Best Friends

Best Friends is the follow-up to Real Friends, a very well-received, well-reviewed graphic memoir about the ups and downs of elementary school friendships. In this book, things get even more complicated when Shannon gets to sixth grade, the final grade of elementary school. Her friendships seem to carry higher stakes, as the oldest girls in school become the most popular and also have the most power to level at outliers and less social children. 

Being in the popular group brings its own pressures, and things get weird when some of her friends start doing things to purposely test Shannon's loyalty and trustworthiness. Also, she does not seem to watch the same TV shows or listen to the same music they do, which makes her feel out of touch and uncool. And on top of everything else, some of the friends start hitting puberty and turning their attentions to boys in complicated, often confusing ways.

Not only is Shannon dealing with a lot of moving parts in terms of school, friends, and gender politics, she also has to deal with her own struggles with anxiety. These manifest in stomachaches, very dark thoughts (about loved ones dying or her house burning down), and OCD tendencies, and they also hinder her confidence. One of her coping mechanisms is to channel her feelings into her creative writing, here a story of Princess Alexandra who finds a magic jewel with mysterious powers. She is quite imaginatively playful in general, an aspect of her personality that the popular girls just don't seem to get.

By the end of the book, and the onset of middle school, she learns more about what works for her and what satisfies her in terms of friendships and future aspirations. Not everything ends in tidy fashion, and I appreciated the attention paid to a realistic portrait of a young person's emotional life. I think that there is much here for younger (and even older) readers to relate to and even find solace in.

This book is another collaboration between author Shannon Hale and artist LeUyen Pham. The back pages of the book feature a lot of information about them and how they collaborate, and they seem like they are having a blast working together. Hale is a prolific children's book and YA author, and she has a few graphic novels under her belt, too, including Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack. Pham has drawn a good number of children's books, including The Bear Who Wasn't There, and has worked with Hale before on a series of The Princess in Black books. Both creators speak about their work on Best Friends in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been positive. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called the book "insightful, introspective, and important." Sam Wildman opined, "I can relate to almost every panel on every page and I know young readers will feel the same." Ayla Jaganjac wrote that it was "amazing."

Best Friends was published by First Second, and they offer a preview and more about it here. The third book in this series, Friends Forever, (about life in 8th grade) is due out in August.

Real Friends

Real Friends is a memoir about the trials and tribulations of friendship in elementary school. The story here follows Shannon from her days in kindergarten to fifth grade. She has a tough time making friends at first but then meets Adrienne and something just clicks. They are inseparable for a while, but as they get older their relationship gets complicated by other friends, boys, and summer vacations. By the time second grade comes along, they start hanging around a girl named Jen. Jen is very popular and talented, and she ends up the leader of a collection of girls called The Group.

 

Much of this book involves Shannon's various adventures and misadventures with The Group. She strives to belong to it, but she also has to endure a lot of hardship and emotional pain from trying to fit in while being tormented by various Group members. On top of the friendship dynamics, we are also privy to Shannon's family life.  A middle child with four siblings, she often feels isolated and starved for attention. Adding to her load, her older sister Wendy has her own troubles and often unleashes her misery in Shannon's direction. In the end, I felt this book was a very relatable and accurate look at childhood friendships. The author also has a bunch of commentary before and after the story, and the whole enterprise resists easy answers and pigeonholing about people, which I found refreshing. Also, I very much enjoyed the emotion and various personalities conveyed through the art. This book is both vibrant and evocative.

This book is a collaboration between author Shannon Hale and artist LeUyen Pham. Hale is a prolific children's book and YA author, and she has a few graphic novels under her belt, too, including Rapunzel's Revenge and Calamity Jack. Pham has drawn a good number of children's books, including The Bear Who Wasn't There, and has worked with Hale before on a series of The Princess in Black books. Both creators speak about their work on this graphic novel in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been glowing. In a starred review for the School Library Journal, Mahnaz Dar summed up, "This tender, perceptive graphic memoir is bound to resonate with most readers, especially fans of Raina Telgemeier and kids struggling with the often turbulent waters of friendships and cliques." Kirkus Reviews called it "A painful and painfully recognizable tale of one girl’s struggle to make and keep 'one good friend.'” In another starred review, Publishers Weekly called it "a wonderfully observed portrait of finding one’s place in your world."

Real Friends was published by First Second and they have a preview and much more about it available here.

A review copy was provided by the publisher.

Calamity Jack

This sequel to Rapunzel's Revenge focuses on her accomplice, the titular Calamity Jack. Just as that book recast classic fairy tale stories into a different, Southwestern flavored mold, this one makes Jack into a young Native American who is prone to chicanery:

Because of the urban setting, a lot of this story has more of a steampunk feel to it, with crazy inventions and imaginative urban structures. Jack and his family live in a city where they own a bakery. One of their clients is named Blunderboar, a large, imposing, and rich figure who lives in a high-rise building:

Eventually, Jack embarks on a bunch of petty thefts and cons, which lead to him getting a goose that lays golden eggs, being ostracized from the community, and his mother being held thrall in Blunderboar's giant clutches. After his adventure with Rapunzel, he returns to make things right. He finds that the city is in horrible disrepair. He cannot rescue his mom easily because the giant has enlisted the aid of fantastical creatures such as

Brownies,

a Jabberwock, and a Bandersnatch.

Also, the city has been overrun by giant ants who wreck buildings and all kinds of institutions but curiously leave Blunderboar's holdings alone.

BRAID: Kills bugs dead.

In the end, Jack and Rapunzel enlist the aid of the impressively named Frederick Sparksmith the Third with his bevy of gadgets and a pack of well dressed and coiffed pixies in their quest for justice and freeing Jack's mother. Jack sees Freddie as a rival for Rapunzel's attention, which adds a dash of intrigue to the proceedings.

Calamity Jack is another collaboration between a bunch of folks named Hale. Shannon and Dean are the married couple who wrote the story. Dean is a computer programmer, and Shannon is a YA author with a number of books under her belt, including the Newbery Honor book, Princess Academy. The art was provided by Nathan (no relation to the other two), who has created a few picture books and two of the best graphic novels about US history I have ever read as part of his Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales series. His art here is still lively, colorful, and full of energy.

Reviews I have read about this book praise it, though not as highly as Rapunzel's Revenge. Ana from The Book Smugglers felt this book worked well as a stand alone volume and "very much enjoyed it." Snow Wildsmith wrote that readers "will thrill at Jack and Rapunzel’s most recent adventures, though librarians should be sure to have volume one ready just in case their readers haven’t seen it. Together the two books are a great start to a terrific series and readers will be eager to see what mishaps befall Jack and Rapunzel in books to come." Nicki from Fyrefly did not enjoy this book as well as its predecessor but still concluded "it's good fun."

A list of honors and reviews from the book is available here from its publisher Bloomsbury.

Rapunzel's Revenge

There is much debate about what a princess should be (one of the most recent examples being about Merida from Pixar's Brave), and the Rapunzel of this book definitely goes beyond the trope of a pretty, young woman who needs to be rescued. The plot begins with a princess who is somewhat at odds with her mother growing up:

As she gets older, she grows bolder and after some misadventure learns that things are not quite what she thought they were:

So she is imprisoned in a tall tree (not a tower) where she is left to dwell on her choices while growing her hair out very long. Through her own machinations, she escapes and has to fend for herself in the forests and assorted other rough country. Fortunately for her, she has learned many useful skills to assist her survival.

She ends up meeting up with a wily character named Jack, who carries around a goose for some reason, and the two become outlaws trying to avoid the authorities while hatching a plan to overthrow the queen's iron grip on the overtaxed populace.

The poster sums up well for me what I like most about this book. It takes many commonly known stories and story elements and combines them into a mixture that is simultaneously fun, funny, and full of adventure and energy. Rapunzel here is a capable and adept figure. Jack is a slippery con man with a possible good streak. They have clever interactions and experience interesting situations and places. This book has many elements, from fairy tale and western elements filtered through high adventure, with beautiful images to wonder at and through, and their combination is satisfying and amusing in the best way.

Rapunzel's Revenge is a collaboration between a bunch of folks named Hale. Shannon and Dean are the married couple who wrote the story. Dean is a computer programmer, and Shannon is a YA author with a number of books under her belt, including the Newbery Honor book, Princess Academy. The art was provided by Nathan (no relation to the other two), who has created a few picture books and two of the best graphic novels about US history I have ever read as part of his Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales series. His art here is lively, colorful, and full of energy that makes the narrative hum. This interview with all of the Hales casts more light on the creation of this book.

The reviews I have seen about this graphic novel have been positive. It received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly. Kirkus Reviews praised Rapunzel, "A dash of typical fairy-tale romance, a strong sense of social justice and a spunky heroine make this a standout choice for younger teens." Jennifer O'Donnell called it "a non-traditional take on the age-old fairy tale...that will likely appeal to tween girls looking for a little adventure." John Hogan concluded that "this Rapunzel is so much more interesting to read about than what the Brothers Grimm offered."

I think this book is geared toward upper elementary or middle school readers. There is some adolescent innuendo (mostly about undergarments) but nothing really offensive or over the top.

Rapunzel's Revenge was published by Bloomsbury. There is a sequel to it called Calamity Jack, which I will review coming up next. Stay tuned!