Down in the Dumps

January 1, 2013

Gr 5-8-In Down in the Dumps, Lou is depressed because the boy of her dreams has moved away. To make matters worse, her mother, an aspiring author, has a serious love interest that makes her even more scatterbrained than usual. Lou feels quite left out as she heads off to the first day of school, only to discover that she and her best friend are not in the same class. The year that follows brings the typical junior-high trauma of trying to figure out who your friends are, which boy you want to be with, and what to do about your crazy parents. Luckily, Lou is able to expand her horizons and meet some new people, which leads to The Perfect Summer. In this book, she vacations with a friend at an amazing beach house while her mother is on a book tour. The friendship drama has settled into a nice group of girls she enjoys being with. That just leaves the boy situation, which is complicated, since Tristan is back in her life. The stories are entertaining comic and will speak to some middle-school girls, but the art is rather flat and boring. Adequate reads for girls who want contemporary graphic novels with some light romance.-Carol Hirsche, Provo City Library, UT

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2012
Spunky Lou is back with more drama, heartache and self-discovery. Now 13, Lou is starting a new school year. She quickly befriends the sullen, overprivileged, goth-wannabe Mary Emily. At home, Lou's erratic mother is still alarmingly quirky and is still in a relationship with Richard. With all these changes transpiring so quickly, Lou runs away seeking solitude and answers. Upon returning, she is able to sort things out and is invited to take a seaside vacation with Mary Emily's family. Book 4, The Perfect Summer, picks up on vacation, where Lou runs into past-love Tristan and new-love Paul. Lou's physical changes through these books are glaringly evident: She begins Book 3 still looking childlike, but by the end of Book 4, she begins to show womanly curves--a stark departure from one volume to the next. However, with her age, she seems to be losing her edge. Her funky fashions have fallen by the wayside in exchange for boys and friends, which feels age-appropriate--even though it was fun to see her esoteric ensembles. Though Lou is changing, Neel's inviting, candy-colored art acts as a cohesive element pulling the whole series together. Those new to Lou will find a charming board game at the beginning of Book 3 that introduces former plotlines and characters. A frothy, sugary early-adolescent offering. (Graphic fiction. 9-14)

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January 1, 2013
These third and fourth French-import graphic novels focus on thirteen-year-old Lou's continuing angst. In [cf2]Dumps[cf1], Lou is moody: she's having friendship drama and her mother is distracted by a new boyfriend. In [cf2]Summer[cf1], Lou chooses between two boys during vacation as her mother contends with success as a writer. Although lighthearted and contemporary, these books rely heavily on gender stereotypes.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)