Ah, sidekicks. These days, my accepted status as a grumpy Old means I tend to avoid stories with teenage protagonists because what is perfectly reasonable behaviour for an adolescent bugs the crap out of me as a reader. This was realistic and upsetting and sad, but as with the theme of this series in particular, also hopeful. Dan Mora's art continues to slay me. I did love the retro circus save the animals story at the beginning!