Mock Printz 2026 discussion

There was a three way tie so I chose Laura Dean Keeps Breaking up With Me by Mariko Tamaki. Do you think this is Printz worthy? Why or Why not?

Tamaki is a genius at understanding people, specifically teens. She's won before, I think we should keep this one in the conversation.

For me, this work was underwritten. Not enough time was spent on establishing characters. For instance, I didn't even realize a certain character was MC's best friend until the very last few pages of this graphic novel.

It started off well but the overall message was not nuanced. Don't ditch your friends for a crappy lover-I've read that a million times. This theme wasn't done in a special way and the advice lady told her to ditch Laura Dean and she does the next day-um...
The best friend and her issue kind of came out of nowhere and her other two friends issues also came out of nowhere. I understand that she was too wrapped up in Laura Dean to notice her friend's problems but there was no development of those b-stories.