Tegan and Sara: Crush

Tegan and Sara #2

by Tegan Quin, Sara Quin, Tillie Walden (illustrator)

From indie-pop twin-sister duo Tegan and Sara and Eisner Award-winner Tillie Walden comes the second book in their bestselling contemporary middle grade graphic novel duology, all about crushes, crushing it, and being crushed by life in junior high―perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier's Sisters and Sweet Valley Twins.

Tegan and Sara may have survived seventh grade, but their junior high jams are just beginning. Offstage, school is officially back in session. Between Sara’s growing feelings for her dream girl and Tegan’s falling out with her former BFF, eighth grade might prove to be even messier than last year. Onstage, the twins are swept up in a battle-of-the-bands contest to open for their favorite musical artist, landing them with a new manager, new opportunities, and new challenges, too. But stepping into the spotlight―and into their true selves―means colliding over fame, family, and finding their sound.

In this spunky, big-hearted conclusion to the autobiographically inspired story launched in Junior High, the sisters realize that to get the gig that could change their lives forever, they’ll have to first figure out who they are and how to get along.

A prequel of sorts to the authors' bestselling adult memoir High School, now a Freevee television series!

Genres: Graphic Novels, Middle Grade, LGBT, Queer, Young Adult, Comics, Fiction

240 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2024

About the author

During the course of their career, sisters Tegan and Sara have sold well over one million records and released eight studio albums. They have received three Juno Awards, a Grammy nomination, a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, and the 2018 New York Civil Liberties Union Award. They have performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, from Coachella to the Academy Awards.

Outspoken advocates for equality, in 2016 Tegan and Sara created the Tegan and Sara Foundation, which fights for health, economic justice, and representation for LGBTQ girls and women. The sisters currently reside in Vancouver, British Columbia, and split their time between there and Los Angeles, California.

Reviews

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crush is a great follow-up to Junior High, particularly because it can lean on all the hard work that previous book did to introduce us to the characters. That means in Crush we can blast right into the story, which sees Tegan and Sara entering grade 8 with a major new concern: are they gonna become a real, actual band that like, plays gigs and makes music videos and has a manager??

Alongside this plotline, Tegan and Sara continue to explore their relationships (thus, the title) and tackle tough decisions - sometimes together, sometimes separately. The duo really stand out individually in this volume, probably helped by a leveling-up of Tillie Walden's artwork.

It looks like Crush might end the series, but I'm hopeful we'll see more from Tegan and Sara in the future! I mean, there are four more grades until graduation...

[currentlyreadingbynat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crush by Tegan and Sara is a charming graphic novel that picks up where Junior High left off, but could stand alone for new readers. As Tegan and Sara Quin begin eighth grade, their music career takes off, bringing new challenges and excitement.

The book beautifully illustrates their early teen experiences, focusing on crushes and their passion for music. Tillie Walden's artwork vividly brings the story to life, capturing both the fun and serious aspects of growing up. It's a quick, fulfilling read perfect for fans and young readers exploring their identities.

Many thanks to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) and Netgalley for a copy of this graphic novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.

[Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I enjoyed this installment more than junior high; I liked the shift from friendship drama to more focus on navigating a music career while also being in grade 8. I felt the storyline with Noa wrapped up a little too conveniently for my taste, but I also enjoyed the lack of drama and focus on the friend group together. I feel like this one also simply had less text that junior high, which made it easier to read and I felt this book overall had more of a focus. Besides music, this book focuses a lot of the girls have crushes, and I liked the add of having a crush on an older girl (isn't that so many queer girls' experience??). The way this wrapped up, it could be the conclusion or the series could continue. I'd love to read more, and I'm hopeful this isn't the end of Tegan and Sara's graphic novels.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second book in this duology is as good as the first. Real-life bandmates Tegan and Sara Quin follow their fictionalized counterparts through fairly typical eighth grade friendship and crush problems as well the not-so-typical problems caused by their rising musical success.

It's not earth-shaking by any means, but the story follows a satisfying arc and Tillie Walden makes it all look so nice.


FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: Chapter 1. Sucky Summer -- Chapter 2. Divine Decadence -- Chapter 3. The Tryout -- Chapter 4. Ramona Keys -- Chapter 5. Bandwidth -- Chapter 6. Back to School -- Chapter 7. The Contract -- Chapter 8. No More Drama -- Chapter 9. Behind the Scenes -- Chapter 10. It's a Date -- Chapter 11. Javatunes -- Chapter 12. Crush -- Chapter 13. Studio Kukumber -- Chapter 14. Feat. Nite Fever -- Chapter 15. Practice Makes Perfect -- Chapter 16. Video Killed the Internet Star -- Chapter 17. Later, Skater -- Chapter 18. Ghosting Me -- Chapter 19. We Won! -- Chapter 20. The Dome -- Hello, Reader! -- Bandwidth Quiz -- [Photographs]

[hope h. · Rating 5 out of 5]

somehow i never read this?? but it was stellar just like the first one. always impressed at how well tillie walden's style lends itself to both cute lighthearted middle grade stories and eerie, unsettling surrealism like in Are You Listening?. the story was also so cute and i loved how well it depicts the universal 13 yr old sibling bickering - and the pictures in the back of actual teenage tegan and sara MADE MY DAY. 90s fashion icons for REAL. in conclusion, everyone go read this immediately??

[Steph · Rating 4 out of 5]

i was ambivalent about the first T+S graphic novel, but i loved this one! the little sparkle of vegan rep is hugely appreciated.

rtc!!

[andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

thanks Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy of this cute graphic novel.

this one is out October 1st, 2024.

--

as expected, this was a real winner for me. i love tegan & sara and i can't recommend their stuff enough (music and writing, both).

crush is a cute follow up to junior high, the first graphic novel in their middle school series that is loosely based on their life, upbringing, and the formation of their band and journey as a musical duo.

high school was largely autobiographical (the audiobook is great for that one and includes snippets of them performing as kids) and junior high and crush take a LOT of liberties. events align differently than they happened in reality in this series and different things have changed. this isn't 90's set and includes aspects of social media and cellphones, but the messages here are all pretty much the same: music is hard and music is work.

in junior high, i feel like a lot of the focus was on relationships between tegan and sara and friends and various romances which was cool. crush focused more on the relationship between tegan and sara themselves and how they navigated burgeoning fame. very quickly, they acquire a manager named ramona and are divided down the middle about how she works. tegan's focused on practice and writing, sara just wants to have a personal life. personally, this story was much more interesting to me than that of the first entry into this series.

as always, tillie walden's illustrations just do it for me. tillie walden is the one. i think for younger readers this is a pretty great intro into the world of tegan and sara as well as themes of sisterhood, friendship, learning that life is a balance of hard work AND fun, but also the importance of passion and standing up for yourself.

loved this one very much.

[Michael Gabrielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

So damn sweet, and so beautifully illustrated. Makes me really happy to see happy + easy queer representation for the kiddos (and also for me). Getting to see them talk about this live on their book tour was such a treat, especially among some of the next generation of fans. The kids are alright!

“I hate that I have this.”

“Have what?”

“A heart. With feelings.
I don’t know if I can play ‘Crush,’ Sara. It’s too hard.”

“I know. I know how you feel.
It does get easier.” (p. 147-148)

[doowopapocalypse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arc from NetGalley.

Not as interesting as the first collection. Felt like this one dragged a bit.

[Sacha · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

I really enjoy Tegan and Sara's music, and it's such a huge treat to get to encounter all of this great added multimedia content from them!

This is a follow up to _Junior High_, though this book can easily be read in isolation, especially but not exclusively by fans of their work in any format.

In this latest graphic novel, the sisters dig into their music further. They're continuing to explore their early teen lives, this time in the format of crushes (hence the title) and the passionate songs they drive some people to write and perform. The duo participates in a small competition; the prize is a pretty awesome performance opportunity. Through the experience, they learn more about themselves and each other, but they also - of course - expand their music careers.

These books continue to be wholesome (and age appropriate), and both explore the lives of exceptional kids in this age range and also offer opportunities to dig further into a fictionalized but inspired account of the authors' experiences.

This is a quick and fulfilling read, and I look forward to more!

*Special thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) for this arc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

[Lisa Pineo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This graphic novel was excellent. I enjoyed it even more than the first one. I remember grade 8 fondly, while also cringing at my multitude of crushes, bad poetry, music requests for different boys on my local top 40 radio channel and the heartbreak I felt when none of those boys liked me back (as far as I could tell). Tegan and Sara do a fantastic job of putting all of those feelings into this book with Tillie Walden's artwork bringing it all into visual perfection. I loved the crushes on friends and an older friend/mentor, the confusion of friends ghosting you and then trying to pick up where you left off, the way the girls were pulled in a bunch of directions by their music but figured out a way to keep doing what they loved while also getting to be kids, the realistic arguments between the girls, and how their family all worked together. The queer rep was on point with not making a big deal of Sara being a lesbian and Tegan having her first crush on an older girl. A great read for all ages.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tegan and Sara is a two women group of singers, famous in Canada. Apparently they started out as teens, and so this graphic novel is a fictionalization of their life as teen singers. This is the second book in the series, but you don’t need to have read the first. In fact, I would recommend not reading the frist one, as it wasn’t as good as this one was.

The first book was just typical middle grade stuff, while this one gets into more of the music and how music should be fun, rather than work, or what is the point.

They get the chance to have a manager, and they find that this makes music unfun. That it is hard work, And while they like where the manager is taking them, they dont’ like being told how to be themselves.

And while this is loosely based on their life, I like how they empahsize how important it is to love the music making process, or it just isn’t right.There is not point in trying to fit into a mold if that isn’t you.

So, good story, and good points all around. I enjoyed this quite a bit. A different a look at the music industry.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book comes out the 1st of October.

[Laisea (grayscalebooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

These graphic memoirs are fine but I don’t understand who the intended audience is — like are there a bunch of 11 year old fans of Tegan and Sara out there??

[mad mags · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Netgalley.)

After a rather boring and underwhelming summer, eighth grade is about to start for identical twins Tegan and Sara Quin. Naturally, this is precisely when their fledgling music career begins to take off: as it just so happens, the girls' band, Gunk, was chosen as a finalist in the contest Tegan surreptitiously entered them in at the beginning of the season. Although - spoiler alert! - they don't win, they do gain the attention of their favorite singer, Nite Fever, as well as her manager, Ramona Keys - and of course Chloe's cousin, DJ Kukumber. Now, in addition to navigating the normal perils of junior high - unrequited crushes, homework, and sometimes-fraught friendships - the Quins also have to decide how much they're willing to sacrifice to make it in the music industry.

CRUSH is the second and final installment in Tegan and Sara's middle grade duology. I just happened to grab of a copy of JUNIOR HIGH from my local library last month, thoroughly enjoyed it, and jumped at the sequel when it came up on Netgalley. I suspect I'm not the target demographic, since I approached the series as a Tillie Walden fangirl, as opposed to a Tegan and Sara fan. I absolutely adore her illustrations and storytelling style; she single-handedly managed to pull me back into Robert Kirkman's THE WALKING DEAD 'verse with CLEMENTINE (like many fans, it's a love-hate relationship I have with TWD tbh).

So, not knowing much/anything about Tegan and Sara, CRUSH (and JUNIOR HIGH) is shockingly adept at creating characters who are extremely relateable, even though their life circumstances are anything but. (Let's be honest, how many child prodigies are in the audience?) Tegan and Sara have different ideas about what their band should look like, and struggle to remain true to themselves even as their manager tries to repackage them as a salable commodity. In their personal lives, Sara explores her feelings for the elusive (or not?) Roshini, while Tegan nurses the broken heart that comes with crushing on an older girl. Lucky them: they get to live out their growing pains in front of a live audience, in the form of BTS snippets.

In the afterward, Tegan and Sara describe the tween girls as their "fictional doppelgängers." Whereas the Quins grew up in the '80s and '90s, the world here is set firmly in the present day, complete with smart phones, livestreaming, and wifi. It's kind of interesting trying to figure out which bits are true (or not), although I guess this is less of an issue for the non- (or casual) fan, like me. Some of the details did feel a little unrealistic; for example, I cannot for the life of me imagine a manager taking her firing so well. (Idk, maybe they're a little more laid back in Canada, even the show biz types.)

As a vegan, I took a special interest in Sara's burgeoning veganism. (I believe she went vegetarian in JUNIOR HIGH, possibly to impress Roshini?) Tegan is initially annoyed at her twin's efforts to catch her crush's eye, but Sara's veganism becomes a bigger issue when managers and stylists keep pushing leather on her. (Ramona's objection that she's not EATING the dead animal, so just what is the problem? - I'm paraphrasing - is kind of perfect. We vegans have heard it all, folks.)

Naturally, immediately after finishing CRUSH, I feverishly googled different variations of "Tegan and Sara" + "vegan." Disappointingly, the top result was (always!) a Livejournal article from 2009, "Tegan and Sara--not vegan, and actually pretty obnoxious about it." (lolz) Sara did write a forward to VEGAN CUPCAKES TAKE OVER THE WORLD, but it is curiously devoid of the word "vegan." And then I ... kind of lost interest?

But yeah, I am left wondering whether Sara went through a vegan "phase" in junior high, or whether this was just one of the fictionalized bits, perhaps meant to illustrate the clash between Sara's beliefs and self-identity and the pressures of stardom. I suppose it doesn't really matter, since the representation wasn't bad and I quite like how Nite Fever stepped in to save the day. There's definitely a commentary about the perils of child stardom lurking in there.

CRUSH and JUNIOR HIGH are middle grade graphic novels that have appeal well beyond its tween demographic. Walden's artwork is captivating as usual, and the Quins' story is as engaging as it is unusual.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in Tegan and Sara's graphic novel duology, written by them and illustrated by Tillie Walden. Like Junior High was a fictionalized version of their High School Memoir, with them at a younger age, set in the present with current-day technology (cellphones, social media, and livestreaming) vs. the 90s, and without any sex and drugs lol. The book basically picks up immediately where Junior High left off - it would be tough to read without having first read Junior High, because it references characters and plot points without really re-introducing what happened.

Basically, it's the story of the battle of the bands competition and the start of their music career, but this time they are in 8th grade so the sibling/parent/school/music/manager dynamics are different, and technology, social media, friend drama, and crushes and coming out sort of loom throughout the logistical challenges of entering the music business. It felt almost like too much for one book, and because of this it felt like plot points felt like they got resolved quickly and easily considering how big the feelings and emotions behind everything were. A lot of the book, I had a hard time believing they were in 8th grade, but maybe that's because I am familiar with the real story from High School, and also I am reading this so far past the age of 12.

For me, the biggest strength of the book was the drawings, and specifically the facial expressions that really show the emotions of the story. Tillie Walden is amazing. I also was lucky enough to be in Seattle and get to see them on their book tour! They spoke about working with their siblings, the difference in process between writing the graphic novels vs. writing High School, how the challenges of being a young queer musician and trying to figure out who you are, at the same time that your job and livelihood revolve around being Public and Seen, have changed and gotten so much harder with all of the social media and internet that simply just didn't exist for the first 10 years of their career. For so long they were put in boxes by the music industry because they were twins, because they were women, because they were lesbians (and constantly forced to come out because journalists would ask them what the songs were about), and it took so long for them to be taken seriously, and for young artists today this is easier and harder in different ways.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea this was a sequel until I looked on Goodreads so I read the first book in the series before I read this one. I previously read High Schools by Tegan and Sara as well. It was fun to read a prequel of sorts to their memoir. I was thrown off by the story being set during current times rather than in the early 90s when the twins were in middle and high school but I think setting the book in the present helps reach an entirely new audience of young readers and music lovers. I really liked that their mom didn’t pressure either of the girls to do something they weren’t comfortable or happy with.

Thank you to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers for the ARC!

[Haylee Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I once again really enjoyed Tegan and Sara’s venture into graphic novel writing! Crush is a direct sequel to their first book. With that said, I HIGHLY recommend reading Junior High right before reading Crush because, unlike most sequels, they do not really repeat any plot points from the first book and just expect you to remember them. That was tough for me since I read it 17 months ago. However, Crush is a super cute story about how Tegan and Sara (their fictional selves) BECAME Tegan and Sara in the 8th grade while also dealing with their first crushes and friend drama! Great story for middle schoolers! Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

[Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

So cute! I wish I had re-read the first book in the series just so some of the characters' relationships felt a little fresher, but it was still good. There was more of a focus on the music career in this volume than the first one, which was fun to see. It felt like there was more drama between the twins in this one, which wasn't like, fun to read about? But it resolved very sweetly in the end. Tillie Walden's art is stunning as always.

[Alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute! Exactly what I was expecting based on the first book. I like that they are starting to stand up for themselves more. It's a lot more focused on their burgeoning music career than their friendships.

[Hannah Showalter · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5! Love this graphic novel series so much! High School by Tegan and Sara is one of my favorite memoirs, and I love this fictionalized take on their life for middle graders. I didn't like this as much as Junior High, but still such a good read and I hope there are more installments.

[Lauren | Wordsbetweenlines · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a sweet story about them as teens having a huge music opportunity. The emotions felt so real as they tried to navigate big changes and how that impacted them, their relationships and made the look at what they really want.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved the artwork in this...it FELT like middle school...and I mean that in the sense that it transported me to that age. The story was fine and I'd recommend it for the middle school age reader...but I don't think it will be memorable at all for me as an adult.

[Calciferocious]

really sweet without being saccharine. and good amounts of drama and action! checked out of the library to decide if it would make a good gift for my tiny lesbian niece, and indeed she will be receiving this book and the previous one for xmas.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cute graphic novel exploring growing up queer in more than one way

[Ⓛⓐⓘⓝⓔ · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG AAAAAAAAA TOOO CUTE I LOVE IT SO MUCH

[⋆˙⟡ Christine ⋆˙⟡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute! I love Tegan and Sara! I love Tillie Walden!

[Bridie]

Cute but so wildly unrelatable

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just as cute as the first one!

[Josie Kandich · Rating 4 out of 5]

v cute for those moody middle school dreamers!

[Felicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dnf. The stars are more for the art, the story is too corny and dragged.