Pack Your Bags, Maggie Diaz

Maggie Diaz #2

by Nina Moreno, Courtney Lovett (Illustrator)

This humorous and heartfelt middle-grade novel by Nina Moreno with illustrations by Courtney Lovett is perfect for fans of Celia C. Pérez and Terri Libenson. Spring semester is here and Maggie is killing it! Her grades are up, she’s loving outdoor track and field, and being a seventh grader means the awesome spring break trip to St. Augustine is almost here. She can’t wait for her first overnight trip away from her overprotective parents, lovesick sister, and busybody abuela. Nothing will get in the way of Maggie having the best time ever with her two best friends, Zoey and Julian! But all of Maggie’s plans for their unforgettable trip start to fall apart as everyone gets carried away with the upcoming dance instead. Even Julian has a crush―throwing their group dynamic into turmoil when he asks the new girl to be his date. Zoey’s so stressed with school that her straight A streak is in trouble . . . and why can’t Maggie stop thinking about Eerie Eddie? The three best friends have been inseparable for years, but everything is changing as everyone splits into twos, leaving Maggie unsure of where―and with who―she still fits.

Genres: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2, 2023

About the author

Nina Moreno writes books that are somewhere between Southern fiction and a telenovela. A University of Florida graduate, she lives with her family by a swamp outside Orlando where she enjoys listening to carefully curated playlists, hunting through thrift stores, and drinking too much Cuban coffee. She is the author of Don’t Date Rosa Santos (Disney, 2019), Our Way Back to Always (Little Brown YR, 2021), and the Maggie Diaz series (Scholastic, 2022/2023), and has participated in a number of anthologies including Reclaim the Stars, a YA anthology of genre-blending fiction

Reviews

[Gabi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is so cute! Maggie does not do well with change, which is a key part of middle school. I enjoyed seeing her and her friends struggle to navigate their first crushes. This is a great follow up to the first book and I love the illustrations. I can't wait until the finished copy is available and I can see all the finished art!

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pack Your Bags, Maggie Diaz by Nina Moreno is about a young girl who is excited to spend Spring Break with her two best friends. Maggie has been working hard in school and loves running as an extracurricular activity. As a seventh grader, Maggie is able to take her first overnight trip with her school friends, Julian and Zoey. She is looking forward to their first trip together to St. Augustine. Maggie wants to spend time with her friends because she also needs a break from her family. Her parents are overprotective, her sister is lovesick and excited about prom, and her abuela is overly involved in her life. Maggie feels that she has everything worked out and nothing will be able to stop her plans from happening.

Even though Maggie has it all planned out, things start to fall apart. Maggie’s friends are excited about prom and who they are going to take, instead of focusing on the group trip. Julian has a crush on the new girl at school and starts inviting her to hang out with the group. Maggie is thrown by the new addition and feels that the dynamic is thrown off and she might lose her friends to the new girl. Her other friend, Zoey, is stressed about maintaining her straight A streak. She is so stressed that she can’t focus on anything else. Maggie also thinks that Zoey is interested in Julian, as she sees jealousy peeking through from Zoey with the attention Julian shows his new friend.

When Maggie feels like everyone is ensnared by the love bug, she can’t stop thinking about Eerie Eddie, who is a classmate of Maggie’s. She isn’t sure about how she feels about him or why she can’t stop thinking about him. She feels that she, Julian, and Zoey have been three best friends for years and now everything is changing. Will Maggie be able to keep her friends when everyone is interested in being romantically paired off with someone else?

The book was a fun and quick read. Readers are taken on a journey as Maggie tries to navigate her new friendship dynamics and her own growing feelings for a classmate. I enjoyed reading how she tries to understand and process her feelings. Maggie is fond of creating plans and following them. When things do not go exactly to plan, it was exciting seeing her work through different situations.

I like that they included tidbits from their trips and modern cultural references. I didn’t like that the book had a few Spanish phrases that weren’t translated. I felt like it took away from my enjoyment of the story as I would need to stop reading to look up what was said. The book was filled with black and white illustrations that were funny. I think the novel would be perfect for young readers who are trying to navigate friendships and their budding romantic feelings for other people as they come of age.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Spring is in the air. Everything is going great for Maggie - her friends are a team once again, her grades are great, the 7th grade has planned a spring break trip to St. Augustine and Maggie is starting track. But it's Valentine's day and love is in the air. Crushes and Prom are on everyone's mind but Maggie's - well, maybe Maggie likes someone. Then Zoe fails a math test and can't come on the trip, Abuela signs up to be a chaperone and Maggie has to room with Vanessa, a new girl (who she thinks might be Julian's crush!).

I really like Maggie Diaz - her home life is still a bit crazy. Her Abuela has moved out of her room and into the tiny house on their property, but she's still super involved, and I love it. I love that Moreno doesn't translate the Spanish (Abuela rarely speaks English) but easily incorporates context so there's no missed dialogue. Perfect middle school drama - with academic expectations mixed with who likes who. It reads a bit young for my 8th graders, but I'm still buying a copy for my library. Maggie and her family are Cuban. Maggie's sister is LGBTQ she is going to Prom with another girl, Maggie's friends are of various racies and orientations as well.

[Harry Brake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just having the opportunity to interview with Author Nina Moreno, and reading her book Our Way Back to Always, I found her YA novel Pack Your Bags Maggie Diaz, equally exciting to read through. Having just seen the movie IF, I realized that many of the frets and worries that Maggie works through is something to relish. Moreno is able to bring all the fears adults and current Young Adults face and recognize them as actual milestones.

While not feeling that waY at the time, the dependability of these to serve as milestones of friendship, maturing, and learning more about ourselves. The illustrations are amazing and I love how they fit right in and often take the place of actual dialogue, and yet do so without missing a beat.

Despite what many feel as YA being far removed from reality, that is not the case. Nina Moreno's books take you back to remember what it felt like as an adult to work through such dreaded days that seemed surmountable, to making the day to day as realistic as it is for many YA readers. That is what makes so much of her writing so easy to slide into. Loved this so much and how everything, illustrations, plot, and several themes all blend together naturally!

[Mariana Ríos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book! I finished it really quickly! It was a very light and easy read. It made me smile several times as it made me remember my own middle school days. I think this is a story that many teens will be able to relate to, since it addresses conflicts with friends (old and new), dramas with older siblings, first crushes and dealing with the common challenges of middle school. However, this book also highlights the thrills of going on a first overnight trip away from home and the excitement of a first school dance.

I particularly liked the Spanish that was included in the text as it made the interactions more realistic within Maggie's family without making it hard to understand for non Spanish speakers.

As for the illustrations, I really liked them. I think they worked very well with the text and they made the pages more interesting, I was glad that they were included because I was not expecting them and they definitely made my reading more fun.

[Country Mama · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a superb book for younger readers! I loved the pictures/illustrations in this book. And I love the story overall. Maggie is a 7th grader who has always been in the shadow of her sister. And as with all middle school aged children, everything is changing. People are getting crushes on other kids, different activities are keeping Maggie and her friends apart too!
Then there is the track team that Maggie desperately wants to be a part of and also she may have her own crush;0 This book is all about those middle school years and how they went and continue to go for all of us in our youth. There are so many funny points of this book and also there are some wonderful family values in this book as well!
I hope that Nina, the author, continues to write more Maggie Diaz books in the future because I want to see what happens to Maggie, Zoey, Julian, Eddie, and the whole Diaz family too!

[Cherokee - Books With A Chance · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a cute read!

I really liked how the story was an introduction into the changes 7th graders face; final exams, crushes, new friends, etc. The author does a great job of showing how Maggie experiences and ultimately copes with this stress/anxiety she's feeing.

Being as old as I am, there were a few things I had to Google. I am not afraid to admit I had no idea what an e-boy was. I'm sure the target audience appreciates the up to date slang.

The book is pretty inclusive!

We have characters from different cultural backgrounds, blended backgrounds, and sexual orientations. None of it was highlighted as a main feature in the story, but it was nice that it was included, either way.

I loved the illustrations, they meshed with the story very well and made it more interactive! They not only gave us a glimpse into Maggie, but her friends and family as well.

[Steff Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

There seems to be a trend lately with these sort of middlegrade books, presenting the lead character as rather self-centered and inconsiderate to her friends all in the name of not understanding the hormonal changes they all experience differently. And I just have to say, I’m so not a fan of this. It just makes your main character seem like a jerk.

Outside of that, the story wasn’t terrible, though it did drag a bit. Still, I feel like I’d have liked it a lot more if Maggie had been a bit more considerate of everyone around her.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus

Maggie is finally feeling more comfortable in middle school, and is preparing for the upcoming class trip to St. Augustine, but also spend a lot of time thinking about the school dance. I enjoyed the fact that Maggie was in track. There are a lot of illustrations, but not quite enough to make this a notebook novel.
https://msyinglingreads.blogspot.com/...

[Vibha C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about Maggie Diaz, a school trip, and (kinda) lots of middle school drama.

It's a great book! While including details about drama at school it also shows chaos at home as well. It might have a little too much detail and be too specific for some people but definitely is a recommended book!

Definitely recommended (for the second time)

[Hailey Hepperle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Following Maggie on her seventh grade trip warms my heart! Maggie navigates her newly balanced academic and extracurricular schedule, a new student, a strict family, crushes, and her first taste of freedom. Watching Maggie navigate all these new feelings and situations is some inner-child healing for sure!

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maggie just wants to hang out with her two best friends in 7th grade and avoid any drama. All bets are off though when Julian appears to like the new student and Zoey’s grades drop and her parents won’t let her go on the spring break trip. To complicate things even more, could Maggie have a crush on Eddie? This is an hilarious take on middle school friendship with clever and funny illustrations.

[Darian - Books With A Chance · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a cute read! I listened to the audiobook, the reader, Cyrina Fiallo, did a great job narrating the story. I feel middle schoolers, maybe some high schoolers, will relate well to the story with the stress of school and developing crushes.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast cute book about middle school and growing up were friends of both sexes start to have crushes for the other sex which can ruin a friendship and "summer plans"

[Chioma Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess it was a nice follow up to the first book but at times it felt like AI wrote it. Cute read though!

[Dara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately, when I signed up to review this book and from reading the book description and cover, there was no indication that this was a sequel! So, having not read Join The Club, Maggie Diaz, I was not familiar with the characters or the story and I kept thinking to myself that the book felt like a sequel. Well, it is! Luckily, I was definitely brought up to date about Maggie and her family from the way this story was told, referring back to things that had happened in the past.

This book is about Maggie’s excitement for her 7th grade class trip and her hope that she will have bonding time with her two close friends on the trip. However, Julian has a crush on a new girl in the class and Zoey is too concerned about her grades to think about the trip. Plus, Maggie begins to have feelings for another student, Eddie. This is a cute story about the friend issues that begin to happen when crushes are involved and I loved getting a direct look at the characters via the illustrations!