This book is fabulous!! For me, it seemed to bridge two worlds- my world and the anime girl's world. I personally have nothing against anime- my sister loves it, but I have never gotten into it. However, as a teacher, it's important for me to understand and embrace all kinds of literacy, so I do try to read a wide variety of YA books. This book is about a girl who dresses in black and loves manga and has moved to a new school because of her parents' divorce. She starts playing a... I know I will butcher this, and my friends will laugh at me if they find out... MMO RPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game) and meets a boy online. I've always been curious about these games, and one day when I have time, maybe a broken leg haha, I will definitely see about getting involved.
Anyways. This book catalogues Maddy's struggle with bullies and divorce, and we get to follow along as she develops her power as a girl and stands up for herself. Maddy is a likeable character and very relatable. At times she deals with problems in a healthy way, and other times, not so much. I love it when characters aren't perfect- it is good to see someone make a mistake, deal with it, and move on. I wish that some more drawings were included with the book, to further introduce people like me to the world of manga. I am so excited to read a book that I can recommend to my sister (13!) without worrying about the message it sends to girls or if she can relate to it.
And now I might actually read a graphic novel... any suggestions on what to start with?
Grab this book from your local library and read it! It's short, fun, and relaxing, with a great ending. 5 stars!!
The author, Mari Mancusi, has also written some vampire books- has anyone read those? How are they?
So glad to read you liked it! I really enjoyed it too and felt it did an awesome job of targeting a type of girl that is really common now but isn't written about very much. Thanks for the great review and good luck into your mange adventures.
ReplyDeleteGraphic novels come in all genres. For non-fiction, I recommend Smile, Maus and Persepolis. Thanks for stopping by The Prairie Library!
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