Author: Mariko Tamaki; Illustrations by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell
LGBTQ+ Representation: Main and supporting characters are lesbians and background characters are queer
Content Waring: Abortion
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Freddy is madly in love with her girlfriend, Laura, but Laura (who is popular, funny, cute, thoughtless, and MEAN) keeps breaking up with her. Freddy's friends can't understand why she keeps going back to Laura Dean, and their on-again, off-again relationship nearly causes Freddy to lose her best friend.
What I think (in 250 words or fewer): Laura Dean is one of those books that I can see non-YA readers (or those who prefer their books to be moralistic in content) scoffing at. Teenage Freddy is besotted with Laura, who is just the WORST. I strongly identify with Rainbow Rowell's blurb on the back of the book:
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| "Good God, I wanted to break up with Laura Dean." |
It's so easy to judge other people's relationships from the outside. I would have judged the heck out of Freddy as a high schooler, before I dated my own (first) "Laura Dean" and let the relationship go on far too long. Breaking up with someone that you love, even if they treat you terribly, takes strength and courage. And many people just don't realize that or know what it feels like to be hopelessly in love with someone toxic.
To Freddy's credit, she knows that Laura does not treat her well, and she asks for advice from an Ann Landers-type and from a psychic. The answers are not easy, and I can say that I was very pleased at the end of the story when Freddy finally gets the guts to confront Laura.
I enjoy the illustrations, the black-and-white-with-a-touch-of-pink makes the book stand out from others I've read. I also like the diversity in the characters; many ethnicities, races, genders, and sexualities are represented. Never once does the book get preachy and turn into an after-school special (although today's teenagers don't understand that reference and I am old).
This book is on the 2020 Rainbow Book List.
My final takeaway (in 75 words or fewer): Graphic novels sometimes get a bad rap. Illustrations do not make a book easier to read; pictures simply require using different parts of your brain when reading. I actually find traditional prose books without pictures easier to read, as I noted in past reviews of graphic novels.
So if you think that graphic novels aren't "real" books and are refusing to read them? Think again. Read this book.
Memorable quotes/passages from the book: With their illustrations:
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| Pg. 7 |
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| Pg. 89 |
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| Pg. 102 |
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| Pg. 106 |
Other reviews: Quill and Quire and AVClub
If you liked this book, you should read Leah on the Offbeat, Girl Mans Up, and Dumplin' and Puddin'.
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| This book is available here: https://library.greensboro-nc.gov/ |
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| Learn more about the Rainbow Book List here: http://www.ala.org/rt/glbtrt |
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