For her senior capstone project, Pip researches the disappearance of former Fairview High student Andie, last seen on April 18, 2014, by her younger sister, Becca. Pip has known and liked Sal since childhood he’d supported her when she was being bullied in middle school. There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.Įveryone believes that Salil Singh killed his girlfriend, Andrea Bell, five years ago-except Pippa Fitz-Amobi. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends. Recommend this to fans of Daniel Clowes’s Ghost World, who have been waiting for another graphic novel of teen angst and suburban ennui. While Tamaki’s faces are sometimes unsettling, the reader has the distinct impression that they should be uncomfortable. Long, languid lines portray Skim’s turmoil and angst with pitch-perfect resonance and show how, for teens, time seems to be so drawn out. Coupled with her tumultuous friendship, Skim also harbors a crush on a female teacher, which leads her to begin to question herself and her desires. The two girls come to an impasse when Lisa gets an unexpected chance to join the popular clique.

Both sharply witty and incisive, the two girls dabble in various forms of self-expression and exploration, like dressing with Gothic flair and trying Wicca. Both overweight and of mixed ethnicities, Kimberly Keiko Cameron-also known as “Skim” because “she’s not”-is slowly moving through high school with her best friend Lisa. A quietly moving graphic novel explores a teen girl’s experience with friends, suicide, cliques and love.

Skim tamaki