Night and Dana

by Anya Davidson

A creative coming-of-age story for the climate-change generation
Dana Drucker fights boredom in her Florida beach town by crafting special-effects makeup―the more gruesome, the better. But when a messy prank with Dana’s best friend Lily gets the wrong kind of attention, the girls have two find a new creative outlet or leave high school without graduating.

To save their shot at diplomas, Dana and Lily join a community college film class. It gives Dana a chance to keep practicing her monster makeup, as she and Lily start work on a horror movie inspired by local ocean warming. And a search for filming locations puts Dana in the path of Daphne Ocean, an activist and self-proclaimed water witch―the perfect kind of inspiring outsider. But when filming starts, Dana finds herself growing apart from Lily, who doesn’t seem to need her closest friend much anymore.

Soon, tempers are flaring, and Dana’s pushing away old friends and her new mentor. But as everything starts going up in flames, Dana also begins to forge her voice. Night and Dana is a creative coming-of-age story for the climate-change era, a graphic novel about making art and growing up when it feels like the world is on fire.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Comics, Coming Of Age, Contemporary, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 2023

About the author

Anya Pauline Davidson is an American cartoonist, educator, printmaker and musician.
Davidson grew up in the US and Canada. She received a BFA (2004) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she currently teaches comics. She has written or done illustration works for a number of pubblications, including The Comics Journal, Mad Magazine, The Fader Magazine, Pitchfork Magazine, VICE, Chicago Reader.

Reviews

[Liv · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ll be honest, I didn’t really enjoy this book. The story was all over the place and I couldn’t tell what was going on at times. The friends were both mean to one another; it wasn’t fair that only Dana had to apologize. Lily basically ditched her friendship with Dana for Wye once they began dating!

There was too much going for a cohesive ending: the films, Dana’s friendships, her family, the climate protestors, the visiting college boy, NYU and Dana’s future! So much was happening and it all happened SO FAST. I have whiplash! The art style was different though (in a good way)! Very retro-monster movie!

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital ARC!

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ngl her friends pissed me off. Ofc she wasn’t a perfect friend, but the lack of accountability from the rest them is just 😭

[Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Graphic novel set in a small town on the Florida coast. Two high school best friends must take part in a community college film class as instead of getting detention after their last prank. Dana Drucker likes make-up special effects and dreams of film school at NYU. The story is told from her POV. I like that she is curvy and looks like a teen. Lily is the better student and has an eye for design. While working on their film project Lily gets a new romance that draws the two apart. Dana emotionally is all over the place. There is a long time guy friend that likes her but she isn’t kind to him. Her family life adds to her mounting pressure. Meeting an older eco activist gives her some focus for her energy.

This is a coming of age novel where Dana learns find her voice and step out of being in her friends shadow. And it is realistic in that she doesn’t magically get all of her hopes and dreams. I also like the story is inclusive. I will say the art style grew on me but it was not attractive to me as I started reading. No one is pretty and the tones are less colorful that some graphic novels. But I can easily see this being enjoyed by older middle school readers and up.

Thank you to Lerner Publishing Group, Graphic Universe and NetGalley for the temporary ARC and I am leaving a voluntary review.

[Sarah Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art has a nostalgic feel, the concept grabbed my interest, and the story is good. However, I just feel like this was not for me. I hope it finds its readers and have no doubt that it will! Usually, I will pore through a graphic novel in one sitting and did not find myself doing that with this one, unfortunately. It is a unique story that I think many people will enjoy. I did appreciate the smooth non-binary and queer rep as well as the climate activism, but something about this read overall just did not hit the target for me. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a decent story to tell here, about friends growing apart and finding your voice. But it kind of feels surface level, like we're being kept at arm's length from Dana for the entire book. Also, I really don't like the art style.

[Ash · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25 stars. I couldn't get past the art style in some parts, the writing was really choppy, and the main character had no backbone - despite her overcoming that being part of the plot.

[Lost in Book Land · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welcome Back,

This has been such a busy week. I honestly feel like it’s flying by me. But I am still trying to make time for reading. I am listening to a pretty good audiobook at the moment, have picked up an E-ARC on Kindle and after I finished this graphic novel E-ARC, I picked up another right away! (There are so many good books out there to read)! Night and Dana is an E-ARC graphic novel I picked up one night when I wanted to read something before falling asleep. (Thank you so much to the publisher for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest opinions). So without further ado, let’s talk about Night and Dana.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Dana lives in a very small town in Florida and she can not wait to get out and see the rest of the world. Dana is nearly to her chance to leave as she has applied to go to NYU! She is pretty confident she could get in. Dana’s best friend and herself run a social media channel that is pretty successful and both have a filmmaking passion. But one of their films goes a bit too far on their high school campus and lands them with an ultimatum. Have to take a local community college film class every Saturday and pass or be expelled. The pair of friends pick the class but can they pass with their friendship intact?

I enjoyed my time with this graphic novel. I loved the art style and I thought getting to read about Dana’s journey was interesting. During her story Dana experiences something many of us have, ending high school and the friendship and life choices that come with that. I highly recommend this graphic novel. It comes out on September 5th, 2023!

Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars

***Thank you so much to the publisher for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

[Madison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't bad. the art felt a little Daniel Clowes to me--like, too Daniel Clowes--and read a little bit like a less edgy Ghost World ripoff for a younger audience. I'm not saying that was the intention, just my reading experience. I thought some aspects of the premise were a lot of fun, but in terms of the story nothing new happens.

[Juniper Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Real life doesn’t follow a three act structure. It meanders like a stream, or spirals like a snail’s shell. Sometimes things get broken that can never be fixed. And sometimes what seems like the end is just the beginning.”

Night and Dana was an interesting adventure! It’s Dana’s senior year. She and her best friend Lily love playing pranks that involve depicting gruesome injuries on Youtube. This lands them both in trouble, and they are told to find a new creative outlet or be expelled from school.

Dana and Lily decide to take film classes at the local community college - and conflict quickly blooms in the guise of new friendships, creative tensions and disagreements.

I liked watching Dana evolve and grow. It was hard, rough and painful - as most changes are. I was proud of Dana for finding something she really enjoys and was passionate about. Something they discovered for themselves.

Most of all, I LOVED this art style, this color scheme. It’s very nostalgic horror, brings me comfort. Loved this art style so much.

An excellent read, would totally recommend.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was actually pretty good!

It's about two girls growing up, or one girl really and her best friend, and just going through life. Romance sparks between her best friend and another girl, while the main lead begins to feel for another one of her friends. It's the slice of life stuff I really enjoy mixed with the making movies and movie props info I never knew about. The art is a little rough at times, but the style it's going for it makes sense.

A 3.5 out of 5, I'll bump it to a 4 for Goodreads. Thanks Netgallery for an advance copy!

[Alaina Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art style is really unique, it’s a mix of traditional comic book style and a more modern less structured approach mixed together.

3.75 ⭐️

[JASARA HINES · Rating 3 out of 5]

Net galley provided this copy for review.

There are so many important themes addressed in this graphic novel. This is definitely a text that high school students should read.

[Ren E · Rating 2 out of 5]

Everything was strangely paced. Art style would get very inconsistent. Randomly inserted love flings. Certain details just left out.

[Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though a little less anarchic and strange than the previous two works by Anya Davidson I’ve read, School Spirit and Band for Life, Night and Dana is a strong and perceptive depiction of being a teenager coming of age in an increasingly uncertain, maddening world. Lifelong friends Dana and Lily, bonded over monster movies, comics, and art, begin their senior year planning to leave their quaint Florida resort town and head to NYU together after graduation but their relationship begins to fray while working on a student film as Lily becomes smitten with another classmate, Wye.

Dana, feeling increasingly shut out of Lily’s life, shifts her interests to the local environmental movement protesting the city’s response to the increase of devastating red tides strengthened by climate change. Dana’s angst, even when it makes her not the most sympathetic person, is as understandable as it is realistic and as she works to find herself in the absence of her friend she channels her anger into activism. All in all, Davidson captures the shifting emotions and mix of unwelcome and yearned for changes of growing up, dealt with in both constructive and less mature ways that really brought me back to those years.

[Nia Ricks · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this book at my local library. as a filmmaker myself and former film student that graduated from Columbia College Chicago, it was nice to see authentic film representation especially within Gen Z culture.

i thought the illustration was nice and uniquely different. very campy. kinda gave me that late 90s early 2000s MTV animation style—very similar to Daria.

didn’t really care for the MC’s best friend, Lily. didn’t think she was truly a good friend. did some questionable things that had my eyebrows raised. especially considering how long the two characters have been friends for. Wye— the love interest to Lily, was just okay. didn’t really serve the purpose of the story for me.

but i like the thematic takes on climate change and the harmful effects we as humans have on the planet. glad, i discovered this graphic novel. especially considering that the author is also a chicagoan! just like me. :)

[Tamara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really didn't like the art style and it kept throwing me off with the way people were drawn. Another thing that I didn't like was that the plot felt really surface level. There were some deeper things going on from the panels and conversations that you saw and read, but it's never really explained.

The premise itself started out interesting. Two girls pull a prank with fake blood and makeup and then are told that they could possibly be expelled, unless they take a movie-making class on the weekends. Then, during the movie making, lots of drama happened that seemed superficial. Also, the main character hates her mother and calls her Jo, but you don't exactly get why, other than she is a moody teenager.

Overall, I can see where this would be entertaining for some readers, but it just wasn't for me.

[Emma Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

This coming-of-age story is appropriately characterized by the pink and green color scheme. Psychologically, pink represents self-love, while green represents the love of others. Having "Night and Dana" portrayed on a spectrum between these colors complements Dana's relationship exploration between her, her friends, and her self-worth. Unfortunately, the plot lacks character depth, especially when the protagonist presumably has sex with her close male friend. As a reader, I am not sure what motivated her to have sex and the implications that are not examined enough. Also, before this occurs, Dana implies that she has had sex before. By not explaining this, the author leaves a distraction for the reader that may disengage them from the story.
As a first draft, the story would have been good. However, as a published piece for young adults, this story could use some more development.

[Day · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Friendships evolve in unpredictable ways. Sometimes two plants potted in the same soil need a little space to grow.”

“Real life doesn’t follow a three-act structure, it meanders like a stream or spirals like a snail’s shell. Sometimes things get broken that can never be fixed. And sometimes what seems like the end is just the beginning.”

This graphic novel follows prankster Dana and her bestie Lily, as they almost get expelled from high school there graduating year, they are given and ultimatum find a new creative outlet (college film class) or leave without graduating. We watch Dana grow apart from her friends, make new ones, and reconcile with her old ones again. All while trying to make a difference in the city she lives in.

“A graphic novel about making art and growing up when it feels like the world is on fire.”

P.S I hated Dana’s mom… lol

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chicagoan Anya Davidson is a musician and comics artist with a queer punk sensibility. This one checks a lot of boxes: Diverse/queer representation, differently shaped bodies, growing up, the environment. Dana and Lily do filmed pranks, and one gets them in trouble, but the principal, instead of kicking them out of school, requires them to take a filmmaking class where they make a monster film, with the help of local activist and witch Daphne Ocean. Climate change figures in the tale. Making art! Davidson's style is bold, pulpy, garishly colored, with thick digital lines, not delicate ethereal work, not at all. 3.5 rounded up for Halloween.

[Melki · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a prank at school gets out of hand, Dana and her long-time pal, Lily, are "sentenced" to take a community college class in filmmaking as an outlet for their abundant creativity. There Lily makes a new friend, and soon they're spending all their time together, much to Dana's disappointment.

This is a fine young adult graphic novel about endings, beginnings, and finding your own way in the world. Interesting and involving, this would make a great addition to any library.

ARC provided by NetGalley and Graphic Universe ™

[Marshaye G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve never read a graphic novel before this one, and I found I really liked it. I used to think that graphic novels were just for kids and teens but I found that I was wrong. This was a really fun read and I think it’s perfect for teens who are struggling with finding themselves. The reader can really put themselves in the shoes of the protagonist Dana and see their lives reflected back. I was assigned to read a YA graphic novel and it seems truly fitting. The author really captures the essence of a teen struggling with identity. This novel captures friendship and growing up very well.

[PhantasticReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art and the color palette lends itself to the story of Dana, a high schooler whose extracurricular effects makeup work lands her in deep trouble. Things only come to a head when she and her friend Lily attend a filmmaking class and fissures begin to form.

I really loved this book. It’s a classic senior-crisis coming of age plot but the details are unique and the characters feel real, particularly Dana herself. The horror obsession comes from a place of love rather than treating it as some item off the quirky outsider checklist.

[Dolores · Rating 3 out of 5]

After Dana and her best friend Lily pull a prank that nearly gets them kicked out of school, they are assigned a film class as punishment--and everything goes sideways. Lily begins to shut Dana out, and everything starts to go wrong. Can Dana get her life back together? I didn't really care for the art in this one and found the two main characters pretty difficult to take. But, I do think there are plenty of readers out there who will relate to the story of friends growing apart and someone trying to find just what they are best at.

[Fiona Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was blown away by Anya Davidson's storytelling, drawings, and characters. It is an epic yet personally compelling young adult graphic novel that deals with what it's like growing up on our planet during climate crisis; the power of community; hope & despair & angst; collective action, elemental magic, and figuring out one's role in this world as a young person. A brilliant book that reminded me of Los Bros Hernandez, favorites of mine as a young person.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great coming-of-age story about learning and growth, relationship complications, and finding places where you fit. Set in Florida and featuring horror movie magic and climate protests. I loved Dana's character growth, and the ways her relationships with herself and with her friends and family changed over the course of the story.

The art feels like a kind of classic Underground Comix homage. The heavy, drippy ink lines make the facial expressions kind of hard to parse—a laugh of glee and a scream of anger are almost indistinguishable. The horror makeup looks incredible, though—as do all the locations and outfits and random objects.

[Misse Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible coming of age narrative...

Night and Dana is a true middle grade coming of age story that has a message that wholeheartedly delivers. It follows main character Dana Drucker, a high school student with a special talent for crafty special effects makeup to lessen the blow of teenaged boredom. In all of her boredom, she and her best friend, pull a silly prank that lands them in the principal's office with an ultimatum. Either make use of this new mandatory project or no graduation. What might pose as a bummer to other students becomes a journey to self discovery that Dana could hardly have prepared for. It will put Dana and Lily's loyalty and friendship to the test and just as things to begin to collapse around here, Dana begins to create her own path.

It's a graphic novel filled with a variety of themes relating to self discovery and identification and the pressures of school, life at home, and the future ahead with the thoughtfully constructed illustrations to match. I enjoyed it and thank NetGalley and Lerner Publishing Group for the gifted copy.

[Skye Sperry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the art style of this graphic novel. I thought it was fun and nostalgic and gave me the feeling of laying in a grin Florida sun.

However, I wanted more from the story. I think it could’ve been twice as long and I would’ve left feeling more satisfied. I wanted more from the romances in the story, as well as all the relationships Dana is trying to untangle. I did like how messy everything got- I mean, it wouldn’t be 17 without that!

[Limeminearia]

Thanks to Lerner books for an advance reader’s copy. This coming of age graphic novel reminded me of Ghost World (in a good way). I was drawn in immediately to the small town Florida setting. I wish the primary friendship was explored more, but still thought this was a good read. TV show comparisons: Los Espookys, High School.

[Jaclyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

didn't do much for me tbh. I felt like there were a lot of gaps in the story that weren't filled. A lot of events and relationship building seemed to happen off the page. Also, for having horror makeup on the cover, I feel like it would have come up way more.

Received early copy from ALA conference

[Echo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't care for this. I didn't necessarily hate it, but the art didn't make sense to me, and it was very distracting. I didn't really care for the main character; I just didn't connect to her. I didn't really connect to any of the other characters either, so this whole book did not click for me. Could be better for other readers, but it wasn't my kind of book.
- Echo (they/xe) ⚧️