Review: Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks (GN)

Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks (GN)

Rating: PG

Genre: Graphic Novel, Paranormal, Fantasy

Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Page Count: 220

Stand Alone

Publisher: First Second

Published: February 28, 2012

After years of homeschooling, Maggie is starting high school. It's pretty terrifying.
Maggie's big brothers are there to watch her back, but ever since Mom left it just hasn't been the same.
Besides her brothers, Maggie's never had any real friends before. Lucy and Alistair don't have lots of friends either. But they eat lunch with her at school and bring her along on their small-town adventures.
Missing mothers...distant brothers...high school...new friends... It's a lot to deal with. But there's just one more thing.
MAGGIE IS HAUNTED.

Review:

PROS:

1. Like I said before in a few of my previous posts, I'm really into graphic novels at the moment and I don't think my loved for them is going away anytime soon. I have to say that out of all the graphic novels I've read this year, this one has to be my favorite hands down! I really loved this one so here's my review!

2. For graphic novels, I always love to start off with the art. The illustrations can really make or break a graphic novel and this one didn't disappoint. I seriously loved the artwork in this book because I thought it was a lot of fun to look at and also made the story just a little more lighthearted and quirky with the lack of a ton of detail when it came to the characters and everything else. It was a simple art style but I really loved it because of that. Because it was simple when it came to the characters' features, it was refreshing to see the art get more detailed when it came to buildings or streets and it wasn't too much because of the equal balance of details and simplicity. Basically, it made me want to draw my own graphic novel!

3. I also really loved the characters in this book! I thought our main character Maggie was a bit diverse because of the fact that she's a homeschooled kid attending her first year in public high school. She's a bit awkward and doesn't really know how to fit into the whole high school scene and she's just a bit unsocial. She's also a bit of a loner and has to struggle a bit with finding her own friends instead of following her brothers around. I really liked that the side characters such as Maggie's friends and her brothers didn't fade into the background. They all had an equal part in the story and they were also really funny and a bit goofy at times and that made me laugh out loud too.

4. Overall, I just really loved this graphic novel and I can't wait to reread it in the near future! This book definitely has a permanent place on my bookshelf and I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to check out some graphic novels but isn't really sure where to start. I think this is definitely a good choice to make if you're new to graphic novels and I think this one is a great introduction to them. If you liked Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol, I would suggest picking this one up!

I hope you guys enjoyed this book review! If you have any other book requests you would like me to review, just leave a comment or send me an email! Read on bookworms! See you in the next chapter!