Ellen T. Crenshaw

When a local neighborhood theater is planning a fundraiser and everyone wants Stacey to babysit, she has a lightbulb moment and decides all the members of the Baby-Sitter Club should visit New York City to help with one big babysitting gig. But will all the members of the BSC feel at home once they leave Connecticut?

This was another fun addition to the ongoing graphic novel adaptations of the popular series. As the girls are growing a little older, they are more mature and going on bigger adventures, such as making this exciting trip to NYC. Young readers of the book series will probably find this delightful as a way to live a bit vicariously and maybe even have a little bit of the girls' awe and/or fear of a big city adventure. As always, I feel this series shows overall responsibility on the part of the girls, even when they make mistakes along the way. Their friendship is certainly admirable, as they always learn to make up even if they fight and work to maintain this long-distance friendship.

There are a few oddities as this series continues to be adapted. Some things seem to be stuck in the time period of the original BSC, such as landlines, while other details are updated for a more modern audience, such as a playbill for the musical Hamilton. I'm not sure how much young readers will pick up on that or not, but I almost feel like some things will be foreign to the intended audience because they are outdated now. The stories themselves, however, remain evergreen even if youngsters don't really send postcards to keep up to date anymore when they can all call or, more likely, text their family and friends when apart.… (plus d'informations)

A strong debut. Venable delivers a thoughtful coming-of-age novel about a young woman in the mid-2000s who is uncovering family secrets, negotiating friendships, and figuring out her own sexuality.

The art is gorgeous—Ellen T. Crenshaw's pages are beautiful, hand-inked and expressive as an old-school New Yorker cartoon. In my uninformed opinion, she's every bit as good as seasoned graphic novelists such as Craig Thompson and Jessica Abel. I hope she keeps illustrating graphic novels because I want to read all of them.

Didn't get five stars because I was meh about the end - I was absolutely satisfied with the story, but it felt overlong and I did not think there was enough resolution for Amanda's friendships. The narrative is right to be gentle with Amanda, but she is an ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE FRIEND and I don't think the book fully reckons with the pain she inflicts on herself and others.

Still, on the whole, I really liked it.… (plus d'informations)

Amanda ("Mads") has two best friends: her dad, with whom she loves to watch minor league baseball games, watch TV, and play video games; and her neighbor and Catholic school classmate Cat, who takes advantage of parental inattention to go out to clubs at night. But when Mads overhears a phone call that makes her question her dad, Cat doesn't think it's as big a deal as Cat does, and it's their "boring" friend Laura (whose brother Adam has a crush on Mads; Cat has a crush on him) who helps Mads research her family history: they discover that Mads' grandmother transitioned when Mads' dad was a kid, and left the family; he died only recently. But Mads' dad doesn't know all of the history either, and it's Sam's loving partner Dina who is able to fill in the gaps for Mads. When Mads comes out/is outed, she's surprised by her mom's support, and hurt by everyone else's reaction: her dad avoids her, and friends at school shun her and talk behind her back. Fortunately, Mads finds new friends, and when she transfers to public school, she is welcomed into the GSA. The story is set in 2004; illustrations are in black and white, with fantastically expressive body language. When family history is related, the illustrations frequently contradict the text ("People rarely remember the past the way it happened. Most remember...however it suits their needs").

Quotes

"I just feel like she exists to make ME feel like a worse person." (Cat re: Laura, 111)

"I don't think he's your grandmother's lover...I think he's your grandmother." (Laura to Amanda, 147)

The problem with a best friend who tells great stories was sometimes she didn't know which ones weren't meant for the entire world. (167)

"This is the kinda crap that happens in high school. It' snot forever. The pool of people will get wider and you can be who you want to be." (Jess to Amanda, 169)

"My father is not a forgiving man. Talking to him about it won't change the past, but can make our lives harder in the future. Do you understand?" (Mads' dad, 193)

"You're my daughter, and I love you. I think I've always known. My gut says God is okay with it, too." (Mads' mom, 255)

"People rarely remember the past the way it happened. Most remember...however it suits their needs." (Dina, 278)… (plus d'informations)