I'm so glad I pre-ordered this new favourite graphic novel of mine! This is middle grade (my personal favourite age range) and is about four teenage girls who are sick of the shame surrounding menstruation and the specific injustices in their school community, so they decide to do something about it.

Everything about this was wonderful. It's incredibly simplistic, as tends to be the way with middle grade, but I think that worked perfectly for the story. It's a personal one of the experiences these four girls have with their periods, but it still brushes up against the worldwide issue of periods being something seen as shameful that shouldn't be talked about, even if talking would help the person experiencing the period.

Aside from everything to do with menstruation, the individual plots of the girls were also so sweet. Sasha starts dating a boy in her class and Christine deals with having feelings for Abby. Speaking of, the diversity in this was also really nice. Christine never labels herself but is definitely sapphic, I would guess probably a lesbian, and two of the girls are women of colour. There are also discussions on the fact that women aren't the only people who get periods, as well as the fact that some women don't get periods.

Despite being fairly simplistic, this book does touch on some darker things to do with menstruation. There's one really heartbreaking scene between Brit and Sasha where Brit, who gets periods that normally last about two weeks and give her such bad cramps she'll miss school for days at a time, questions whether she can have children. The scene ends up being a sweet one between two friends, but there is the underlying thread throughout the book that periods can be horrible.

The art is also phenomenal. The colours are all different shades of red, something which I think is secretly genius, but every character still looks distinct even with the similar colour schemes. The four main girls are also complete cuties, and I would love to see this adapted as an animated film.

This was exactly what I needed. A group of baby feminists fighting the partiarchy and demanding that the bathrooms in their school stock pads and tampons like they promise. It's fun, light, but not devoid of seriousness, and should honestly be required reading for younger teens. So glad this came on my radar!