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crookedtreehouse's review
2.0
This series of books for teens written by teens strikes me as a well-intentioned but poorly thought out experiment.
I remember giving a workshop to a bunch of high school students where I gave a prompt about cats, and every single person in the workshop ended up writing about how cats were like this particular boy in their class that either broke up with them or with one of her friends.
It was very therapeutic for them, and I'm glad they were able to express themselves and bond, but Nobody Else should ever have to read those stories or hear them. It's not that they're bad, it's that they were intensely personal, immediate, and Very Teenager. Many teen's stories are so focused on themselves that they don't really belong outside of a classroom or a really supportive writing or performing group.
I don't know who this series is for, apart from whatever adults felt that there should be a series of books about teenage problems written by teenagers. Trying to inspire kids with stories about divorce and cyberbullying requires some sort of maturity away from the events that these teen writers haven't been given the opportunity to achieve.
These books feel too exploity for me to recommend to anyone.
I remember giving a workshop to a bunch of high school students where I gave a prompt about cats, and every single person in the workshop ended up writing about how cats were like this particular boy in their class that either broke up with them or with one of her friends.
It was very therapeutic for them, and I'm glad they were able to express themselves and bond, but Nobody Else should ever have to read those stories or hear them. It's not that they're bad, it's that they were intensely personal, immediate, and Very Teenager. Many teen's stories are so focused on themselves that they don't really belong outside of a classroom or a really supportive writing or performing group.
I don't know who this series is for, apart from whatever adults felt that there should be a series of books about teenage problems written by teenagers. Trying to inspire kids with stories about divorce and cyberbullying requires some sort of maturity away from the events that these teen writers haven't been given the opportunity to achieve.
These books feel too exploity for me to recommend to anyone.
aklibrarychick's review
3.0
This book was written by a child of divorce and is based on her own personal experiences with it. She wrote it while still a teen. While I admire her for having the courage to tell her story, I don't know how well this graphic novel will resonate with most kids. A lot of it seemed just a little too sweet and not very believable, with her solutions a bit simplistic. Oddly enough, the book just didn't ring true.
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