Sisters by Raina Telgemeier

Pages: 197
Intended Audience: Tweens and up
Genre: Graphic novel / Real life
Notes for Parents: None.

The Inside Cover

Three weeks.
Two sisters. One car.
A True Story.
Raina can’t wait to be a big sister. But once Amara is born, things aren’t quite how she expected them to be. Amara is cute, but she’s also a cranky, grouchy baby, and mostly prefers to play by herself. Their relationship doesn’t improve much over the years. But when a baby brother enters the picture, and later, when something doesn’t seem right between their parents, they realize they must figure out how to get along. They are sisters, after all.

What the cover doesn’t tell you:
While this is considered a companion novel to Telgemeier’s earlier graphic novel, Smile, it is a stand-alone story.

What’s good?

As she was in Smile, Raina is delightfully goofy and very relatable. Her sister, Amara, is both annoying and deviously amusing – as any good sister should be. The colour drawings are bright and bold, and wonderfully expressive. Although it’s almost 200 pages, this graphic novel is a quick and easy read, fun, and funny.
Best Part: Mango.

What isn’t good?

For the most part, the story is very simple, with a few complications coming right at the end. I wish the author would have explored those later ideas a little more (unless, perhaps, that’s being saved for another book?).
Worst part: None.

Recommendation þþþþo

Charming, funny, and very reminiscent of my own childhood family road trips, this graphic novel is definitely recommended.

Telgemeier, Raina. Sisters. New York: Graphix, 2014