I came to this book's page to see if I could get details on the LGBTQ rep for my library's spreadsheet, which I have found in the past for other books while skimming reviews. What I found instead was a bunch of angry people review-bombing a book they hadn't even read.

I don't know what their goal was in doing this (okay, yes I do, but I'm not getting into it because it will just rile me up), but all it did was make me mad and actually make me read the book when I was honestly just doing library cataloging when I first looked it up.

I will be the first to say I know absolutely nothing about Starfire, but I really enjoyed this book! And I think as a standalone graphic novel, that's exactly the point. You shouldn't have to know a character's entire backstory to enjoy a book if it's not part of a series. I don't even know anything about the Titans, but they barely make an appearance. You just have to know they're superheroes, and that's enough to know what's going on. Starfire is a superhero, but her daughter Mandy is a regular human. That's the plot. There's enough conflict there for the story and it's not necessary to stick to DC's canon (as I saw one reviewer complaining about).

I can also guarantee that most of my students (aka the target audience for this book!) have no idea who Starfire is. They are going to care about two things: 1. That it's a graphic novel and 2. That it's gay. That's it. (Seriously, the number of kids who ask me for gay books--especially graphic novels--is the entire reason I created the spreadsheet which led me to this book's GR page in the first place!)

My students couldn't care less about DC canon. They don't care Starfire had a different daughter in another story who isn't Mandy. They don't care that we never find out who Mandy's dad is. They simply Do Not Care. And their opinions are the ones that should matter because, like it says on the back of this book, I Am Not Starfire is a Graphic Novel for Young Adults! Not a graphic novel for grown men who are mad at the world for not catering every piece of media to them personally (oops. I said I wasn't going to get into it but I just got into it a little bit...)

And god forbid this book introduce these characters to a new audience. Instead of gatekeeping characters and complaining about authors ruining them (because they're not exactly the way you want them to be? I'm not sure), why not be excited that Mariko Tamaki and Yoshi Yoshitani are putting their twist on beloved characters and bringing them to a new generation of young readers! I don't know, maybe this is the librarian in me, but I have always loved sharing my interests with people. The more people know about a thing, the more people there are to talk to about it. And I guarantee this book has introduced kids to these characters who may not have ever heard of them otherwise.

I'm starting to ramble here, so I'll wrap it up. This was a fun, cute book, and it does not at ALL deserve the hate that's been thrown at it by whiny adult fans who can't handle when something is not made for them. Is it perfect? No. But it does the job it's meant to: tells the story of a moody teen girl going through a tough time in her life. She feels misunderstood by her mom (haven't we all?), doesn't know what to do with her future, and is dealing with a crush. All kinds of relatable things. With superhero elements thrown in! Fun! Personally, I liked that Mandy was a bit more of a mess than we usually see and that she wasn't particularly nice because let me tell you, I know more than a couple Mandy's in my own life. It's Very Accurate!

Anyway, do what you will with this review, but I beg you to ignore the 1-star review this book has amassed because they are beyond ridiculous. Or maybe do read them, and then you'll be inspired to read the book like I was!