her if she's okay, she bursts into a tidal wave of tears. She even describes her hard, snotty crying sarcastically as "attractive."
  • Maya is illustrated as crying in huge tears when she leaves to beg Jamie's forgiveness after Celia starts to target her.
• "Last Day of School" Plot: The story (with the exception of the epilogue) takes place on the last day of seventh grade, Field Day.
• Slippery Swimsuit: Almost happens to Jamie at the pool; Celia swims underwater and tries to untie Jamie's swimsuit top to embarrass her in front of everyone. Maya sees what Celia is doing and calls out to Jamie in warning, who is able to duck away in time.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Celia constantly bullies Jamie on the sly with backhanded compliments, cruel jokes, and planning fun things without inviting her; she gets the others in the group, especially Maya, to back her up. The books starts with Maya dreading what Celia has pressured her to do: kick Jamie out of the Girl Posse and dump her as a friend over text message.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Maya, when she texts Jamie and says she's out of the friend group. Among the "cons" of staying friends, Maya says that Jamie and the others (Maya, Celia, and Grace) don't have enough in common anymore, that Jamie would rather hang out with Anthony, she still likes "little kid" movies and TV, she talks too much, and she's a goody-goody. She ends the text by saying that they "grew up" and Jamie didn't.

Becoming Brianna

• Apology Gift: As an apology for hurting Brianna's feelings about Zoe becoming her friend and worsening her anxiety about the upcoming bat mitzvah that Brianna has been nervous about, Emmie gets an idea to put book-themed decorations for the bat mitzvah after party, knowing it's a theme Brianna would like—and for her good deed to be gathering new books to donate to kids.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Emmie and Brianna's fight. Emmie is right that Zoe was only befriending Brianna to get an invitation to what she thought would be a cool, over the top party. Regardless, Brianna points out that it was still mean of Emmie to unintentionally imply that Brianna can't make friends with cooler people by saying that Zoe wasn't interested in a new friend like Brianna and adding "No offense." It's even worse considering how bad Brianna's anxiety issues are. They do make up after having a long talk and Emmie does realize that while she was right, it was still a terrible way to express the issue.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: This is the only book in the series with a single narrator: Brianna. Instead of two narrators on the same time span, the chapters go back and forth between the day of her bat mitzvah in June and the months of planning beforehand starting eight months ago when Brianna's mother Mrs. D. persuaded her to have the ceremony.
• How We Got Here: The story prologue opens on the day of Brianna's bat mitzvah, with the main chapters being about her planning for it and the secondary chapters being preparation and celebration on the day of.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Zoe and Olivia don't attend the service (which is the important part of the bat mitzvah) and come to the party dressed up in fancy clothes, expecting a big blowout despite Brianna telling them it's being done on a divorced parents' budget. They end up at a table in the corner uncomfortably eating snacks and avoiding everyone, realizing that others noticed they weren't at the ceremony. Feeling bad for them being out of place, Brianna invites them to dance with her friends.
• Performance Anxiety: Brianna still has it from her talent show performance. She throws up before her bat mitzvah when she hears her divorced parents arguing. The rabbi comforts her, saying that he's seen many cases of boys and girls freezing up during their bar/bat mitzvah. Her own mother, Izzy/Mrs. D, froze on the spot for a solid minute.
• That Came Out Wrong: Emmie is correct that Zoe was just fishing for an invitation to what she thought would be a cool bat mitzvah party with rumors of the works and things like giant chocolate fountains and celebrity guests. The problem was the way Emmie phrased it by saying that it was unlikely that Zoe wanted to hang out with someone like Brianna naturally. Brianna gets naturally insulted and gives Emmie a What the Hell, Hero? about the implication.

Truly Tyler

• Apology Gift: Emmie apologizes to Sarah (after pushing her away) with a portrait of Sarah in her favorite artist's style, Freida Kahlo.
• Bathroom Stall of Overheard Insults: Emmie hears two members of the Gossip Girls, Lindsey and Grace, insulting Sarah's clothing. While they're not talking about her directly, Emmie is already worrying that she's a target for being Sarah's friend. Her worries are not lightened when the two girls say as they exit that they were busted by "Tyler's downgrade."
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Emmie, who has been picked on by Joe Lungo endlessly, is yet again picked on by him after a humiliating meme has started circulating through the school. When he asks her if the envelope she's putting away has another note for him to give to Tyler, she assumes that he's the one behind the meme, since he's always picked on her. Furious, Emmie turns to him and says that what she has is a picture of him—as a baby, naked and screaming for attention.
• Freudian Excuse: Tyler thinks that Joe tries to be the Class Clown because it was how he stopped kids from bullying him in elementary school, by deflecting their abuse away from him. He's afraid of being laughed at again.
• Heel–Face Turn: Joe, after Tyler encourages him to talk to Sarah. He apologizes to Emmie for being a jerk and sends her a social media DM to cheer her up, and also finds out who created the awful meme of her and makes them take it down.
• Heel Realization: Joe gets a taste of what he was putting Emmie through since sixth grade when he attempts to tease her again by implying the papers she's putting away are a love note to Tyler. Furious, Emmie says that the pages are a drawing of him as a naked baby screaming for attention. The whole locker corridor laughs at Joe as Emmie storms off, and the event spreads throughout the grade in part because, as Tyler says, Emmie did something really un-Emmie-like. He can't even respond when Anthony says that he didn't deserve that, since he kind of did; all Joe can do is walk away, face burning. Joe later apologizes to Emmie after bumping into her by accident and gets the boys who posted the meme to delete it.
• Not Me This Time: It's absolutely reasonable for Emmie to think that Joe was the one who posted the embarrassing meme about her. Even Anthony tells Joe that his past behavior implicates him. Joe doesn't contest Emmie when she accuses him of doing it, because he's been making jokes at her expense for all of middle school. However, he's innocent. Tyler is the one that tells Emmie Joe didn't do it, and it takes her a moment to realize this. Tyler finds out later that Joe personally hunted down the basketball team members who did post it—Ethan and Malik—and made them delete the meme. He also sent a version of the meme to Emmie saying that the creators were unoriginal and not funny after apologizing for how he treated her.
• Rage Breaking Point: Emmie is hurt when Tyler blows her off for their Saturday meet-up and humiliated by a meme about her when it goes viral. When Joe makes another cutting remark as she's sadly putting away her comic pages in her locker, Emmie finally snaps and says that the paper that he implied is a love note to Tyler is actually art of him in her comic as a naked, screaming baby.
• Show Within a Show: Throughout the book, there are sections shown from Emmie and Tyler's shared comic Up in the Attic that they work on together for art class; the last chapter has an epilogue the two write and draw together.

Remarkably Ruby

• All Elections Are Serious Business: Mia is throwing everything into becoming the eighth grade class president. She is completely wrapped up in her campaign to the point she lies to her mother about her location, is spying on her opponent, neglects her friendships and her boyfriend, and has pushed Ruby, her former friend and younger sister, away because of her awkwardness and Mia's concerns about popularity.
• Comedic Underwear Exposure: Ruby trips over a backpack and her skirt flies up, revealing the Phineas and Ferb underwear she's wearing—to both her and Mia's embarrassment.
• Continuity Nod: Several related to prior boooks.
  • At the end of Truly Tyler, "Baked Bean Girl"—Ruby—is seen getting first place in the poetry division of the Student Showcase Tyler and Emmie participated in. The exact same image is seen in Ruby's first narrated chapter, now without the shameful nickname attached.
  • Both Positively Izzy and this book mention the first act of the talent show: a tiny sixth grader with a not very good flute performance. They also mention the mic feedback that happened at the start of Brianna's performance, and Mia in her chapter ignores nearly all the acts in the talent show until her boyfriend Trevor comes up as #7—except Brianna and Dev's, as the microphone feedback startles everyone present.
• Disowned Sibling: Mia doesn't want to acknowledge Ruby is her sister at all, worried any association with awkward Ruby might damage her popularity and chances at eighth grade president.
• The Ending Changes Everything: After they have made up, Mia asks Ruby over text to watch Phineas and Ferb with her, right then, and the two meet up. In the hallway next to their adjoining rooms. They're downstairs together when Ruby's mom and Mia's dad come in from grocery shopping together, quickly followed by Ruby calling them Mom and Dad—and revealing that she and Mia are sisters. Outtakes at the end of the book show Ruby, Mia, and their parents in aside scenes and interactions, including both parents lecturing them after their school fight.
• Heel Realization: Mia, realizing that she has been so wrapped up in the class president election that she has neglected her relationships with her friends and boyfriend—and has been unkind to and pushing away her former friend and younger sister Ruby ever since Ruby started middle school a year after her, out of fear that Ruby's awkwardness might ruin her popularity.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Reversed. Ruby only refers to Emmie as "Quiet Girl" and Brianna as "Smart Girl," much like they only know her as "Baked Bean Girl."
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Mia's friend Keya privately calls her out over her obsession around being elected class president and how she's been treating others. including Ruby. Mia doesn't take it well.
• Running Gag: Literally. Ruby has, in the background of every book before, been seen dashing to the bathroom in distress while loudly announcing what she last ate that probably upset her stomach. In this book she explains she has IBS brought on by stress and is trying to overcome her Embarrassing Nickname, but she still has moments of stress and upset that send her rushing to the toilet to settle her stomach.
• Shout-Out:
  • A younger Mia and Ruby are seen fighting—and later breaking—an eighties American Girl Doll who is drawn to look like Courtney Moore, down to the curly hair and outfit.
  • Mia and Ruby bonded—and rebond again—over watching Phineas and Ferb.
• We Used to Be Friends: Ruby and Mia. Ruby misses Mia, but Mia no longer wants to be close to her, due to Mia's belief that her popularity and perfectionism will be ruined by her proximity to Ruby. It's especially hard for Ruby and their parents because the two are sisters and their conflicts are more frequent at home than at school.

Surprisingly Sarah

• Bathroom Stall of Angst: Sarah (in both timelines) goes to cry in the girls' bathroom after learning that Ben wants nothing to do with her.
• Continuity Nod: Mentioned are Brianna's (then-upcoming) bat mitzvah from Becoming Brianna, the Student Showcase from Truly Tyler and Remarkably Ruby that Sarah placed well in, and the poetry club she joined that Ruby started in Remarkably Ruby, among others.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: While it does have two viewpoints like previous books, they're split along a "what if?" scenario instead of telling concurrent events from two separate viewpoints.
• Saying Too Much: Leo accidentally blabs to Ben about Sarah's crush on him in his timeline (where Sarah didn't ask), which horrifies Ben as he thinks she's weird and creepy.
• Split Timelines Plot: Rather than the story being two separate views of the same day(s), the story is split along the timelines of whether Sarah asks her crush, Ben, to the upcoming spring dance or not. The timelines converge around the school dance (though events at the dance vary slightly) and come together in the last chapter which is told together by Sarah and Leo.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • Sarah and minor character Kerri Kowalski were friends until middle school, when Kerri became part of the cool kids early on and started to ignore Sarah completely.
  • Leo and Ben are initially still friends, though attending separate middle schools. But Leo is starting to find Ben less and less of his friend as Ben both engrosses himself in video games to the loss of almost any other activity and becomes a jerk towards Sarah.