Stepping Stones

Engaging middle grades graphic novel about a girl who goes to live with her recently divorced mom on a farm the mom and her new boyfriend have started. The new boyfriend is a real piece of work in this book and at times I wished someone was advocating better for the main character.

Aside from that, really cute artwork. Tons of cute little chickenz!

Jen's parents have split up, and Jen and her mom have moved to the country with her mom's boyfriend, Walter. They are having a go at running a farm. On the weekends, Walter's daughters come to stay on the farm. It's a lot to adjust to. Jen is missing city life.

It's rare that I see such delightfully flawed characters—the main character, the other children, even the adults—in a children's book. The conflict between the girls, the conflict between Jen and her mom's boyfriend, the sadness Jen feels at leaving her old life—these are all depicted beautifully and realistically.

For meeee I didn't like this as much as I like Knisley's comic memoirs–although it is based on her own childhood, it's fictionalized, and...I dunno, to me, I missed the sense of immediacy I get from some of her other books. It's interesting to me that here on GoodReads I see this listed as Book #1, when from the book itself I didn't have a sense that this was meant to be a series. But I'm glad actually because I struggled a bit with the ending here–on one hand I understand not wanting to have a story where everything's all wrapped up in loose ends, but the way this ended really had me feeling like “wow I hope Jen's mom leaves this shitty boyfriend who's such a dick to his pseudo-stepdaughter!” But then in Knisley's author's note she talks about how much she came to love the man who that character was based on so...IDK I guess there is room for that fictional relationship to grow!

Anyway, the thorny (step-ish)-sister relationships, the thick sense of misunderstood tween life, and the cute art all make this perf for the many many readers looking for more Raina Telgemeier readalikes.