Middle School and High School Angst

I wouldn't go back to my pre-teen and teenage years if you paid me.

For my first piece of evidence, I give you

Stuck in the Middle
edited by Ariel Schrag
Viking, 2007
review copy compliments of the publisher
2007 Cybils Graphic Novel nominee

The subtitle is "Seventeen Comics from an UNPLEASANT Age." That pretty much sums it up. Want to remember what middle school was like? Read this book. It's just as bad as you remembered.

Next, we have

Dead High Yearbook
by Ivan Velez
Dutton Books, 2007
review copy compliments of the publisher
2007 Cybils Graphic Novel nominee

Apparently, before this yearbook goes to press, there are eight more stereotypical teens who need to die (or become undead, as it were). The bloody finger prints on the edges of the pages are a nice touch -- heh, heh. (Please tell me they are part of the book design...)

Two more have a light at the end of a tunnel. One for boys

Blindspot
by Kevin C. Pyle
Henry Holt and Co., 2007
review copy from the library
2007 Cybils Graphic Novel nominee

This coming-of-age story reminds me just a little bit of BLACK SWAN GREEN by David Mitchell. The main character makes it out of the woods (literally) in the end.

And for the girls, a story of a "spiky," unstereotypical girl -- a Korean-American martial arts champion who gets sideswiped by hormones and almost loses her way. Almost.


Re-Gifters
by Make Carey, Sonny Liew, Mark Hempel
DC Comics (MINX imprint), 2007
review copy from the library
2007 Cybils Graphic Novel nominee