Kid Konnection: Friends With Boys
Maggie has been home schooled all of her life but she’ll be starting the 9th grade at the local high school. Her three older brothers already go there, but that doesn’t keep her from being nervous, especially since they’re not going out of her way to help her. Maggie manages to make a few friends but she can’t help but notice that one of her friends and one of her brothers have some kind of history and it’s not pleasant.
Besides adjusting to the drama of high school, Maggie is dealing with the fact that her mother has left them and a ghost is haunting her. She thinks she knows what to do to get the ghost to leave her alone and enlists her friends to help her. Things don’t go exactly the way she planned though.
I haven’t read a graphic novel in a while and was intrigued by Fizzy Jill’s review of Friends With Boys, by Faith Erin Hicks, so I decided to check it out. The first thing I noticed was the outstanding illustrations – they’re full of detail and emotion so it’s easy to tell how the characters feel no matter what they say.
I enjoyed the story as well. I like that Maggie isn’t overly dramatic as she tries to navigate her first year of high school. I thought high school students were portrayed pretty accurately as well. The ghost was a little bit of a stretch for me but it’s not a huge part of the story so it wasn’t really a detraction. My only problem with Friends With Boys was it felt incomplete to me – I’m hoping Hicks will remedy that with a sequel.
For more children’s books reviews, go to Booking Mama’s feature, Kid Konnection. If you’d like to participate in Kid Konnection and share a post about anything related to children’s books (picture, middle grade, or young adult) from the past week, leave a comment as well as a link on her site.
You’re right, the illustrations are great, but my daughter and I won’t touch books with ghosts.
I’m not a big fan – yet, anyway – of graphic novels. They always seem to lack something to me. But it’s probably me!
I’ll have to give this one a try — Between you and Jill, I’m sold.
The illustrations are wonderful! Thanks for sharing.
I actually have this book sitting right *here*, just need to finish this latest Patty Callahan Henry book first. I love graphic novels. They are a nice break and distraction for that other side of my brain.
Friends With Boys sounds interesting, those illustrations are really great.
I love illustrations in the graphic novels, but still do not reach for them often.
I still have this book somewhere here and need to read it soon. I’ve been intrigued by Jill’s review too.
This book looks like amazing fun. You are great about reading a wide variety of books!
These illustrations are wonderful. This sounds like an excellent graphic novel.
This sounds like a great story, and I love the illustrations. I’ll have to check this out. Great review, and hope you get the sequel you’re craving!
I read this book years ago and really enjoyed it. I’m glad you did too.
I love graphic novels and this one looks like it’s right up my alley!!!
I’ve liked the few graphic novels I’ve read but they always seem incomplete!