Canadian essayist and adult-books author Tamaki and her cousin, an artist, dive into the graphic format by using high school as a fertile setting for pungent commentary on racial, cultural, and sexual issues. Pudgy Asian American Skim suffers the contempt of the popular crowd at her all-girl school and ponders the repercussions of the recent suicide of a local boy. The source of her greatest anguish, however, is her intense love for her drama teacher, Ms. Archer, an affection only briefly requited before the teacher leaves without explanation. The narrative, mainly in diary form, feels accurate and realistic, drenched in a sense of confusion and nihilism, and the art, influenced by Craig Thompson's Blankets (2003), reflects the spare, gloomy emotional landscape in which Skim exists. This story will appeal to many female comics fans, though readers may, in the end, be slightly turned off by a resolution that awkwardly introduces some odd sunlight into the otherwise dark world.

A quietly moving graphic novel explores a teen girl's experience with friends, suicide, cliques and love. 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. 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. The two girls come to an impasse when Lisa gets an unexpected chance to join the popular clique. 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. 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. While Tamaki's faces are sometimes unsettling, the reader has the distinct impression that they should be uncomfortable. Recommend this to fans of Daniel Clowes's Ghost World , who have been waiting for another graphic novel of teen angst and suburban ennui. (Graphic novel. YA)

This auspicious graphic novel debut by cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki tells the story of “Skim,” aka Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a goth girl in an all-girls school in Toronto, circa the early '90s. Skim is an articulate, angsty teenager, the classic outsider yearning for some form of acceptance. She begins a fanciful romance with her English teacher, Ms. Archer, while nursing her best friend through a period of mourning. The particulars of the story may not be its strong suit, though. It's Jillian's artwork that sets it apart from the coming-of-age pack. Jillian has a swooping, gorgeous pen line—expressive, vibrant and precise all at once. Her renderings of Skim and her friends, Skim alone or just the teenage environment in which the story is steeped are evocative and wondrous. Like Craig Thompson's Blankets, the inky art lifts the story into a more poetic, elegiac realm. It complements Mariko's fine ear for dialogue and the incidentals and events of adolescent life. Skim is an unusually strong graphic novel—rich in visuals and observations, and rewarding of repeated readings. (Feb.)

Gr 10 Up-Kimberly Keiko Cameronaka Skimis a mixed-race high school student struggling with identity, friendships, and romantic yearning. After her parents divorce, she turns to tarot cards and Wicca to make sense of life but finds herself disappointed with the lack of answers they provide. She finds herself increasingly intrigued by Ms. Archer, her free-spirited English teacher. Her interest becomes obsessive and it begins to drive a wedge between her and her best friend, Lisa. Although Skim originally makes light of the half-hearted suicide attempts of popular Katie, whose ex-boyfriend committed suicide, the two of them begin to open up to one another. Skim soon realizes that perfect Katie is far funnier, more genuine, and more traumatized than she originally thoughtparticularly when it comes to light that John shot himself due to his homosexuality. Drawn in an expressive, fluid style and with realistic dialogue, this work accurately depicts the confusion of teenage years, with its rejection of previous identity and past relationships and search for a newer and truer identity; additionally, insider/outsider status is a reoccurring theme. Skims internal monologue is diarylike, with an interesting use of scratched-out words. This is a good but somewhat standard work. Dave Inabnitt, Brooklyn Public Library, NY

Kimberly Keiko Cameron, nicknamed "Skim," a goth and aspiring Wiccan, attends a private girls' school with her best friend, Lisa. They are cynical and cool, smoking on the sly, failing to see the relevance of Romeo and Juliet, and marveling at the school-wide hysteria when schoolmate Katie's ex-boyfriend kills himself. But autumn is the time of change. Skim falls for her hippie English teacher, Ms. Archer, and Shakespeare takes on new meaning. Lisa does not understand her moods and absences and reaches out in new directions. Confused and nearly alone, Skim discovers a kindred spirit in the last person she would have expected. The Tamaki cousins in their first graphic novel take a huge fistful of typical high school story trappings and distill a beautiful and funny time capsule of real feeling. In the space of one school season, Skim touches on the exhilaration and confusion of unexpected love; the freedom and isolation of being an outsider; friendship and change; and impression versus reality. Jillian's striking black-and-white artwork flows in clear but soft, shaded line work; the book's design in particular flirts with Japanese ukiyo-e. The visual storytelling is firm and often quite lovely. Mariko lets Skim narrate part of the story via a diary, a typical teen story tool used here as a source of insight and humor. The dialogue is natural, and if some of Skim's observations seem a bit too smart, they are also funny. Skim is a refreshing reminder of the inevitability of change and the importance of looking beneath the surface.-Lisa Martincik.