By contrast, her first graphic novel, Dramacon, which was published by Tokyopop in 2005, was set in a world Chmakova knew well, comics conventions. “All my characters start with the key points of who they are and then get revealed more and more by what they come up against.”Ĭhmakova grew up in Russia and moved to Canada at age 16, so one of the biggest challenges for her has been to create an American middle school, something she never experienced herself. “Ever since Awkward, I thought Felicity was a really interesting character-she draws a comic about biker elves And she has a successful younger sister in a rival club-and combined with some characters and ideas from Crush and Brave, a book idea with her at the center started gelling in my head,” Chmakova said.

To prove Letty wrong, Felicity enters a contest, but when things go in an unexpected direction, Felicity starts to wonder if her friends are turning against her.įelicity’s character started emerging in the earlier books. A member of the art club, Felicity has big dreams, but her little sister Letty teases her that she never finishes anything she starts. The star of Enemies is Felicity, who was first introduced in Awkward. The Berrybrook books feature a large, diverse cast, with new characters appearing in each book. The series appeals to the same middle-grade readers as Raina Telgemeier’s graphic novels and Shannon Hale and LeUyen Pham’s Real Friends and its sequels. And while she may not have gone to an American middle school, Chmakova finds plenty of material in the more universal aspects of growing up. With Enemies, Chmakova returns to a narrative format.

The second book, Brave (2017), had a first printing of 150,000 and was followed by Crush in 2018 and Diary, a mix of stories and journal pages, in 2019.

The first book in the series, Awkward, was published in 2015 and has sold over 250,000 copies. Like the others, Enemies will mix middle-school drama with plenty of humor. The fifth volume in Chmakova’s Berrybrook Middle School series, published by Yen Press’s JY imprint, continues the pattern of the first four books, Awkward, Brave, Crush, and Diary. Svetlana Chmakova’s middle-grade graphic novel Enemies is slated for next September, and PW has the exclusive cover reveal.

Brave book by svetlana chmakova