I have a higher tolerance for--dare I say affection for--Wolverine's over-the-top manpain than almost anyone I know but I still just barely put up with this.

My favorite part though is when he goes to see a mutant tattoo artist whose power is to know what is the exact right tattoo a person needs, and he straight-up gives Logan the Beauty and the Beast rose.

I debated between 2 & 3 stars for this but I went with 3 because I think it has potential. But this volume had a lot of stuff to set up and I think it only halfway set up any of it. Pretty convoluted. I think maybe he was going for mysterious but... that has limits. Also the scratchy lettering made it hard to read.

also based on reviews and stuff that I read about this I was thinking about booktalking it to junior high kids and then I read it and realized the villain's name is SADISTO and I don't want to say that out loud >:(

When volume 2 comes out I will probably read it to see what happens with Aurora. She's cool. She can stay.

Oh my gosh, this was so fun. Can Kelly Sue DeConnick please keep writing the Avengers until she dies? And can she never die? Please?

Seriously, this is everything I love about superhero comics in general and Avengers in particular--funny banter, caring found families, justice, Wolverine mentoring teenager girls--done at a top-notch level.

This is kind of like Touched By an Angel except for instead of an angel it's a quirky but troubled teenage girl on a roadtrip whose openness to life inspires everyone she comes into contact with.

It's... fine. The somewhat heavy-handed lessons might resonate more with some teens who haven't already read a ton of books about ~seizing the day~ (ahem sorry to quote this book, "Seize the Tuesday!") and whatnot, kind of in in that [b:13 Little Blue Envelopes|17020|13 Little Blue Envelopes (Little Blue Envelope, #1)|Maureen Johnson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375030179s/17020.jpg|1008846] way, except that Envelopes is funnier and better, if you ask me. Which, by reading my goodreads reviews, you tacitly are doing.

I really loved this. The art is beautiful and the story is poignant. I think it works for adults, definitely, but I also think that many teens will enjoy it--they have the self-awareness to look back and remember what it was like when you and your friends started changing, and what it's like when you learn family secrets. It's not action-packed or anything, but I think it will suit a certain brand of introspective teen just right.

There is some strong/sexual language--mostly in the context of the two protagonists being uncomfortable hearing it or trying to understand what it means, but still it is there. I was going to booktalk it to junior high kids and then on second thought decided against it on the grounds of not wanting some parent to flip through it and see kids talking about sluts getting pregnant and such. But I think that the way it's presented is very true to life and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it on a smaller scale.

I think it's a good readalike to maybe like Judy Blume and [b:Mermaid in Chelsea Creek|16129217|Mermaid in Chelsea Creek|Michelle Tea|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358992756s/16129217.jpg|21954157]? For just that painful coming of age type thing, centered around friendship and not romance. Cool.

I think maybe I wanted a little more from this... but then I studied women's history in college and this is a book for tweens, so maybe that's unreasonable. I think it's a great little intro to some famous (and not-so-famous) women of history, as well as to the concept that there are multiple perspectives on historical figures. And that people, especially women, maybe have been operating within a limited framework when they made their options.

I also liked the comic versions of Jane Yolen and her daughter/co-author talking about each "bad girl" and making their own judgement. It feels cute and behind-the-scenes-y, and shows healthy disagreements.

I'm just such a sucker for a book with a spooky pun title.

This book... every chapter I was just barely interested enough to keep reading instead of DNFing it. I think it just had a little too much going on? Here's how much stuff it has going on:

- Leigh's older sister is in remission from cancer
- In the meantime, her dad impulse bought a graveyard and makes Leigh work in it afterschool because he can't handle selling graves to people
- Leigh seems to have some sort of eating disorder that's not really addressed, but she explicitly says she only eats toast and York Peppermint patties because that's what her sister could eat when she was going through chemo?? so like every chapter she talks about needing to buy more Yorks and all the other characters tell her how skinny she is but nothing really comes of it
- Leigh's mentor is the undocumented Mexican worker her dad hired to dig graves and they have this whole coyote plotline going on
- Leigh is bullied at school for being poor, although she isn't exactly poor, she just refuses to spend money to buy new clothes?
- Leigh has some other unresolved grief in a way that she's both extremely aware of but also extremely unaware of?
- Leigh's mom seems to... have something going on, in that she spends 80% of her time visiting friends in Menocino, where the family used to live? Basically her parents seem CRAZY neglectful, and I get that they went through some stuff when her sister had cancer and they're not bouncing back from it, but as depicted it really seems to have reached the level where someone from the school should be intervening??

and yet with ALL THAT GOING ON there are still chapters where like nothing happens??

idk man, idk

Will probably still appeal to tweens/younger teens who like sad books/books about unjust parents. Content-wise, it's pretty clean (of sex/drugs etc).

I'm confused about why this won an award for kids ages 8-12? Our library originally ordered it for children's, I think because of that, but we changed it over to teen. But I think this has the most adult appeal? Late teen, anyway. It's not that the content is inappropriate for kids, in terms of violence/sex/etc, but the material just has an adult-y vibe, about like, being jealous that your older sibling has a better career than you and having to get a roommate so you can pay your rent? TO me this feels like a great readalike to [b:Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life|29800|Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life (Scott Pilgrim, #1)|Bryan Lee O'Malley|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348109012s/29800.jpg|30220]. I guess a lot of the humor is sort of gentle parodies of tropes of superheroes, in a kind of THE INCREDIBLES-y way, and that level would appeal to children??

IDK, has anyone talked to any children about this book? I'm genuinely interested to know if they would like it.

PS I was so busy being confused about if children would like this that I forgot to say that I DID like it quite a lot.

I definitely agree with reviews that this feels like a "middle volume" that doesn't necessarily stand up on its own, but I'm invested enough in the story that I still loved it.

Also I think that Fiona Staples' work on Lying Cat's facial expressions deserves at least 1 star alone.

Hmmm... I mean, I definitely agree with her basic thesis that The Secret and other "positive psychology" pseudoscience is bogus. That said, I didn't love this book? It's interesting--she rightly criticized The Secret and other self-help books for just being random strings of anecdotes, but this was... also kind of that? I got the sense that she did more research than she used, and I think maybe I would have appreciated it if she'd gone in deeper about some things, like her visit to Joel Osteen's church? Or, for that matter, about her own personal experience as a breast cancer patient who felt infantilized by all the extremely positive cancer speak (eg people saying cancer is the best thing that ever happened to them, because it taught them how strong they are.)

Still, it's a good resource that does have some science to debunk (or just highlight) a lot of the nonsense that's out there.