Skim

Words by Mariko Tamaki.
Drawings by Jillian Tamaki.

Published in 2008 by Groundwood Books, Toronto.

Kimberley "Skim" Keiko Cameron is sixteen, and as she puts it, "Being sixteen is officially the worst thing I've ever been." Skim's all-girl private school is knocked off its axis when a student's ex-boyfriend kills himself. Her outsider tendencies leave Skim vulnerable to the attentions of a well-meaning school counselor and other students who seem to think she might be next. While externally quiet and somewhat withdrawn, internally Skim is almost exploding with emotion and newness. Something is developing between Skim and her English teacher, Ms. Archer, and it's taking up her world.

Skim is a really beautiful graphic novel that captures the pathos of high school and friendship and being in love, whatever that is. The characters and their emotions are beautifully rendered on the pages, and the drawings, while simple, hum with life. Skim's internal monologue is full of perfect descriptions of her feelings, phrases that brought her feelings into my own body. My favourite: "My stomach feels like it's popping, like an ice cube in warm Pepsi."

Real. Honest. Funny. Sad. Brilliant. Awesome.

10/10.

Ages 13+.