C H A O T I C ! 

Don’t try to make sense of this one. There’s not much backstory to go on, and the kids' families are never mentioned, but it is mostly wonderfully dumb. 

The kids trying to find a new skate turf unearths every shenanigan imaginable with a cop chasing them. 

“Garf” and all its variations replace the f-bomb, and it sounds like cringey iCarly-speak, but kids do make up silly words.

the druggy garfield they all hated was so random.

 

Ultimately, this would thrive as a cartoon with its constant zaniness, and it’s fast-paced and quirky. The artwork is FUN and dynamic in the action scenes, too. But it's also over-stimulating. If you liked Regular Show, you will like this. 

 Cute. Nora has a clear character arc and learns to give others/ a new situation a chance.

Nora's family is affluent, so going from the high-class riding barn to a more rustic one is drastic upheaval. Being the new and only Black kid at a new school doesn't help either.

This doesn't delve into what it's like to be a Black "horse girl," so this aspect felt like a major missed opportunity. It's not a common hobby for most girls like her, so it would have been a unique perspective. Like, how did the kids at Nora's old school react to that? How did she get involved with it?

Also, when the parents talked to her about race, it didn't make sense to happen at this point. She's been in the equestrian world which is predominantly white for the longest, and they're just now telling her this???

I wonder why letter writing replaced texting in this book. It's set in modern times, and I understand it helped guide the narrative, but Nora is shown to have a cellphone, so it seemed odd.

Overall, I liked the friendship aspect, and that it didn't fall into Nora always having to defend others without it being reciprocated back. Also, the old friends were decent and sweet. The artwork is precious, and I love Nora's little nose so much. 

While there was little variation in the artwork, I really enjoyed the humor and the characters' story arcs. Virginia had such a bad attitude, but she was entertaining.