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When Smithereens wrote about a graphic novel called Jane, the Fox and Me by Fanny Britt, I immediately requested it from the library. There were others who wanted it too so I had to wait. But the wait was worth it.

A graphic novel for younger readers, it is the story of a girl named Hélène who is being tormented by some mean girls at school. The girls leave graffiti in the bathrooms and talk and laugh about her where large groups of her classmates can hear. They say things like Hélène is fat or Hélène has BO. None of it is true but under the onslaught of meanness and due to a lack of friends, Hélène begins to believe what they say about her.

When her entire class is set to go to camp for a week, she doesn’t want to go. She can’t get out of it though. Her mother takes her shopping for a swimsuit and Hélène decides that she looks like a sausage. Once at camp she gets sorted into the “outcast” cabin with a few other girls who have no friends and lots of awkward quirks.

Throughout all of this the thing that sustains her is the book she is reading: Jane Eyre. Jane is plain but smart. Jane has troubles but she overcomes them. In spite of everything, she is loved.

One evening when she is sitting alone and depressed outside her cabin, a red fox appears and Hélène feels as though a miracle has occurred. Not long after that a new girl moves into the outcast cabin. She has been kicked out of the cabin she was in by the girls because she refused to play along with some mean thing they said or were planning. She is a breath of fresh air and charms them all. Soon Hélène finds she has a real friend and everything is transformed.

Not only is the story wonderful and real, the art is fantastic. Hélène’s world is gray pencil on white and light tan. It is dreary and sad like Hélène. But when she reads Jane Eyre, Jane’s story is in bold color, a sharp contrast between the two. When the fox appears, it is red, the only color amidst the gray. And eventually, as the book ends and Hélène escapes from the oppression of the mean girls, her world becomes colorful.

It is a simple but effective story and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I can imagine it might really resonate with girls in that pre-teen/tween age range who love books and feel like they don’t quite fit in with their peers. And it is pretty good for grown-ups too.

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What is worse than having a friend decide to move on?  Add to that a former friend that decides to make your life miserable?  Madison is fed up with the attics of her former BF Cassidy.  Then she visits Combing Attractions and decides to follow the advice, given to someone else, of writing the names down of her former friends and burning them.  What happens next puts a whole different twist on be careful what you wish for.  Meanicures is a light fun read.

Click here to read more of my review.

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Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. HarperCollins. 2010. ARC from publisher.

The Plot: Samantha Kingston, 17. A typical Friday: laughing with friends, getting her due as one of the most popular seniors at high school, big plans with her boyfriend. It all ends in screeching brakes and pain -- a car accident. Sam is dead.

Except she wakes up and it's Friday again. And again. And again.

What happened? Why is she reliving her last day? Can she change anything about her life and her death?


The Good: Well, I may have a hard time with including all the quotes I want to because this has already been passed on to a teen who wants books that make her cry. A seventeen year old, dying over and over, who spends one of her days giving her eight year old sister a perfect day? OF COURSE I cried.

First things first. Sam is a bitch. No, really. She and her friends (Lindsay, Ally, Elody) are the four popular girls at school, laughing, best friends, having fun, and, oh yes -- sometimes making the lives of others hard. Why? Because. Because they can. Because it's something to do.

Dear Blog Reader, I hated Sam and her friends from the start. On page 5, Sam explains that "[t]here's always going to be a person laughing and somebody getting laughed at. It happens everyday, in every town in America. Probably the world, for all I know. The whole point of growing up is learning to stay on the laughing side." And by page 65, Sam was still justifying her meanness: "[i]t's like high school holds two different worlds, revolving around each other and never touching: the haves and the have-nots. I guess it's a good thing. High school is supposed to prepare you for the real world, after all."

Somehow, though, as the second day rolled around, Sam and her girlfriends grew on me. Part of it is that with each repeated day, Sam becomes more self-aware of herself, her world, her actions. Part of it is that often the girls were fun and funny and supportive of each other, to the point that you wanted to sit all four down and say, "you don't have to be so mean and cruel and thoughtless to others."

Let's be clear about one thing: the point is NOT why these girls are mean. Reasons are given, but it's hardly the A storyline in part because to make it too important gives them an excuse. What I like is that Sam doesn't obsess much about her inner child who is so afraid of being laughed at that she is the first to laugh at others -- instead, she moves to action and trying to figure out if in one short day she can undo, or fix, or help the damage she has done.

So yes, Sam starts as a bitch. But she changes. By living that day over and over, she is given the chance to grow up enough to leave that persona, that face, behind. It's gutsy, I think, for Oliver to have made Sam and company so casually cruel at times. It's true; but it's also hard to read, and your heart bleeds for those they hurt and you hope that more Sams stop inflicting their thoughtless hurts. It's gutsy, even thought

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“It’s Tuesday! That means it’s time for a Varcarel Jade Web Comic update! Enjoy! “

“Fridays are when we update the Varcarel Jade Web Comic. Have a great weekend!”