Optimistic, empathetic, and nuanced—in short, required reading for young people navigating divorce.
Dealing with divorce isn’t easy, but this work offers some helpful guidance.
Scharff, an experienced psychotherapist, has arranged the book in roughly chronological order, discussing how young people might feel when they first learn their parents are separating and defining the term divorce before covering topics such as new living arrangements and the possibility of their parents dating again. Each brief section includes bright, cartoon-style images of children and adults. Le Large’s visual metaphors—a child literally being ping-ponged between two parents; kids walking a tightrope—help clarify Scharff’s sound explanations, often leavening the topic with humor. The illustrations depict families engaging in conversations, with realistic but compassionate dialogue conveyed through speech bubbles. Laudably, Scharff’s tone is positive and nonjudgmental; though she notes that readers will feel angry or upset, she writes that in the long run, young people may be even happier. She stresses that young people aren’t at fault and that they needn’t take sides in their parents’ conflict. The author acknowledges that every situation is different and that families have various options for moving forward. Images of young people working through their doubts to achieve a stable home life will reassure readers. While kids are the target audience, teens and even parents will find Scharff’s words of wisdom valuable. Characters depicted are diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, and culture, allowing many readers to see themselves in these pages.
Optimistic, empathetic, and nuanced—in short, required reading for young people navigating divorce. (Nonfiction. 8-14)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781684494484
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Neon Squid/Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy.
Through the author’s own childhood diary entries, a seventh grader details her inner life before and after 9/11.
Alyssa’s diary entries start in September 2000, in the first week of her seventh grade year. She’s 11 and dealing with typical preteen concerns—popularity and anxiety about grades—along with other things more particular to her own life. She’s shuffling between Queens and Manhattan to share time between her divorced parents and struggling with thick facial hair and classmates who make her feel like she’s “not a whole person” due to her mixed White and Puerto Rican heritage. Alyssa is endlessly earnest and awkward as she works up the courage to talk to her crush, Alejandro; gushes about her dreams of becoming a shoe designer; and tries to solve her burgeoning unibrow problem. The diaries also have a darker side, as a sense of impending doom builds as the entries approach 9/11, especially because Alyssa’s father works in finance in the World Trade Center. As a number of the diary entries are taken directly from the author’s originals, they effortlessly capture the loud, confusing feelings middle school brings out. The artwork, in its muted but effective periwinkle tones, lends a satisfying layer to the diary’s accessible and delightful format.
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy. (author's note) (Graphic memoir. 8-13)Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-77427-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many.
Young Raina is 9 when she throws up for the first time that she remembers, due to a stomach bug. Even a year later, when she is in fifth grade, she fears getting sick.
Raina begins having regular stomachaches that keep her home from school. She worries about sharing food with her friends and eating certain kinds of foods, afraid of getting sick or food poisoning. Raina’s mother enrolls her in therapy. At first Raina isn’t sure about seeing a therapist, but over time she develops healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her stress and anxiety. Her therapist helps her learn to ground herself and relax, and in turn she teaches her classmates for a school project. Amping up the green, wavy lines to evoke Raina’s nausea, Telgemeier brilliantly produces extremely accurate visual representations of stress and anxiety. Thought bubbles surround Raina in some panels, crowding her with anxious “what if”s, while in others her negative self-talk appears to be literally crushing her. Even as she copes with anxiety disorder and what is eventually diagnosed as mild irritable bowel syndrome, she experiences the typical stresses of school life, going from cheer to panic in the blink of an eye. Raina is white, and her classmates are diverse; one best friend is Korean American.
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many. (Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-545-85251-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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