Breaking Up

Breaking Up was a good read, even though I'm probably out of the demographic. It follows the story of Chloe through a year of high school. The year starts with Chloe and her three best friends taking a group photo and excited about the year. The four of them have been best friends since they were toddlers. However, boys are about to tear them apart. Blond friend likes guy who is dating the most popular girl in school. This plays into a newfound obsession with status and popularity. Friend with freckles has a boyfriend, but she and he are not on the same page with sex. Friends side with him. Friend with black hair has strict parents. Chloe develops an interest in an unpopular boy and is somewhat embarrassed about it. So, pretty much it's a teen drama, soap opera type plot. It's well done, though. The graphics are cute and pretty. The writing avoids cheesy. And, my favorite, people get their comeuppance. There are a few dull moments. Chloe and her boyfriend go through a couple of long duets about how they are so perfect for and "get" one another despite their differences. For the most part, though, the story moves well and makes for some light teen-themed reading.

This black and white graphic novel tells of a junior in a school noted for its trendy student body. Chloe's looking forward to a year of romance and adventure - but her experiments with love and friendship result in disaster, especially when she keeps an unexpected romance hidden from her friends. A fine story of breaking up and getting together comes to life in the graphic novel format.

This teen romantic comedy is the newest release from Scholastic's GRAPHIX line of youth graphic novels, which also includes The Baby-Sitters Club series, the wildly adventurous Bone series by Jeff Smith, and the new Goosebumps graphic novels by R. L. Stine. "Breaking Up" follows the ups and downs of four friends in their junior year of high school. They attend the Georgia O'Keefe School for the Arts in New York City, but they've nicknamed it "Fashion High" because all the artsy kids who go there try *so hard* to be cool, fashionable, and different. The star of the book is Chloe Sacks, who loves school and her painting classes but just isn't into Fashion High's rat race of popularity and parties. She's surrounded, however, by three best friends who really *do* care, and sometimes their conflicting agendas cause arguments, misunderstandings, and DRAMA the likes of which even artsy Fashion High has never before seen. The real culprit in the conflict is Chloe's friend Mackenzie, who wants desperately to be a top-of-the-hive Queen Bee and who thinks that pursuing the school's popularity royalty, no matter how cruel and untrustworthy they are, is the surest way to the top. As Mackenzie strays from the fold, Chloe focuses her attention on painting--and on Adam, the smart, talented, but dangerously un-cool guy with whom she shares more interests than with anyone else, even her best friends. Chloe and Mackenzie polarize towards the suave and geeky crowds and end up pulling their other friends (sheltered, rebellious Isabel and shy, true-blue Erika) between them. Junior year becomes a tug-of-war that makes them all unhappy, with each one struggling to grown up and define what's most important to her. The central issue here is honesty: Isabel tries to get more freedom by fibbing to her parents, Erika dumps a boyfriend who tries to pressure her into getting physical, Mackenzie loses her mind and steps out with a good friend's beau, and Chloe, disastrously, tries to keep her relationship with the unpopular Adam a secret from everyone. "Breaking Up" treats all these tangled bonds with honesty, sweetness, and a good dose of teenage melodrama. Though its plot is a bit predictable, Aimee Friedman's script brings a lot of humor and some really wonderful character touches, like when Chloe begins to pick up Adam's habit of throwing out obscure, fascinating facts to her friends, followed by the phrase "It's just something I know." With such likable quirks, the author conveys a whole world of shifting teenage affections and insecurities. This graphic novel's great strength, though, is Christine Norrie's awesome black-and-white cartooning. Norrie is best known for drawing the charming punk-family dramedy comic "Hopeless Savages," and she continues creating great illustrations in the pages of Fashion High. She uses clean, pleasing lines; each of her characters has a distinct look; and the kids' spot-on body language conveys all the froth of their teenage hearts. I

Friends forever! That is exactly how Chloe Sacks feels about her tight group of girlfriends. Since what seems like forever, Chloe, Isabel, Erika, and Mackenzie have been inseparable. They did everything together, from sharing secrets to gossiping with one another. And when they start out their junior year together, Chloe is sure that it will be another great year for them all. But little does she know that as they enter their junior year, they may actually become distant. The new school year does not start off too well for the girls. Instead of having all of their classes together they only have one--Health, with the very weird Ms. Lamour. Not only are their schedules changing, but so are they. It seems like all Mackenzie can think about is getting "in" with the popular crowd, befriending Nicola Burnett, the girlfriend of Gabe, who Mackenzie is beginning to fall for. Isabel is having trouble with her very controlling parents, especially when she really wants to date soccer player Brad Richmond. Erika loves her boyfriend, Kyle, very much, but is beginning to question their relationship since all Kyle thinks about is pressuring her to take their relationship to the "next level." And Chloe is beginning to have feelings for Adam Stevenson, who, unfortunately, around school is considered a loser, even by her own friends. A new year, new relationships, and a new perspective on how the girls begin to look at each other. It seems like the girls' junior year isn't turning out to be what they expected. Different from what Aimee Friedman normally writes, BREAKING UP: A FASHION HIGH GRAPHIC NOVEL, is a quick and easy read that will definitely pull the reader in from the very beginning. Aimee Friedman hits the target with high school angst in this graphic novel, with characters that are easy for the readers to relate to. The novel deals with real life issues from relationships to friends. It was like watching another episode of Degrassi The Next Generation - Season 1. And the pictures, illustrated by Christine Norrie, were absolutely amazing. Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen