Friends with Boys, by Faith Erin Hicks
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Friends with Boys, by Faith Erin Hicks
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A coming-of-age tale with a spooky twist!
Maggie McKay hardly knows what to do with herself. After an idyllic childhood of homeschooling with her mother and rough-housing with her older brothers, it's time for Maggie to face the outside world, all on her own. But that means facing high school first. And it also means solving the mystery of the melancholy ghost who has silently followed Maggie throughout her entire life. Maybe it even means making a new friend―one who isn't one of her brothers.
Funny, surprising, and tender, Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks is a pitch perfect YA graphic novel full of spooky supernatural fun.
Friends with Boys, by Faith Erin Hicks - Amazon Sales Rank: #80153 in Books
- Published on: 2015-10-06
- Released on: 2015-10-06
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.43" h x .66" w x 5.98" l, .58 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 224 pages
Friends with Boys, by Faith Erin Hicks Review
“ Easy-to-read slice-of-life action . . . . Maggie is a likable main character . . . and her anxiety about school is well portrayed, while Hicks's black and white art is sharp and comically expressive.” ―Publishers Weekly
“Friends With Boys started as a daily web comic, still available online, but was designed to work as a book and is a pleasurable read in both formats. The art is easy to follow, lively, and engaging, with plenty of effective silent moments. For all the expected family and high school angst, the book is rife with humor. Maggie is a sympathetic and likeable character and carries the story capably . . . . Hicks handles it all with warmth and aplomb.” ―VOYA
“Fun for kids who can appreciate stories about teen angst that do not wallow in depression or self-loathing.” ―Children's Literature
“The black-and-white coloring adds a nice somber tone to resonate emotional power, capturing a textual tone that moves from comedic to serious.” ―ALAN Review
“Various panel sizes are used to full advantage, creating a cinematic effect that moves from long shots to tight close-ups. Night scenes provide good contrast and heighten the dramatic tension. Excellent pacing gives pause for reflective moments and sets up the action scenes. Hicks is a master of wordless panels, using facial expressions, gestures, and character placement to effectively convey emotions that transcend words. Her artistic brilliance is especially evidenced in the character's expressive faces, particularly the eyes. . . . Originally published as a web comic, this excellent high school drama has already developed an online following. Friends with Boys will win new fans for this talented cartoonist.” ―School Library Journal
“Filling monochrome ink-and-wash panels with wonderfully mobile faces, expressively posed bodies, wordless conversations in meaningful glances, funny banter and easy-to-read visual sequences ranging from hilarious to violent, Hicks crafts an upbeat, uncommonly engaging tale rich in humor, suspense and smart, complex characters. Readers will definitely want to have, know or be Maggie's brothers--but she herself proves to be no slouch when it comes to coping with change and taking on challenges.” ―Kirkus Reviews
“Hicks excels at depicting adolescent emotion and the way feelings ricochet off the actions and reactions of others, each teenager suffering a constant and confusing onslaught of hurt and acceptance, infatuation and rejection, loneliness and relief…She also shows flashes of clever humor…But what mostly emerges is a fundamentally sweet and sensitive story, one with a rare, genuine-feeling portrait of loving sibling relations.” ―The New York Times
About the Author FAITH ERIN HICKS is a writer and artist in Halifax, Canada. Her first two graphic novels, Zombies Calling and The War at Ellsmere, were published by SLG Publishing. Most recently, she illustrated First Second's Brain Camp. Hicks has three brothers and was homeschooled until high school. She has never seen a ghost.
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Most helpful customer reviews
17 of 21 people found the following review helpful. Entertaining [3.5 Stars] By T. Adlam When I read the book's inside flap--a story about a homeschooled girl, Maggie McKay, going to public high school for the first time, and as if that wasn't bad enough, she's also (literally) haunted--I was completely intrigued and prepared myself to fall in love. Unfortunately, it didn't happen that way.The artwork reminded me of a classic comic style, but updated and with manga/anime influences, and the black/white/greyscale rendering actually contributed to some of the story's bleaker themes. Each of the characters were drawn with great expression of emotion and the wise arrangement of the panels made them easy to follow, plus it was well-written and well-edited.But as much as I wanted to love this graphic novel, at times I found the main story muddied--it came across as a disjointed telling of too many stories in too short a space--and resulted in some of the themes/characters not being too deeply explored.Basically, Maggie's was a coming of age story which explored themes like adjusting to new situations, socializing, and self-acceptance. On top of that, she had to deal with a number of inner demons--mainly surrounding the estrangement of her mother--which shadowed her literal haunting. However, the literal haunting seemed more like a contrivance to facilitate the story's climax than an integral part of the story.Even with that quibble, I did find the book entertaining. Maggie's story was engrossing and, as a character, she was skillfully crafted. It's unfortunate that I can't say the same of all the remaining characters (at least, not consistently), many of which lacked dimension--again, probably stemming from the trying-to-cram-too-much-in problem I mentioned earlier.The book left various threads untied and questions unanswered (possibly to be answered in future web comics*) and when I turned the final page, although I did enjoy it, I was still a bit disappointed. I should also note that if you're expecting a horror, a supernatural chiller, or even anything remotely creepy, you won't find it in this book.
11 of 14 people found the following review helpful. ordinary life, ordinary story but great artwork By Yoomi I'm torn. I fell in love with Maggie and her brothers. I would have loved friends like Lucy and Alistair in high school. But once I was finished with this graphic novel, my mind was blank. The story felt incomplete. I have too many questions. How did the haunting fit into her life? Why her? And what about the others who could see her but weren't haunted by her? Was it resolved at the end or did she just learn to accept it? Maggie questions her mother's sudden disappearance but the boys and the father just seem to accept it. Considering the father is a cop, it seems odd.If I ignore these nagging questions, it's a great vignette of Maggie's life starting at a public high school after being homeschooled for the first part of her life. The artwork is great and I loved the detail on every page. I just wish there was more to it. I don't expect all questions to be answered in a story (they rarely are in real life, especially in high school) but I felt that these were neglected gaps in the story rather than questions that are left up to the reader to answer.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. A beautiful, subtle coming-of-age story. Highly recommended. By Brad Hawley Brad at FanLit Originally written for the Fantasy Literature review site.Friends with Boys by Faith Erin HicksWhile Image is my favorite major publisher of monthly comic titles, First Second is my favorite publisher with a small output of high quality graphic novels, using the term in a very limited sense to refer to comic books that are complete, unified novels either issued at a single point with no previous monthly issues OR trade collections of monthly issues clearly designed to be complete, sustained narrative stories with thematic coherence (such as Watchmen and Daytripper). Friends with Boys is another excellent First Second graphic novel aimed at YA, and though I certainly recommend this title for a YA audience, I suggest that it will be best appreciated by an adult reader who is willing to read this fast-paced tale very slowly in order to take in fully its visual and thematic subtleties.The story opens as Maggie is about to start ninth grade, her first year of high school. And since she has been homeschooled by her mother, she has never been to a public school and is very nervous the morning of her first day. Her father is a good-natured, long-haired police officer, and Maggie seems close to both him and her three older brothers, all of whom were also homeschooled before starting in public school in the ninth grade. Maggie has two other problems in addition to her stress over starting high school — her mother has left the family after finishing her homeschooling duties for four children, and Maggie blames herself for being too much of a tomboy and never wanting to spend as much time with her mother as she wanted to spend with her father and brothers. Maggie's second problem is that she is haunted by a ghost.I fear that this graphic novel will be too easily passed up for the very reasons that make it such an excellent work of literature. First, the art is just plain beautiful to look at, but its primary function — as it should be — is to tell the story. And since the story acts as a character study of a young girl coming of age, the art focuses on subtle body language and facial expressions. It does such a good job that the novel takes only about an hour to read. Second, the writing is so smooth, there's nothing to slow a reader down. I couldn't stop reading it. I didn't put it down once last night. But now, the next morning as I write this review, I'm ready to read it again in order to appreciate the art on a panel-by-panel basis.The other reason this novel could easily be overlooked is that its greatness comes in subtle moments and in a series of thematically significant anti-climatic moments. For example, Maggie's coming to terms with her mother's departure is not depicted dramatically — it's based on a few quiet scenes, and her ultimate acceptance of the situation is largely internal and thus only hinted at. Her situation with the ghost escalates, but that problem also resolves itself quietly, as it must, given the author's view of life: Our lives change slowly, almost imperceptively, in ways we almost fail to notice ourselves. In other words, Maggie's external situation in the world hardly changes from page one of the novel to the last page. Yet, at the same time, from her perspective, everything has changed because she sees herself and her brothers in a different light.Most of the novel involves Maggie's meeting Lucy, a young girl her age, and Lucy's older brother. They dress a bit punk and are ostracized by the high school in-crowd — the school's volleyball team in this Canadian small town. As Maggie makes friends with them, the story's most realistic aspect is made clear: When we enter a social group for the first time, we don't understand how everyone connects — who likes whom, who used to get along with whom, who is kind, who is popular, and who has specific resentments. And that's Maggie's experience: She tries to figure out how her two new friends fit in at the school and what her brothers think of them and why.Maggie also finds out how her brothers are viewed publicly, what their social roles are, as she tries to establish her own place in this new school. Once again, the author is subtle — we catch Maggie spotting a fleeting look her brother gives her new friends and watch her puzzled look in response to the cryptic facial expression of a brother she thought she knew well. These moments are at the heart of everyday life, and Faith Erin Hicks bases her entire story on those expressions and other subtle aspects of very pedestrian human interaction — and that's the genius of the work.Friends with Boys is a wonderful break from the superhero and crime novels I love — it's enjoyable to read a work that lacks in drama and major events. It makes me see my own life differently, as is often the result of reading the best literature. This novel is a gem that you should buy for your children, particularly if they are in 7th through 10th grade, I would guess. After that, I'm afraid they might not enjoy it again until they are much older. On the surface, it deals with making friends, not judging others, and having crushes. However, no couples even date or kiss in the story; we just see sweet smiles on faces as girls are touched by the kindness of high school boys when they rise above petty behavior. But these typical ethical points are presented as subtly as everything else in the novel, and this subtlety will be appreciated most by adults who give this book the attention it deserves. I really can't recommend this book enough. I can't wait to read more by this author.
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