Elementary school-aged boys don’t want to not read. I realize that’s a horrible sentence, but stay with me. Reluctant readers (mainly boys) in third through fifth grade know that they need to read, but don’t because they’re shy, distracted by technology, unable to, or simply read slower than other students. In school that second one doesn’t carry any weight because those ages aren’t going to school with a phone or an ironically named smart watch. The reluctant reader in elementary school has many great options for things that they can read on their schedule. These are the books that they need to bring with them for reading time and is something that they should want to read. Don’t Cause Trouble is a graphic novel like this.

Don’t Cause Trouble walks in the footprints and breathes in the soul of an 11-year-old boy. It knows their fears (bad haircuts and talking to girls), desires (cool shoes, candy, money, pranks, being cool and wrestling) and combines all of those things in a graphic novel that brims with cultural acceptance, peer pressure and odd families. Don’t cringe when you hear the “C” word. Cultural acceptance can be such a loaded term because adults, librarians or parents don’t know if it’s simply a book about a different culture, a book showcasing the demonization of said culture or one showing another group being jerks towards one that’s not like them.

This is a book about a Chinese-American family, with an emphasis on Ming Lee, a 12-year-old kid who’s about to go into middle school. His mother is a Christian, his father is an atheist and they’re raising him in an old-school manner. This concentrates on bowl haircuts, lots of studying and the simple request of staying out of trouble. Much to the chagrin of Ming, his family gets all of their clothing from a thrift store when it’s red tag days.

Ming’s studying pays off as he’s able to bypass ESL and go into an advanced ELA class where he quickly makes a couple of friends. His two new friends have a lot in common with him and they start hanging out, encouraging other’s weak points and acting like typical sixth grade kids. They give him a more stylish haircut that works out surprisingly well. For Halloween they dress up as wrestlers and hatch bad plans that get them all into trouble. The parents get upset, separate them and Ming has to learn the lesson of actions and consequences. Thankfully, this allows everyone to realize what their good at, which leads to a side lesson in entrepreneurship and accepting the pros that you and your family bring to the table.

There are different types of graphic novels for elementary school students. Don’t Cause Trouble is a graphic novel that lets kids know it’s ok if their family is weird; by showing them another family that has a tween who thinks that they’re weird. File under: misery loves company, if you’re looking at this from the perspective of a kid. If you’re an older reader you can file under: suck it up it’s not that bad. Your mom and dad, or whoever takes care of you is most likely doing the best that they can do.

Humor and the very realistic things that Ming goes through in the graphic novel demonstrates to ages eight and up that these things happen. The readers have the same stupid ideas, like selling candy to students during school that you have. This is where clever parents, or uncles, will share with them how to sell the candy in school and not tape them to your jacket liner, get caught and still make a profit. It’s fun to read this book and easy to laugh at because it shows what typical sixth or seventh grade kids are doing and how they’re acting. The graphic novel is realistic, without being pandering, funny, without having fart jokes and honest, without revealing your best friend’s secret crush.

Don’t Cause Trouble is by Arree Chung and is available on Henry Holt and Company, an imprint of MacKids.   

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