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Serendipity
Serendipity is the luckiest kid in the world. But what happens when the luckiest kid in the world becomes extraordinarily unlucky, in this debut graphic novel.
Serendipity is your classic overachiever. She's class president, lead in the school play, and star of the basketball team. She’s also incredibly lucky, like, wins everything all the time lucky, even random radio raffles.
Which is how she finds herself with free tickets to the town carnival where an accident curses her with bad luck FOREVER.
And just like that Serendipity’s luck really does seem to run out. Missed shots, fumbled lines, and a slip in the polls. Can it get any worse? Oh yes it can. Permanent bad hair days.
Serendipity becomes convinced the curse is real. She’s definitely not disorganized or spread too thin. Nope, it’s all the curse. And she'll have to find a way to reverse it soon.
Hilariously charming and illustrated in sugar pink hues, this graphic novel is a treat for kids who love middle school dramas and adorable, if impulsive characters. It's a perfect story for overstressed overachievers looking for a warm reminder that stepping back doesn’t mean stepping down. In fact, sharing the spotlight with good friends is perhaps the luckiest thing of all.
Serendipity is your classic overachiever. She's class president, lead in the school play, and star of the basketball team. She’s also incredibly lucky, like, wins everything all the time lucky, even random radio raffles.
Which is how she finds herself with free tickets to the town carnival where an accident curses her with bad luck FOREVER.
And just like that Serendipity’s luck really does seem to run out. Missed shots, fumbled lines, and a slip in the polls. Can it get any worse? Oh yes it can. Permanent bad hair days.
Serendipity becomes convinced the curse is real. She’s definitely not disorganized or spread too thin. Nope, it’s all the curse. And she'll have to find a way to reverse it soon.
Hilariously charming and illustrated in sugar pink hues, this graphic novel is a treat for kids who love middle school dramas and adorable, if impulsive characters. It's a perfect story for overstressed overachievers looking for a warm reminder that stepping back doesn’t mean stepping down. In fact, sharing the spotlight with good friends is perhaps the luckiest thing of all.
224 pages, Hardcover
Published February 10, 2026
2 people are currently reading
3753 people want to read
About the author
Gabbie Benda
2 books10 followersGabbie earned a degree in Communication Arts from VCUarts in 2020, with a focus on children’s illustration and comics. She loves to bring funny, upbeat stories to life with her quirky yet approachable illustrations. After over a decade as a camp counselor and art teacher, Gabbie is well versed in the art of making kids of all ages smile.
Gabbie is currently working on her debut middle grade graphic novel SERENDIPITY, to be published by Holiday House in spring 2026.
Gabbie is currently working on her debut middle grade graphic novel SERENDIPITY, to be published by Holiday House in spring 2026.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 12, 2025
Gabbie Benda’s Serendipity is the definitely one of those graphic novels featuring characters I personally think we should be seeing more of. Adolescence and figuring out the ups and downs of learning who you are, how to be kind, and how to navigate the difficulties of life are always important topics for kids to see themselves in within the pages of a story. And Serendipity is one that manages to capture so many of these essential truths.
Following a main character who, via exceptional luck, has always experienced success and, for lack of a better phrase, has always found life in general just exceptionally easy, Serendipity opens readers up to the emotions of the moment all of that success and ease suddenly seems to evaporate. As one of those sort of children, myself, I can’t help feeling that a book like this is immeasurably impactful. Children, growing up—especially those who do not experience it often—all need an opportunity to both experience failure and understand that the world and their lives will be okay when it occurs. All children need to have the moment in which they are able to step back and celebrate the successes of their peers.
You’d be forgiven if, upon first read, you kind of feel rather meh about the main character. This is a journey in humility, after all, the sort of story where the main character has to learn to reckon with the truth that she won’t always succeed at everything at every time as well as the fact that we all need to cheer on the successes of our friends as well, even when those successes are juxtaposed with our failures.
This, after all, is the story of growing up and learning to think of the world outside of yourself.
Given that this is a growing experience that everyone, at some point, must go through—or at lest, we all should go through it—I find Benda’s graphic novel to be the sort that just about every young kid should read as they get into middle school. Do I find it to be the most entertaining of reads? Nah. But it’s definitely an important one.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Following a main character who, via exceptional luck, has always experienced success and, for lack of a better phrase, has always found life in general just exceptionally easy, Serendipity opens readers up to the emotions of the moment all of that success and ease suddenly seems to evaporate. As one of those sort of children, myself, I can’t help feeling that a book like this is immeasurably impactful. Children, growing up—especially those who do not experience it often—all need an opportunity to both experience failure and understand that the world and their lives will be okay when it occurs. All children need to have the moment in which they are able to step back and celebrate the successes of their peers.
You’d be forgiven if, upon first read, you kind of feel rather meh about the main character. This is a journey in humility, after all, the sort of story where the main character has to learn to reckon with the truth that she won’t always succeed at everything at every time as well as the fact that we all need to cheer on the successes of our friends as well, even when those successes are juxtaposed with our failures.
This, after all, is the story of growing up and learning to think of the world outside of yourself.
Given that this is a growing experience that everyone, at some point, must go through—or at lest, we all should go through it—I find Benda’s graphic novel to be the sort that just about every young kid should read as they get into middle school. Do I find it to be the most entertaining of reads? Nah. But it’s definitely an important one.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
February 11, 2026
2/10/2026 Hahaha, I feel so attacked rn. Full review tk at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.
2/11/2026 Hahahahaha, I'm in this book and I don't know if I like it.
Look, I know I do too much. The fact that I'm taking so long to recover from the flu rn has given me plenty of time to reflect on what I usually spend my days doing (a lot, tho it honestly doesn't feel like it to me when I'm healthy and going full tilt.) In many ways, I currently feel very much like the title character of this book, as her usual good luck falters and she has to figure out how to cope with her overscheduled life.
Serendipity is a middle school star. She's class president, captain of the basketball team, and has the leading role in the school play. Her grades are effortless, and she's the kind of person who routinely wins radio station phone-in contests. She's undoubtedly lucky.
When she has an adverse run-in with a fortune-telling machine at the carnival one evening, she tries not to think too much of it. But she wakes up the next morning with the very first bad hair day of her life. She gets a B+ on a test instead of her usual A. Her lines just aren't coming to her as Lady MacBecky, her rival for student body reelection is making significant gains, and she hurts herself during basketball practice.
Her best friend Basil suggests that maybe she take a step back and reevaluate her bursting at the seams schedule. As all overachievers do, Serendipity immediately panics and doubles down on her efforts instead. Maybe she just needs a little shot of witchcraft to help fix her luck? What lengths will Serendipity go to in order to get her life back on track?
As an overachiever from way back, I could very much relate to everything Serendipity goes through here. We have these incessant voices in our heads telling us, "If I just try harder, I'll be able to do more!" and other less positive things that tie our self-worth to our output. That, of course, is the kind of thinking that leads to breakdowns and crash outs even worse than Serendipity has to experience in order to figure out that her schedule is unsustainable, and that she's pushing away her friends in the process of trying to keep up.
I'm so glad Gabbie Benda wrote this book, because productivity culture is a blight. Yes, it's good to do fulfilling work and to have ambitions, but you don't have to be the best or most productive at everything. I especially appreciated how Ms Benda points out that when we live in community, it's okay to let others step up and take over when you're wavering and they're willing: everyone wins when that happens.
The art here is also lovely, mostly in bright pastels and showcasing a diversity of characters. This is a terrific book for all those people, of any age, who do too much but don't see it. The world won't fall apart if you slow down, and the people who matter won't love you less.
Serendipity by Gabbie Benda was published yesterday February 10 2026 by Holiday House and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
2/11/2026 Hahahahaha, I'm in this book and I don't know if I like it.
Look, I know I do too much. The fact that I'm taking so long to recover from the flu rn has given me plenty of time to reflect on what I usually spend my days doing (a lot, tho it honestly doesn't feel like it to me when I'm healthy and going full tilt.) In many ways, I currently feel very much like the title character of this book, as her usual good luck falters and she has to figure out how to cope with her overscheduled life.
Serendipity is a middle school star. She's class president, captain of the basketball team, and has the leading role in the school play. Her grades are effortless, and she's the kind of person who routinely wins radio station phone-in contests. She's undoubtedly lucky.
When she has an adverse run-in with a fortune-telling machine at the carnival one evening, she tries not to think too much of it. But she wakes up the next morning with the very first bad hair day of her life. She gets a B+ on a test instead of her usual A. Her lines just aren't coming to her as Lady MacBecky, her rival for student body reelection is making significant gains, and she hurts herself during basketball practice.
Her best friend Basil suggests that maybe she take a step back and reevaluate her bursting at the seams schedule. As all overachievers do, Serendipity immediately panics and doubles down on her efforts instead. Maybe she just needs a little shot of witchcraft to help fix her luck? What lengths will Serendipity go to in order to get her life back on track?
As an overachiever from way back, I could very much relate to everything Serendipity goes through here. We have these incessant voices in our heads telling us, "If I just try harder, I'll be able to do more!" and other less positive things that tie our self-worth to our output. That, of course, is the kind of thinking that leads to breakdowns and crash outs even worse than Serendipity has to experience in order to figure out that her schedule is unsustainable, and that she's pushing away her friends in the process of trying to keep up.
I'm so glad Gabbie Benda wrote this book, because productivity culture is a blight. Yes, it's good to do fulfilling work and to have ambitions, but you don't have to be the best or most productive at everything. I especially appreciated how Ms Benda points out that when we live in community, it's okay to let others step up and take over when you're wavering and they're willing: everyone wins when that happens.
The art here is also lovely, mostly in bright pastels and showcasing a diversity of characters. This is a terrific book for all those people, of any age, who do too much but don't see it. The world won't fall apart if you slow down, and the people who matter won't love you less.
Serendipity by Gabbie Benda was published yesterday February 10 2026 by Holiday House and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!
October 26, 2025
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Serendipity is very lucky, and very active in her school. She's the captain of the girls' basketball team, President of her class, and the lead in the school play. When she wins a radio contest (yet again!), she takes her best friend Basil to the carnival with her. There, she wins a giant stuffed narwhal, but it proves her undoing when the toy crashes into a fortune telling machine, and is cursed by it after it is knocked over. Things start going wrong everywhere, starting with a bad hair day. Panicked, Serendipity tries to undo the curse by visiting another student, Evelina, who runs a business out of the janitor's closet, but the counter spell doesn't seem to work. Basil opines that maybe Serendipity is just too busy, and if she slowed down, she would be able to concentrate and wouldn't have as many problems, but Serendipity believes in the curse. She can't remember her lines, blows plays, and is challenged for class officer by someone who promises classmates free cookies every day. After assessing other things in her life that might be contributing to her bad luck, Serendipity tries to get rid of her black cat, Tuna, but ends up breaking a mirror! Eventually, she goes back to the fortune teller, and realizes that the curse isn't real. She starts to improve her life, nominates her vice president for president, and scales back her activities so she can do a better job.
Strengths: It's always fun to read about tweens who are involved in activities, and it's not uncommon for actual tweens to get overwhelmed from time to time. Serendipity has a hard time on the basketball court playing like a good team mate and not hogging the ball, she wants to have a big role in the play but slows down production by not knowing her lines, and is conflicted about holding office. She does have a good friend in Basil, who tries to help her balance her life, and has other people involved in her activities who also try to help her. Interestingly, there is very little about Serendipity's home life; we see her cat, but I'm not sure we saw parents. Readers who like graphic novels will find the artwork appealing.
Weaknesses: I'm still not sure whether Serendipity was really cursed, or whether she just thought she was. It's kind of like the situation in Pastis' Timmy Failure; is the polar bear real or imaginary? Young Readers won't think too hard about this.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who can't get enough of graphic problem novels like Scrivener's Nat Enough or Vivat's Frazzled.
Serendipity is very lucky, and very active in her school. She's the captain of the girls' basketball team, President of her class, and the lead in the school play. When she wins a radio contest (yet again!), she takes her best friend Basil to the carnival with her. There, she wins a giant stuffed narwhal, but it proves her undoing when the toy crashes into a fortune telling machine, and is cursed by it after it is knocked over. Things start going wrong everywhere, starting with a bad hair day. Panicked, Serendipity tries to undo the curse by visiting another student, Evelina, who runs a business out of the janitor's closet, but the counter spell doesn't seem to work. Basil opines that maybe Serendipity is just too busy, and if she slowed down, she would be able to concentrate and wouldn't have as many problems, but Serendipity believes in the curse. She can't remember her lines, blows plays, and is challenged for class officer by someone who promises classmates free cookies every day. After assessing other things in her life that might be contributing to her bad luck, Serendipity tries to get rid of her black cat, Tuna, but ends up breaking a mirror! Eventually, she goes back to the fortune teller, and realizes that the curse isn't real. She starts to improve her life, nominates her vice president for president, and scales back her activities so she can do a better job.
Strengths: It's always fun to read about tweens who are involved in activities, and it's not uncommon for actual tweens to get overwhelmed from time to time. Serendipity has a hard time on the basketball court playing like a good team mate and not hogging the ball, she wants to have a big role in the play but slows down production by not knowing her lines, and is conflicted about holding office. She does have a good friend in Basil, who tries to help her balance her life, and has other people involved in her activities who also try to help her. Interestingly, there is very little about Serendipity's home life; we see her cat, but I'm not sure we saw parents. Readers who like graphic novels will find the artwork appealing.
Weaknesses: I'm still not sure whether Serendipity was really cursed, or whether she just thought she was. It's kind of like the situation in Pastis' Timmy Failure; is the polar bear real or imaginary? Young Readers won't think too hard about this.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who can't get enough of graphic problem novels like Scrivener's Nat Enough or Vivat's Frazzled.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Serendipity/Dippy does it all-class president, basketball star, lead in the school play and best friends with next door neighbor Basil. But classes are getting harder, her activities are overlapping and she just isn’t having as much time to spend hanging with her friends. Then her usual good luck lands her a couple of tickets to a carnival where a mechanical fortune teller warns her that her luck is about to run out and sure enough, everything starts to unravel-she can’t learn her lines in the play, she gets only a B+ on an assignment, her shots aren’t dropping in the net and she has no clue what she’s going to say during her re-election speech. How is she going to turn her bad luck into good?
Gabbie Benda’s main character’s struggle is depicted realistically and will be highly relatable to many middle school readers who sometimes feel like they can’t juggle all the things they have on their schedules. The good luck/bad luck aspect provides some humorous relief as Dippy finally realizes she needs to step back a little and rather than trying to be “top dog” at everything, allow others to assume a few leader positions and find a way to develop a more manageable list of to-do’s. Love her friendship with Basil and the example of apologizing when mistakes are made and working to set the relationship right again. Plenty of lessons mixed in with a fun, well-illustrated graphic format so none of them come across preachy or given in a heavy-handed way.
Great choice for libraries serving grades 3-6.
Target audience: grades 3-6
Profanity: none
Violence: a little accidental damage done to the mechanical fortune teller
Sexual content: none
Representation: main characters and classmates have a variety of skin tones, body shapes and hair styles; Chel wears a burka; play director Jules is referred to twice using they/them pronouns
Gabbie Benda’s main character’s struggle is depicted realistically and will be highly relatable to many middle school readers who sometimes feel like they can’t juggle all the things they have on their schedules. The good luck/bad luck aspect provides some humorous relief as Dippy finally realizes she needs to step back a little and rather than trying to be “top dog” at everything, allow others to assume a few leader positions and find a way to develop a more manageable list of to-do’s. Love her friendship with Basil and the example of apologizing when mistakes are made and working to set the relationship right again. Plenty of lessons mixed in with a fun, well-illustrated graphic format so none of them come across preachy or given in a heavy-handed way.
Great choice for libraries serving grades 3-6.
Target audience: grades 3-6
Profanity: none
Violence: a little accidental damage done to the mechanical fortune teller
Sexual content: none
Representation: main characters and classmates have a variety of skin tones, body shapes and hair styles; Chel wears a burka; play director Jules is referred to twice using they/them pronouns
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
I feel personally attacked by this pink book, and I’m not even mad about it!💖🫠
I absolutely devoured Serendipity by Gabbie Benda, and honestly, it felt like being personally attacked in the best, pinkest, most hilarious way. Serendipity is the kind of kid who wins everything: class president, star athlete, theater lead, and even random radio raffles. So when a carnival mishap flips her world from nonstop wins to cursed-with-bad-luck-forever hello missed shots, forgotten lines, and truly tragic hair days, I was instantly hooked.
Watching Serendipity spiral, blaming a curse, and desperately try to fix everything was both laugh-out-loud funny and painfully relatable. As someone who has definitely tried to do too much and then wondered why everything started falling apart, this story hit home. Beneath the sugar-pink illustrations and middle school drama is a really sweet reminder: slowing down isn’t failing, and sharing the spotlight doesn’t make you less special; it might actually be the luckiest move of all.
This graphic novel is charming, chaotic, and perfect for overachievers of any age who need a gentle nudge to breathe, laugh, and lean on their people.
✨️Thank you, Holiday House and Gabbie Benda, for sharing Serendipity with me!
I absolutely devoured Serendipity by Gabbie Benda, and honestly, it felt like being personally attacked in the best, pinkest, most hilarious way. Serendipity is the kind of kid who wins everything: class president, star athlete, theater lead, and even random radio raffles. So when a carnival mishap flips her world from nonstop wins to cursed-with-bad-luck-forever hello missed shots, forgotten lines, and truly tragic hair days, I was instantly hooked.
Watching Serendipity spiral, blaming a curse, and desperately try to fix everything was both laugh-out-loud funny and painfully relatable. As someone who has definitely tried to do too much and then wondered why everything started falling apart, this story hit home. Beneath the sugar-pink illustrations and middle school drama is a really sweet reminder: slowing down isn’t failing, and sharing the spotlight doesn’t make you less special; it might actually be the luckiest move of all.
This graphic novel is charming, chaotic, and perfect for overachievers of any age who need a gentle nudge to breathe, laugh, and lean on their people.
✨️Thank you, Holiday House and Gabbie Benda, for sharing Serendipity with me!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
In addition to being a graphic novel, which is a very popular format for today's middle grade readers, this book will be very relatable to many kids.
Serendipity is practically perfect in every way - she gets excellent grades, she is athletic, involved in student government, and everyone's friend. As she adds more and more things to her schedule, she is finding she is doing none of them well, and even worse, neglecting her friendships because of lack of time.
This book reflects a troubling trend of children being pushed into today's "hustle culture" society to the point of no longer being able to be kids who have time to simply have time. Hopefully this is a book that will be read by kids and adults alike.
Serendipity is practically perfect in every way - she gets excellent grades, she is athletic, involved in student government, and everyone's friend. As she adds more and more things to her schedule, she is finding she is doing none of them well, and even worse, neglecting her friendships because of lack of time.
This book reflects a troubling trend of children being pushed into today's "hustle culture" society to the point of no longer being able to be kids who have time to simply have time. Hopefully this is a book that will be read by kids and adults alike.
October 30, 2025
A girl who seems to have all the luck in the world—and to whom everything comes easily—suddenly finds herself facing the worst few days of her life. But through those challenges, she learns some important lessons and makes things right with her best friend.
This story does a great job of showing that even when things don’t go your way, you can still grow and become a better person. The lessons are meaningful, and the art is bright, colorful, and full of energy, making it a joy to read and look at.
This story does a great job of showing that even when things don’t go your way, you can still grow and become a better person. The lessons are meaningful, and the art is bright, colorful, and full of energy, making it a joy to read and look at.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This is a cute realistic middle grade graphic novel. A little reminiscent for me of Very Bad at Math from Hope Larson last year. Dippy is a seemingly blessed girl whose luck changes after an encounter with a carnival fortune telling machine. There are good lessons here for middle grade readers about finding balance. I liked the touch of magic and I liked that these kids were seemingly solving problems for themselves. But the lack of parents was confusing, like why were Basil and Dippy climbing through windows?
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy.
February 16, 2026
Thank you for giving us a copy of this book. My daughter absolutely loved it! I was initially impressed with the printing, this book is absolutely beautiful.
My daughter's review:
I loved 😍 how Serendipity was always in a rush and how cute 😍 her cat was. I also love ❤️ how colorful her outfit was so cute. The book 📖 😍 was amazing 👏 🤩 Bravo 👏
My daughter's review:
I loved 😍 how Serendipity was always in a rush and how cute 😍 her cat was. I also love ❤️ how colorful her outfit was so cute. The book 📖 😍 was amazing 👏 🤩 Bravo 👏
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
3.75⭐️
February 12, 2026
Cute story of a girl trying to juggle too many things. Her lucky streak runs out and things go from awesome to terrible overnight. I think middle school girls will really enjoy this graphic novel.
February 18, 2026
A fun book if a bit shallow in dealing with the ideas of overscheduling, self-identity and value.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews