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A review by lawbooks600
Squished: A Graphic Novel by Megan Wagner Lloyd
4.0
Representation: Asian main character
Trigger warnings: Disappearance of children, depression, bullying
7/10, this was a massive step up from Allergic made by the same authors but I still had some bones to pick with this book but nonetheless I enjoyed it. Let's start with the positives, so I appreciated the art and colour palette of this novel since it was easy to look at and looked realistic and I liked the main character Avery at times since she just wants some space and she's an artist. Now on to the downsides of this novel and there's a lot of them that really could've been improved on to make it better. Avery had six other siblings in her family including five younger siblings and one older sibling named Theo but they were in the background most of the time and didn't have much characteristics between them and I felt especially bad for Theo since he was in an irritable mood most of the time and it might be some sort of mental illness; I don't really know since the book didn't explore this plot point deeply enough.
Half of the book was essentially filler which could have been cut out during the editing process since it focuses on the other side characters and minor plot points like the fair and Avery's art that weren't really that important to the story yet there still were major plot points the story has yet to go into. Avery Lee was sometimes hard to read at times since she was just so frustrated that her mother was going to move because of her new job and she even hoped that she would fail the job interview which I didn't like and she sometimes shouted at her family when she was frustrated or stressed which was understandable. Towards the second half of the book two younger siblings tried to run back to their old home from Oregon but they didn't go that far and instead took refuge at some character's house whose name I forgot but I'm surprised and shocked that no one even noticed except Avery. I had one last question which how are Avery's parents coping with seven children to look after but that plot point was not explored other than her parents saying that they were part of a big family as well and liked the support network and they tried to replicate that but I couldn't really relate to that. In the end Avery got used to her new home and place and that was the end of the book which was certainly a very mixed bag. If you like middle grade graphic novels or you are a fan of Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter this one is for you.
Trigger warnings: Disappearance of children, depression, bullying
7/10, this was a massive step up from Allergic made by the same authors but I still had some bones to pick with this book but nonetheless I enjoyed it. Let's start with the positives, so I appreciated the art and colour palette of this novel since it was easy to look at and looked realistic and I liked the main character Avery at times since she just wants some space and she's an artist. Now on to the downsides of this novel and there's a lot of them that really could've been improved on to make it better. Avery had six other siblings in her family including five younger siblings and one older sibling named Theo but they were in the background most of the time and didn't have much characteristics between them and I felt especially bad for Theo since he was in an irritable mood most of the time and it might be some sort of mental illness; I don't really know since the book didn't explore this plot point deeply enough.
Half of the book was essentially filler which could have been cut out during the editing process since it focuses on the other side characters and minor plot points like the fair and Avery's art that weren't really that important to the story yet there still were major plot points the story has yet to go into. Avery Lee was sometimes hard to read at times since she was just so frustrated that her mother was going to move because of her new job and she even hoped that she would fail the job interview which I didn't like and she sometimes shouted at her family when she was frustrated or stressed which was understandable. Towards the second half of the book two younger siblings tried to run back to their old home from Oregon but they didn't go that far and instead took refuge at some character's house whose name I forgot but I'm surprised and shocked that no one even noticed except Avery. I had one last question which how are Avery's parents coping with seven children to look after but that plot point was not explored other than her parents saying that they were part of a big family as well and liked the support network and they tried to replicate that but I couldn't really relate to that. In the end Avery got used to her new home and place and that was the end of the book which was certainly a very mixed bag. If you like middle grade graphic novels or you are a fan of Megan Wagner Lloyd and Michelle Mee Nutter this one is for you.