Tales of a Seventh-Grade Lizard Boy

This graphic novel does something genuinely difficult: it makes the lizard-people-in-suburbia premise feel emotionally real rather than gimmicky, using it as a thoughtful metaphor for the immigrant experience without being heavy-handed about it. The friendship between Tommy and Dung Tran — two kids navigating otherness together — is where the book's heart lives, and Hill earns his laughs without sacrificing the serious undertow. Junior Library Guild selection, Kirkus praise, and the author's own Vietnamese American background all give the storytelling credibility to spare.