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A review by tishreads
Jo: An Adaptation of Little Women (Sort Of) by Kathleen Gros
4.0
I grew up loving Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. I'm not sure if it was seeing my ideals, ambitions, and faults mirrored in the tenacious authoress Jo or being enamored with the idea of having one sister, let alone three. I read it every few years and it continues to worm its way deeper into my heart.
So when I saw that there was a Graphic Novel retelling coming out for middle-grade I obviously HAD to have it!!! There are some very cute adaptations for modern audiences, such as having Jo blog about her life and their father being stationed oversees with occasional video conferences or emails.
Even the cover alludes to the fact that this is a very loose retelling. There are enough direct references to see the similarities, but this story stands on it's own. The focus is on Jo March, who is starting 8th grade and joins the school newspaper at the request of its editor, a girl named Freddie. While her new neighbor, Teddy, has a crush on her, Jo finds her feelings gravitating towards the school newspaper editor instead.
If you need to know about Beth before reading...
It's a graphic and meant for middle schoolers, so there's obviously not as much detail in here as the original. I would have liked more development on the sisters (or perhaps a spin off book from the perspective of each!?) but Jo's development in this book is good. I'm not going to make judgements on how she "comes out" to her family because I'm cishet and can't say if it is done in a way that's authentic, but her family is accepting and loving from the beginning which will hopefully be encouraging to readers who are going through a similar situation.
The illustrations are excellent and I feel this is going to be a solid addition to all graphic novel collections for this age group.
So when I saw that there was a Graphic Novel retelling coming out for middle-grade I obviously HAD to have it!!! There are some very cute adaptations for modern audiences, such as having Jo blog about her life and their father being stationed oversees with occasional video conferences or emails.
Even the cover alludes to the fact that this is a very loose retelling. There are enough direct references to see the similarities, but this story stands on it's own. The focus is on Jo March, who is starting 8th grade and joins the school newspaper at the request of its editor, a girl named Freddie. While her new neighbor, Teddy, has a crush on her, Jo finds her feelings gravitating towards the school newspaper editor instead.
If you need to know about Beth before reading...
Spoiler
In case you need to know, Beth does NOT die in this one. She is in remission from Leukemia and actually goes to her last appointment and is considered "recovered" at the end of this story.It's a graphic and meant for middle schoolers, so there's obviously not as much detail in here as the original. I would have liked more development on the sisters (or perhaps a spin off book from the perspective of each!?) but Jo's development in this book is good. I'm not going to make judgements on how she "comes out" to her family because I'm cishet and can't say if it is done in a way that's authentic, but her family is accepting and loving from the beginning which will hopefully be encouraging to readers who are going through a similar situation.
The illustrations are excellent and I feel this is going to be a solid addition to all graphic novel collections for this age group.