Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Awkward | 2015 | Svetlana Chmakova | Buy |
| 2 | Brave | 2017 | Svetlana Chmakova | Buy |
| 3 | Crush | 2018 | Svetlana Chmakova | Buy |
| 4 | Diary | 2019 | Svetlana Chmakova | Buy |
| 5 | Enemies | 2022 | Svetlana Chmakova | Buy |
| 6 | Time Capsule | 2020 | Svetlana Chmakova | Buy |
| 7 | The Captain’s Log | 2020 | Svetlana Chmakova | Buy |
| 8 | New Girl | 2020 | Svetlana Chmakova | Buy |
The Berrybrook Middle School series takes a character-by-character approach to school life, with each volume centering on a student dealing with something recognizable: the embarrassment of a wrong first impression, the pressure to be brave when everything inside you says to run, the confusing pull of a crush, or the sting of a new friendship turning sour. The school becomes a kind of shared stage, and familiar faces from earlier books pop up in the background as the series develops.
Svetlana Chmakova’s art style does a lot of emotional heavy lifting throughout the series. Expressions are broad enough to be funny but specific enough to feel true, and the panel layouts shift in pace to match the mood of each scene. Quieter, more anxious moments get slow and careful framing, while social explosions spill across the page with energy.
What makes the series work as well as it does is its honesty. These books do not resolve every problem neatly or suggest that fitting in is simply a matter of trying harder. Characters make mistakes, misread each other, and sometimes have to sit with discomfort rather than overcome it. That honesty is what keeps readers returning from one volume to the next.