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First Crush – Sweet and Realistic Growing-up Book

First Crush

After loving The New Girl and watching my daughter read it at least a dozen times, I hoped First Crush would live up to it. Good news: it did!

Cassandra Calin's second graphic novel about Lia is just as sweet, funny, and relatable as the first one. If anything, I enjoyed this one just as much—perhaps because Lia is now moving into another stage of growing up, and the problems she faces feel so familiar.

First Crush follows Lia as she continues adjusting to life in Canada while navigating friendships, her first crush, her relationship with her parents, and all the physical and emotional changes that come with growing up. The story is officially aimed at middle-grade readers, and I think that is one of its greatest strengths.

It Feels Like Real Teen Life

One of the things I appreciate most about this series is how genuinely young its characters feel.

Sometimes books aimed at children or young teenagers make their characters behave like much older teenagers—giving them enormous freedom, putting them in situations that don't feel appropriate for their age, or making them seem much more experienced than real children usually are.

First Crush doesn't do that.

Lia feels young. Her problems are young people's problems. Her emotions are sometimes enormous because, at that age, everything can feel enormous. A crush can occupy your entire mind. A friendship problem can ruin your day. A small mistake can feel like the end of the world.

And yet, none of it feels exaggerated simply to create drama.

That realism makes Lia incredibly easy to relate to.

First Love Isn't Perfect

As the title suggests, this time Lia is dealing with her first crush. I really liked how Cassandra Calin approaches it.

There is excitement, jealousy, insecurity, confusion, and plenty of overthinking. Lia doesn't suddenly become a relationship expert just because she has a crush. Quite the opposite: she makes mistakes because she is experiencing these feelings for the first time.

That is exactly what makes it work.

The book isn't trying to present first love as some perfect romantic experience. It shows that liking someone can also make you insecure, selfish, confused, or simply unaware of what other people are feeling.

And Lia has to learn from that.

Actions Have Consequences

This might actually be my favourite thing about First Crush.

Lia makes mistakes. Some are understandable, some are less excusable, and some hurt other people, but the story doesn't simply brush them aside.

Unlike Dork Diaries, her choices have consequences — sometimes good ones, sometimes bad ones — and she has to deal with what she has done.

More importantly, she actually learns from her mistakes.

Lia is allowed to be immature because she is young. But the book also expects her to grow.

Growing Up Means Getting Used to Your Body

Just like The New Girl, First Crush doesn't shy away from menstruation and the uncomfortable parts of puberty.

I particularly appreciate how naturally Cassandra Calin treats these subjects. Periods aren't presented as something embarrassing that needs to be hidden, but they aren't magically easy either. Lia continues struggling with painful periods, and when something doesn't seem right, she goes to the doctor.

That normality is important.

Young girls need stories where menstruation and changing bodies are simply part of life. Not a huge dramatic event. Not something shameful. Just something that happens and sometimes needs to be talked about.

And I think the book handles that beautifully.

Friendships Can Be Complicated Too

The romantic side of the story gets a lot of attention, but First Crush is also very much about friendship.

Lia is learning that being a good friend isn't always as easy as she thinks. People have their own feelings, boundaries, secrets, and problems, and sometimes we hurt people without intending to.

Growing up isn't just about becoming more independent. It is also about slowly understanding that other people have their own perspectives and feelings.

I Want More of This Series

What I loved about The New Girl was how authentic it felt, and First Crush keeps that same quality.

It is very much a book about young girls growing up, but it never feels like adults trying too hard to write "teen" characters. Lia is sweet, sometimes annoying, sometimes insecure, sometimes wrong, and always learning.

And that makes her feel like a real person rather than a character created to teach children a lesson.

I also love that Cassandra Calin doesn't underestimate her young readers. She gives them difficult emotions and mistakes without making everything dark or unnecessarily dramatic.

First Crush is warm, funny, honest, and incredibly relatable.

I genuinely wish there were more books in this collection because I would happily hand them to my pre-teen and would sure take a peek myself. 

If you have a daughter around this age, I absolutely recommend giving her The New Girl and First Crush. And honestly, I recommend reading them yourself too. They are the kind of books that make it very easy to remember just how complicated — and sometimes wonderfully simple — growing up can be.

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