Daddy Daughter Bookworms: Exploring Class Economics and Student Struggles with 'Act' by Kayla Miller

Who says graphic novels can't tackle serious issues? Join us, Alex and Lucy, on Daddy Daughter Bookworms as we delve into Act by Kayla Miller, a captivating graphic novel that raises thought-provoking questions about class economics and their impact on students. Listen in as third-grader Lucy shares her unique and insightful take on the narrative, the characters, and the relatable experiences they navigate.

From discussing the embarrassment of a student over his poor math skills to Olive's struggle with feeling like a third wheel among her friends, this episode takes a deep dive into the smaller conflicts that add depth to the book. We also unravel the unique storytelling approach of graphic novels, and how they often let the images do the talking. So, tune in for a discussion that's as enlightening as it is engaging, and join us on this journey through a powerful tale that's sure to leave a lasting impression.


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Transcript

Lucy: 0:00

You're listening to the Daddy Daughter Bookworms sponsored by Care First Training Group, where we talk about children's books. Hello, bookworms. My name is Lucy.

Alex: 0:15

And I'm Alex, and today we're going to learn about what to do when you want to vote in middle school, isn't that right, lucy?

Lucy: 0:26

Yes.

Alex: 0:27

What's the name of our book that we're reviewing this week? Act, act.

Lucy: 0:32

And who wrote it. The author and illustrator is Kayla Miller.

Alex: 0:36

Why don't you tell us who the publisher is?

Lucy: 0:38

It's published by Houston Mifflin Hardcore in New York, New York.

Alex: 0:44

And what kind of genre is it?

Lucy: 0:47

It's the first of this new series that we're doing a graphic novel.

Alex: 0:51

It is a graphic novel and a little bit different, huh.

Lucy: 0:55

Yes, and we might be doing another graphic novel next week.

Alex: 0:59

Maybe, and why don't you tell the listeners how you found out about the book?

Lucy: 1:04

We went to the Princeton Book Fair and met Kayla Miller. I read one of her other books, Camp.

Alex: 1:10

This is kind of an interesting story, folks. We went up to Kayla Miller and she told us about her books, right, and she said they were a little bit older than Lucy. Age, lucy. What did you tell us when we walked away?

Lucy: 1:24

I read one of her books.

Alex: 1:26

So then we went back and that's when we learned that she had read Camp, and that's why you decided to read the book Act Act, and this is of a series. I think there's like four or five books. What do you think about when you see the front cover? What do you see?

Lucy: 1:44

I see posters and I saw Olive, the main character, voting.

Alex: 1:53

Yeah, there's a whole bunch of different things and folks. This is really kind of cool. It's like a comic book because it's graphic novel. We've got Olive Vote for Olive. And we've got Trent and Sawyer and Belinda Blair and Vote for Tyler, or Don't? I guess that's Olive who is voting, Is that right?

Lucy: 2:16

Yes, and she's the main character.

Alex: 2:18

And she is the main character. Just tell us what you thought about the front cover. Did you think anything about it? Can you look at it?

Lucy: 2:26

Well, at first I thought it was just voting Right and there was just going to be doing a play for voting, I don't know. Okay.

Alex: 2:38

After you look at the front cover, if you open it up, the first thing that's in there first page it says for all troublemakers and problem solvers. And what do you think that tells you about the book?

Lucy: 2:51

I don't think there were any troublemakers, but there were two silly characters named Trent and Sawyer who wanted to be class elected for class representative and their platform was Better Cafeteria Snacks.

Alex: 3:07

All right, and why don't you tell us about the problem solvers in the book?

Lucy: 3:13

Olive was a problem solver. She wanted to run for class representative because she felt strongly that family should not have to pay for class trips and kids should definitely not have to stay back at school if they can't afford the drip.

Alex: 3:28

Really, this is a pretty heavy book in the sense of this is some serious stuff, right.

Lucy: 3:33

Yes.

Alex: 3:33

Was that hard to read? Because this is the second kind of book. That's kind of serious right.

Lucy: 3:40

Yes.

Alex: 3:41

How did it make you feel when you read about that kind of situation?

Lucy: 3:45

I didn't know.

Alex: 3:48

What did you think about when you read that some kids couldn't afford to go to class trips? How did that make you feel?

Lucy: 3:55

I felt a little sad because the people that got left behind they couldn't afford the trip because, well, they didn't have enough money to afford the trip.

Alex: 4:05

Okay, now, when you were looking at the graphic novel, what was different about reading a graphic novel versus a regular book?

Lucy: 4:14

I think it has more pictures on a page.

Alex: 4:18

Do the pictures tell a story without the words?

Lucy: 4:21

Yes.

Alex: 4:22

Do you like that kind of format?

Lucy: 4:25

Yes.

Alex: 4:26

Do you think you want to read more graphic novels?

Lucy: 4:28

Yes, of that series.

Alex: 4:30

Of that series, or maybe some other series, if you find one. Okay, so let's talk about Olive, because Olive was a problem solver, right? Mm-hmm, the students in the book were in sixth grade, correct, correct, and you're in third grade. Do you find any common things between the sixth graders and third graders? You think?

Lucy: 4:51

In the book, two characters have a crush on each other? I don't think so.

Alex: 4:55

Why don't you think so?

Lucy: 4:56

Well, because it doesn't really say in the book.

Alex: 5:00

but I'm assuming- Okay, and why do you think you're assuming?

Lucy: 5:04

Because it doesn't really say but the boy is being nice to the girl, so I'm assuming that they have a crush on each other.

Alex: 5:14

What else do that? What else happens?

Lucy: 5:16

They have a crush on each other. I know this because the boy does nice things for the girl and the girl has roadie cheeks when he's around. Most third graders I know don't have crushes or boyfriends, but I know at least one friend who does.

Alex: 5:32

So some of the things that the sixth graders did or felt that were very different from third graders.

Lucy: 5:41

Well, we don't get to vote, but we do get class reps, but we don't get to choose them. The teacher does.

Alex: 5:49

So if you do some really good things and you're a good student, you might be eligible to be a class representative.

Lucy: 5:56

Nope.

Alex: 5:57

By the teachers. You might get picked by the teacher.

Lucy: 5:59

In our class. So whoever wants to be a class representative, they raise their hand and then the teacher writes the name down, and then she puts it in a bag, and then she picks, it mixes the bags, mixes the bag around and then picks two names.

Alex: 6:20

Did you put your name in a hat?

Lucy: 6:22

Yes, but I didn't get picked.

Alex: 6:24

That's okay, maybe next year.

Lucy: 6:26

Maybe or when one of the people are absent.

Alex: 6:30

Okay, there were some bigger conflicts that spanned it through the whole book or parts of the book. There was also some smaller conflicts too. Can you tell me about any of the smaller conflicts that you read?

Lucy: 6:45

First I want to tell you about more about the big conflict. Olive found a classmate crying. The classmates family had a lot of expenses that month and the girl offered to her parents to skip the field trip to save money. She didn't think it was a big deal, but then there was an essay based on the trip.

Alex: 7:07

So if they didn't go on the trip, they couldn't do the essay, so she couldn't get a good grade on that assignment.

Lucy: 7:14

Well, she could, because she just did something else instead.

Alex: 7:19

But we can't say, because you have to read the book yes, okay. So why don't you tell me about some of the smaller problems that happened?

Lucy: 7:27

Another problem was Olive's teacher made the kids trade papers to grade each other's work. One of the kids didn't like that. The other kids could see that he did so badly in math.

Alex: 7:39

He does really bad. He's not doing so well in math, is he?

Lucy: 7:43

No.

Alex: 7:44

And he doesn't want other people to know.

Lucy: 7:46

Yes.

Alex: 7:47

It's really hard. I bet for him and it's really embarrassing. Yes, but if you're not good at something, how do you get better at it? Practice Exactly, and that's why we're practicing our math and we're practicing our time stables and our pluses and minuses and all that good stuff. This book is illustrated and it's beautifully done. It has a really nice comic strip type of feel to it. Why don't you tell us about the story when there's no dialogue? Can you describe any parts of the book like that?

Lucy: 8:23

There's a part where Olive imagines Hugh and Willow growing up and getting married and she's always feeling left out. She sees them on an ice cream date sharing a shake and Olive is off to the side eating her own, and then Olive is just drinking her Starbucks and Hugh proposes then they're old and Willow says Olive, do you mind taking the bad beanbag chair?

Alex: 8:55

How do you think Olive felt in that scene?

Lucy: 8:58

Well, willow was always asking her to be there, so I think she felt a little bit left out.

Alex: 9:05

Kind of like the third wheel. Huh yeah, have you ever felt like that with your friends sometimes?

Lucy: 9:11

Kind of, but like not really.

Alex: 9:17

It's hard when there's three friends, isn't it? Yeah, it's better when there's two.

Lucy: 9:21

Yes.

Alex: 9:22

Okay, on page 172, one of the candidates is wearing a shirt that says Game Over. What do you think that hints to the reader?

Lucy: 9:35

I didn't notice it at the time, but yes, that must be a hint that the character's name is Tyler and he doesn't win the election. He didn't even want to run. His parents made him.

Alex: 9:50

Well, that's kind of sad right.

Lucy: 9:52

Yes.

Alex: 9:53

Do your parents ever make you do stuff that you don't want to do?

Lucy: 9:56

Sometimes. Yeah, I know you do.

Alex: 10:00

I sometimes do, but you got to take out the garbage. You got to do the silverware right. Yes, I know it stinks, but it's part of life. Well, this book really shows us what it's like to be a sixth grader, but it also probably taught you some things about voting and government and peaceful protests. What are some of the examples that you learned?

Lucy: 10:24

I learned that it is sometimes hard to earn people's votes. Sometimes you have to do hard things even if you don't want to.

Alex: 10:33

You've been learning about voting since you were a baby. Yes well, I do the polls right. I don't know what's that's called I help run the polls for elections, so you've been voting since you were a baby, right? Well, mommy has but you know how to vote.

Lucy: 10:50

Yes.

Alex: 10:51

It's kind of a neat process, right? Yes, so in the book it talked about peaceful protests. What were some of the peaceful protests that they did in the book? Do you remember? Did they ever hold up signs or?

Lucy: 11:03

Oh, yes, I forget what page it was, but yeah, there was do you remember the story? So Olive was like sitting and Like for, and then trying to get people to sit with her. Okay for like, so that you don't have to pay for field trips.

Alex: 11:25

So they had a sit-in.

Lucy: 11:27

Yeah, I don't, I forget with page.

Alex: 11:30

Okay. So she had a sit-in to Protest that people had to pay for the class trips.

Lucy: 11:37

Don't have to pay for the right.

Alex: 11:39

Was there any other examples of that, or that was the only one that you remember?

Lucy: 11:43

That was the only one that I can remember right now.

Alex: 11:46

Okay now. Would you recommend this book?

Lucy: 11:50

I would. I would recommend this book for fourth graders and older. I would highly recommend. I would also highly recommend this to anyone who likes graphic novels. I also highly recommend graphic novel series called besties by the same author folks, this is a.

Alex: 12:06

This is a really good entry-level book for kids. You know, I was looking through it and the pictures are out of this world and it really paints a picture. Yep, is there any more books in the series that you haven't read?

Lucy: 12:20

Yes, clash, and I really want to read that one. That's the last book in this year.

Alex: 12:26

What was the one that you just got?

Lucy: 12:27

I just got click.

Alex: 12:29

So what's the order?

Lucy: 12:31

I read it in the wrong order. I think it's act click Camp clash.

Alex: 12:36

Okay, so that's the order, and I really think that, if you get a chance. Do you think this is a book for just girls or boys and girls? Is it more for girls than boys?

Lucy: 12:51

Yeah, okay, I Think most of my friends will like it if they tried out the series.

Alex: 12:59

Okay.

Lucy: 12:59

I know that one of my friends has read the whole series.

Alex: 13:02

Do you have anything else to say about the book?

Lucy: 13:05

I think it's a really good book. I think you should read the book right first. Of all, and I just think it's a really good book series.

Alex: 13:15

So if you had, if you could rate it from one vote To five votes, and five votes being the best, what would you give it 4.5? Okay, why 4.5?

Lucy: 13:30

It wasn't really the best book that a grab, the best graphic novel that I could have ever read.

Alex: 13:38

What? What could have made it better? Like? What could have put it to that five? I?

Lucy: 13:43

understood it, but it had a Deepful meaning. But I feel like you could have went deeper into that Concept folks.

Alex: 13:54

We might be able to talk to the author, so maybe you can talk to her about that. When we do, what do you say?

Lucy: 13:59

Yes.

Alex: 14:00

Alright, so why don't you tell the listeners how they can get this book?

Lucy: 14:05

They can buy the book at a that the at the local children's bookstore, where they can go to our show notes, where we have a link. You can also help our podcast by giving it a five star review.

Alex: 14:17

And when you go to our podcast, our show notes, we're an Amazon affiliate, so we get a little piece of that. So we just have to say that. So when you do go to that link, you'll be helping the podcast and and that's our affiliate link. Why don't you tell listeners how they can get in touch with us?

Lucy: 14:37

to submit your theories and feedback.

Alex: 14:38

You can email us at daddy daughter bookworms at dremelcom you can also Contact us on Instagram at daddy daughter bookworms, as well as Twitter on DD bookworms.

Lucy: 14:50

And don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel search daddy daughter bookworms.

Alex: 14:54

That was pretty good book. Huh, yes, it's almost Halloween, isn't it?

Lucy: 15:00

yes, and Next week we might be doing a Halloween content and what are you gonna be for Halloween? You need from Wednesday.

Alex: 15:11

Really, do you have your costume?

Lucy: 15:13

Yes.

Alex: 15:14

I know you do, but I just wanted to let the listeners know he got it. I got you the costume right. And what's your favorite part of Halloween? The candy yes, or going trick-or-treating both, and are you gonna go with your friends? Yes. Are you gonna have a Halloween parade this year at school? Yes it's the first one ever, huh.

Lucy: 15:38

Since COVID since COVID.

Alex: 15:40

I'm pretty excited for you, kiddo, you know that, because you get to, you get to experience all that good stuff. So, folks, if you get a chance, check out, act. Thank you so much for listening to the show.

Lucy: 15:53

My name is Alex and I'm Lucy, and see you soon, bookworms.