Book-It '10! Book #84
The Fifty Books Challenge, year two! This was a library request.
Title: Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age edited by Ariel Schrag
Details: Copyright 2007, Viking Juvenile
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap): "Have you ever been dumped-- by someone you didn't even know you were going out with?
Have you ever felt your life depended on having the right pair of jeans?
Have you ever been called one or more of the following:
FREAK
LOSER
WEIRDO
ALIEN
SUCKER
SLUT
SKANK
NEW GIRL
GOTH BOY
CRATER FACE
NERD
?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have experienced the joys of middle school.
Whether you're past the torture or still stuck in the middle of it, you'll find echoes of your life in this collection of painfully hilarious comics. Sixteen critically acclaimed cartoonists have dug into their agonizing memories to bring you stories that will crack you up and break your heart. Edited by autobiographical comic artist Ariel Schrag, this anthology goes where few adults dare to return: the treacherous halls of middle school."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Yet another born of my fondness for The AV Club's Comics Panel and the round-about way I can find material from authors and artists even if I can't find what I was originally looking for.
How I Liked It: Compilations are always a mixed bag and matching up story with art to find an enjoyable middle can be hard, especially since these are such one-shot, rather short stories.
The stories read (mostly) as snippets of memory, possibly why many of them end rather abruptly and without a satisfying finish. If it's a retrospective (which it clearly is for the authors), curious then that this book was intended for a middle school audience as well as adult fans (some of the material, including swears, pg-13 mentions of sexuality, and potty humor even got it banned from two school libraries in South Dakota). It's hard to imagine that certain elements of the stories (descriptions of period clothing, the "right" music) would translate as well to tweens and teens as it would to those safely past the middle school years who can look back. Still, some situations and themes are universal to the human experience and the stories refrain from being didactic enough to drive away current middle-schoolers.
There are more hits than misses in the book and if not essential reading for those currently trapped between elementary and high school, it's still worthwhile reading.
And for those past middle-school age,the random-memory feel of the book will no doubt call back memories of their own.
Notable: The authors' section at the end of the book features a short biography of each author along with a picture of many of them at middle-school age. This is particularly delightful since most depicted themselves in their stories and you can compare and contrast how their middle-school cartoon self-portraits came out (I always enjoy when artists draw themselves and this was a neat idea).
Title: Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age edited by Ariel Schrag
Details: Copyright 2007, Viking Juvenile
Synopsis (By Way of Front Flap): "Have you ever been dumped-- by someone you didn't even know you were going out with?
Have you ever felt your life depended on having the right pair of jeans?
Have you ever been called one or more of the following:
FREAK
LOSER
WEIRDO
ALIEN
SUCKER
SLUT
SKANK
NEW GIRL
GOTH BOY
CRATER FACE
NERD
?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you have experienced the joys of middle school.
Whether you're past the torture or still stuck in the middle of it, you'll find echoes of your life in this collection of painfully hilarious comics. Sixteen critically acclaimed cartoonists have dug into their agonizing memories to bring you stories that will crack you up and break your heart. Edited by autobiographical comic artist Ariel Schrag, this anthology goes where few adults dare to return: the treacherous halls of middle school."
Why I Wanted to Read It: Yet another born of my fondness for The AV Club's Comics Panel and the round-about way I can find material from authors and artists even if I can't find what I was originally looking for.
How I Liked It: Compilations are always a mixed bag and matching up story with art to find an enjoyable middle can be hard, especially since these are such one-shot, rather short stories.
The stories read (mostly) as snippets of memory, possibly why many of them end rather abruptly and without a satisfying finish. If it's a retrospective (which it clearly is for the authors), curious then that this book was intended for a middle school audience as well as adult fans (some of the material, including swears, pg-13 mentions of sexuality, and potty humor even got it banned from two school libraries in South Dakota). It's hard to imagine that certain elements of the stories (descriptions of period clothing, the "right" music) would translate as well to tweens and teens as it would to those safely past the middle school years who can look back. Still, some situations and themes are universal to the human experience and the stories refrain from being didactic enough to drive away current middle-schoolers.
There are more hits than misses in the book and if not essential reading for those currently trapped between elementary and high school, it's still worthwhile reading.
And for those past middle-school age,the random-memory feel of the book will no doubt call back memories of their own.
Notable: The authors' section at the end of the book features a short biography of each author along with a picture of many of them at middle-school age. This is particularly delightful since most depicted themselves in their stories and you can compare and contrast how their middle-school cartoon self-portraits came out (I always enjoy when artists draw themselves and this was a neat idea).