August 6, 2024 by Greenwillow Books
E ARC provided by Edelweiss Plus
Tara Gimmel and her older sister Isla are best friends, so when Tara's middle school advises her and two classmates to skip 8th grade and go right to high school, she consults her about what the change will entail. Isla downplays the differences, but Tara is petrified and has all manner of nightmares about this new experience. She handles the new school better than Jessup, who clings to her for the first few days, but not as well as another girl, who already seems to have older friends with whom she can wear matching outfits! The classes are all low-level horrible, and Tara gets home at the end of the day ready to collapse on her bed and think about worst case scenarios instead of playing imaginative games with her young brother Pete, although she does manage to rouse herself to do this. The worst class is language arts, with an impassioned but misguided Mr. Tims, who seems to lack control of the largely male students who do things like stripping off their shirts in the middle of class. When a group project is assigned, Tara's anxiety level skyrockets until she is paired with Libby, who seems nice. Tara hangs out with Isla and her friends in the park occasionally, but talking to them about the odd, depressing music they prefer over her favorite pop star and the racy television program they all enjoy leave her feeling even more like a baby. She still worries about high school and remembers middle school fondly; the realistic scenes are rendered in greens and blues, and the day dreaming sequences in reds and yellow, making them easy to tell apart. Her daydreaming increasinly focuses on her friendship with Libby, and she is thrilled when she is invited to Libby's house. The two have their differences, but like each other and get along. As her obsession with her friend deepens, Isla, who has a boyfriend she is hiding from their parents, mentions that maybe Tara feels the same way about Libby that Isla feels about her boyfriend. Tara recoils from the idea, even though it is true, but starts to slowly accept this. Her friend Jessup seems to be adjusting to high school better than she is; Isla's male friends think he is cute and want to date him, and he is enjoying being in the band. As the school year progresses and she becomes closer to Libby, will Tara finally feel like she belongs in high school?
Strengths: Hunsinger seems to be a popular author among adult readers, and apparently creates cartoons for The New Yorker. She also seems fairly young, so her high school experience is still fresh in her mind. Tara's feelings about dreading new experiences seems in line with the current cultural zeitgeist, and there are a fair number of graphic novels about girls having crushes on other girls, like Ostow's The Girl From the Sea, Aldridge's The Pale Queen, Gros' Anne: An Adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (Sort Of), Weir and Haynes' Anne of West Philly: A Modern Graphic Retelling of Anne of Green Gables, and Stevenson's Lumberjanes, so there must be an audience.
Weaknesses: There must also be a market for graphic novels about emotional upheaval, but they are not my personal favorite. I did like that the issue of skipping a grade is addressed. Even though my children were placed in some classes ahead of their grade, I was never a huge fan of skipping children ahead, for all of the emotional reasons evidenced by Tara's experience. I let my children choose what they wanted to do and supported their choices, and I spent much of the book wishing that Tara's parents would have listened to her, and that the school would have taken her emotional immaturity into consideration.
What I really think: Young readers who liked Vivat's Frazzled or Libenson's Invisible Emmie will sympathize with Tara's anxiety and enjoy both her reality and her daydreams.
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