Opting Out
Written by: Maia Kobabe
Art by: Swati “Lucky” Srikumar
Colors by: Kobabe, Srikumar, Phoebe Kobabe, Kori Handwerker and Mac Maclean
Flatting by: Peter Selmayr, Oliver Borack and Handwerker
Lettering by: Avery Hicks
Cover design by: Carina Taylor and Maddy Price
Publisher: Scholastic Graphix
In the graphic novel Opting Out, Saachi is a seventh grader who find herself grappling with her gender, her shifting relationships with friends and life in general. Sure, middle school is challenging for everyone – but those challenges can seem even more isolating when you don’t fit into the prescribed binary or find yourself ill-suited for the expected cis-het romantic pairings.
Opting Out dramatizes Saachi’s journey over the fall semester as she confronts these realities and begins to explore what it means to be herself. Not only will it be an ideal graphic novel for young people navigating similar situations themselves, but it will also be helpful for those who might want to better empathize with and understand what it means to be faced with such life-changing realizations and evolutions.
Opting Out
Saachi’s journey begins with the conclusion of her sixth-grade year. However, the real narrative catalyst is the coinciding arrival of her period. A difficult transition for anyone, it’s especially hard for Saachi, compelling her to confront her blooming gender dysphoria.
That’s not the only difficulty she’s facing at school, either. As seventh grade begins, her classmates are beginning to pair off romantically, and almost exclusively in heterosexual relationships. This leaves Saachi feeling perplexed about why anyone would choose such a fate… And when her best friend, Lyla, starts showing an interest in boys as well, Saachi’s sense of isolation is further exacerbated. Worse still, Lyla and Saachi’s once-aligned interests begin to diverge.
But it isn’t all downsides. Saachi’s passion for the Forest Guardians series, an animal-themed fantasy series that evokes Redwall by Brian Jacques, continues to burn brightly. And she’s also set a goal for herself: to get a poem published in Writer’s Room, a magazine that pays young writers for the publication of their work.
The Evolution of Saachi
Opting Out is a nice, thick graphic novel, running over 250 pages. This is wonderful, because it gives us a chance to see so many different facets of Saachi’s life: her relationships with herself, her friends and her family; her interests; her life at school. By the end of the story, you really have a sense of who she is, well beyond just her gender or orientation – she feels like a real person.
The length also gives her and her relationships a chance to evolve. We get to see her begin to better understand that her sister is her own person, and a pretty cool person at that. An initially antagonistic relationship with a boy in her class eventually reaches a sort of uneasy understanding. Her friendship with Lyla shifts and changes, and she makes new friends, too.
Another element that Opting Out does especially well is model how a family can support a child who is coming to terms with being gender nonconforming. Both Saachi’s mother and father do this exceptionally well, as does Saachi’s sister. Yet another exceptional sequence shows how a library book on puberty given to Saachi by her mother helps her better understand her situation.
Finally, I appreciate that the story didn’t feel obligated to tie every storyline in a neat bow. While the conclusion feels satisfying, it is obvious that Saachi has not reached the end of her various journeys. However, unlike in the early parts of the book, Saachi now feels confident that there is a path forward. I’m not sure a sequel to Opting Out is obligatory, but I would certainly be interesting in reading it if Kobabe and Srikumar do decide to make one.
Available Beginning May 5th, 2026
In terms of art, Opting Out is fairly straightforward. The majority of the art is cartoony. The characters are easy to distinguish from one another, and their expressions are always clear.
Most of the images depicted are very grounded, showing Saachi and her classmates or family in everyday situations. But occasionally, the Forest Guardians or other fantasy sequences allow for some fantastic visual interjections. The lettering is always crisp and clear, and the colors are solid throughout with a few exceptional pages.
A very well-told graphic novel, Opting Out manages to explore tricky topics in accessible and interesting ways, and it really makes you care about Saachi in particular. While I think anyone would find it enjoyable, some young readers are likely to feel that this is a book written especially for them, and for these readers it may even prove to be life changing.
Truly, what more could you ask for from a middle grade graphic novel?
Opting Out is available now at a local bookstore, comic shop and/or public library near you.
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