The New Girl: First Crush: A Graphic Novel (The New Girl #2)

Cassandra Calin returns with this charming and comical follow-up to The New Girl, her long-form graphic novel debut that became a New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Indie bestseller! This middle-grade graphic novel about crushing and being crushed is the perfect next read for fans of Guts by Raina Telgemeier, Fruitcake by Rex Ogle and Dave Valeza, and Parachute Kids by Betty C. Tang.
Lia is finally feeling settled into her new life. Her friends are amazing, her French is improving, and her periods... ugh, those are still terrible. But Lia's crush, Julien, is noticing her. Lia thinks he likes her, but she can't tell for sure. And while she's obsessing over him, Lia's not noticing another person's growing crush on HER. With so many big feelings and even bigger changes, could things get any worse?

In this sophomore follow-up to the breakout hit The New Girl, Lia's relationships -- with her friends, her crush, her mom, and even herself -- are all tested like never before.

Cassandra Calin is a cartoonist and humorist best known for her semi-autobiographical webcomic series, Cassandra Comics, in which she talks about her life with curly hair, high expectations, and other daily problems. Originally from Romania, Cassandra immigrated to Canada when she was a child and later earned her BA in graphic design from L'Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). The New Girl is her long-form graphic novel debut. Learn more about Cassandra and her comics at cassandracalin.com

A Harvey Award Nominee

A New York Times Bestseller

A USA Today Bestseller

A Publishers Weekly Bestseller

An Indie Bestseller

A Barnes & Noble Best Kids' Book of 2026 (So Far)

"This lively sequel... gently explores being true to oneself while feeling the strong pull of first romantic love. Honesty in friendships is another strong theme... Calin's vibrant, emotive illustrations add humor and depth to the dialogue, and cleverly color-coded speech bubbles indicate different languages. Insightful, quirky, and hopeful." -- Kirkus Reviews

"In this charming graphic novel sequel to The New Girl, Calin's distinct digital art style shines once more with jewel tones, bold lines, and highly emotive expressions to match the personalities of Lia and the ensemble cast. Lia is well-rounded and reads believably as a middle school girl gaining experience and maturity but only through many missteps. The book maintains a sense of realism for readers when not all of these conflicts resolve quite the way Lia wants them to, but there is nonetheless a comforting reassurance in the ways she navigates healing strained friendships following the dramatic turns of the plot. The result is a strong second entry in a valuable series for growing tween girls who enjoy the graphic novel adaptations of Sweet Valley Twins and The Baby-sitters Club." -- The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Praise for The New Girl:

A New York Times Bestseller

A USA Today Bestseller

A Publishers Weekly Bestseller

An Indie Bestseller

A School Library Journal Best Book of 2024

A Doug Wright Award Nominee for Best Kids' Book

★ "An enchanting, adorable, immersive story... Calin masterfully weaves variation throughout the panels to show full experiences with incredible details in scenery, facial expressions, and color that flow easily. The book is engrossing and spectacular, and Calin perfectly portrays the awe, excitement, awkwardness, and confusion of middle school... A must-purchase for any and all tweens and teens who are ravenous for lighthearted, absorbing, and authentic coming-of-age realistic graphic fiction." -- School Library Journal, starred review

★ "Calin crafts an empathetic tale of belonging in this graphic novel debut... Vibrant and accessible visually appealing art infuses a comedic and feel-good vibe that deftly juxtaposes emotional and thought-provoking plot beats surrounding immigration and period education. Softly rendered, cherubic-faced characters with varying skin tones populate this dynamic examination of a girl in transition." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

"The popularity of middle-grade coming-of-age graphic novels is indisputable and The New Girl will be a welcome addition... This will fly off the shelves." -- School Library Journal

"Creative panel work adds depth to the eye-catching visual narrative, which features trendy fashions and uses tropes reminiscent of manga... The middle-school friendship drama rings true, with flawed, endearing chara

Cassandra Calin’s heartfelt and deeply relatable graphic novel, The New Girl, perfectly captures the overwhelming, chaotic, and often hilarious reality of navigating early adolescence while simultaneously dealing with a massive life transition. Drawing heavily from the author’s own childhood experiences, the story centers on Lia, a young, imaginative, and deeply anxious girl whose entire world is upended when her family decides to emigrate from their home country of Romania to start a new life in Montreal, Canada. For Lia, this move is not an exciting adventure; it is a heartbreaking severance from everything she knows and loves. She is forced to leave behind her best friends, her familiar neighborhood, and the comforting predictability of her childhood, only to be thrust into a strange, freezing, and entirely unfamiliar environment where she doesn't even speak the language fluently. Calin beautifully illustrates the profound sense of isolation that comes with immigration, capturing the physical and emotional exhaustion of the journey and the jarring reality of waking up in a place where absolutely nothing feels like home.

Upon arriving in Canada, Lia’s struggles are immediately magnified by the daunting prospect of starting middle school in a foreign country. Middle school is already a notoriously difficult battlefield for any adolescent, but for Lia, it feels like an insurmountable obstacle course. She is hyper-aware of her status as the new girl, a label that makes her feel both entirely invisible and agonizingly scrutinized by her classmates. The language barrier serves as a constant source of anxiety, making simple everyday interactions feel like high-stakes tests. She worries constantly about her accent, her clothes, and her inability to effortlessly understand the cultural nuances of her new peers. To cope with her overwhelming surroundings, Lia retreats into the pages of her sketchbook. Drawing becomes her ultimate safe haven—a place where she can freely express her frustrations, her humorous observations, and her deepest insecurities without the need for translation. Through her expressive art, readers are given a front-row seat to her vibrant inner world, which stands in stark contrast to the quiet, timid exterior she presents at school.

As if the stress of navigating a new culture and a new school were not enough, Lia’s life is further complicated by the arrival of a quintessential middle school milestone: her first crush. The presence of a cute boy in her class introduces an entirely new layer of chaotic energy to her daily routine. Suddenly, her desire to simply blend into the background is at constant war with her desperate urge to be noticed by him. Every minor interaction, from accidental eye contact to a brief exchange of words, is heavily overanalyzed in true adolescent fashion. Her crush becomes a focal point of her anxiety, amplifying her insecurities about her appearance, her famously unruly curly hair, and her perceived awkwardness. She spends hours agonizing over how to act natural around him, which inevitably leads to a series of endearing, cringe-worthy moments that perfectly encapsulate the universal awkwardness of first loves. Calin handles this storyline with immense warmth and humor, reminding readers of just how monumental and terrifying these early romantic feelings can seem when you are already struggling to figure out your own identity.

The narrative reaches its peak crescendo of middle school horror with another massive coming-of-age milestone: the sudden and entirely inconvenient arrival of Lia's first period. In a sequence that is both incredibly stressful and darkly comedic, Lia realizes what is happening while she is at school, completely unprepared and utterly terrified. The sheer panic of trying to manage this biological transition while surrounded by unfamiliar classmates and teachers is palpable. Her lack of fluency in the language makes the prospect of asking for help feel absolutely impossible, leading to frantic, secretive attempts to handle the situation entirely on her own in the school bathroom. This profoundly vulnerable moment serves as the emotional climax of the story, forcing Lia to confront her deepest fears of embarrassment and exposure. It is a messy, uncomfortable, and universally relatable experience that Calin renders with remarkable empathy, stripping away any lingering romanticism about growing up and presenting the awkward reality of puberty in all its glory.

Ultimately, the chaos of her first crush, her period panic, and her ongoing struggles to fit in gradually force Lia to realize that she is much stronger and more resilient than she initially believed. The protective walls she built around herself begin to slowly dismantle as she discovers that she is not as alone as she thought. Through small, tentative moments of connection, she begins to form genuine friendships, realizing that her art can actually serve as a bridge to others rather than just a wall to hide behind. She learns that while she may never be the perfectly polished, effortlessly cool girl she envisions in her head, there is immense value in being her authentic, quirky, and sometimes incredibly clumsy self. The New Girl is a beautifully honest, hilarious, and touching exploration of identity, resilience, and the awkward beauty of growing up, proving that while change is always terrifying, it is also the catalyst for discovering exactly who you are meant to be.