Friends with Boys

by Faith Erin Hicks

A coming-of-age tale with a spooky twist!

Maggie McKay hardly knows what to do with herself. After an idyllic childhood of homeschooling with her mother and rough-housing with her older brothers, it's time for Maggie to face the outside world, all on her own. But that means facing high school first. And it also means solving the mystery of the melancholy ghost who has silently followed Maggie throughout her entire life. Maybe it even means making a new friend―one who isn't one of her brothers.

Funny, surprising, and tender, Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks is a pitch perfect YA graphic novel full of spooky supernatural fun.

This title has Common Core connections.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Young Adult, Comics, Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Ghosts

224 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2012

About the author

Born in the wilds of British Columbia, the young Faith frolicked among the Sasquatch native to the province before moving to Ontario at age five. There she was homeschooled with her three brothers, and developed an unnatural passion for galloping around on horseback, though never without a proper helmet (because you only get one skull). After twenty years of suffering through Ontario’s obscenely hot summers, she migrated east, and now lives beside the other ocean in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She worked in animation for a bit, and now draws comics full time. She’s not sure how that happened either.

Reviews

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It’s easy to lose your soul in high school.”



A coming-of-age tale with a spooky twist! Maggie McKay is starting her first day of high school after being homeschooled by her mother for years.
It’s time for Maggie to face the outside world, all on her own. And maybe make a new friend or two—one who isn’t one of her brothers.

This story is truly and exceptionally great!
I honestly wasn’t expecting it to affect me so deeply.
I could really really relate to Maggie during that nerve-wracking first day. Everything she was feeling was exactly what I went through and it even brought me memories of my first day (which I can’t quite decide if that’s a good thing or not) (I hate first days).

Simply put, Friend With Boys is a perfect growing up story with incredible family relationships and friendships.


There was this one perfect part in the story that put into exact words how I feel about this graphic novel:

I felt like it was made just for me.

This story is definitely going to stay with me for a long time.

4.5 stars

*Note: I'm an Amazon Affiliate. If you're interested in buying Friends With Boys, just click on the image below to go through my link. I'll make a small commission!*


This review and more can be found on my blog.

[daph pink ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely drawn , funny , sensitive and coming of age story❤❤
It's a perfect growing story with incredible family relations and friendships.......
And not to forget the characters :-
Maggie the heroine who was homeschooled for her entire junior school, now faces challenges in her new highschool . Through the course of story she discovers herself and make new friends and accept her identity ❤
Maggie's brothers
Daniel, zander and Lloyd(twins) being one the best siblings helps her sister at times of need .
Alistair He is so ❤
I wish for a growing chemistry between him and Maggie so much✡
Lucy( Alistair sister) the coolest kid , I wish I had a bestfriend like her❤

and not to forget the ghost the only reason why I deducted one star was because the story seems incomplete I mean like what happened to the ghost .

I want a second part ASAP!!!!!
recommended for everyone who loves graphic novel with sweet/coolest kids and their adventures

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had fun reading this story showcasing ghosts, pirates and homeschooling to name a few. Ohh, plus the zombie Theatre. Maggie is going from homeschooling into high school and she is a little nervous. Will she meet friends or won't she. I grew up in a smaller type of town in the south and homeschooling was outside the normal back then and they had a reputation, fair or not, of being a bit odd and different. I didn't think so; they were simply more mature and knew how to behave like a person from my perspective - at least the ones I met. They got along with adults.

I enjoyed learning about Maggie and seeing her journey through school. She had a good family. I did feel like there are a lot of threads hanging at the end. Is there another issue? Will the story be continued. So much is not explored or given a reason.

There is a lot of exploring who you are and dealing with insecurities here. It is a coming of age tale. It's a very interesting book. Yeah, First Second.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

“What about you? What’s your brand of crazy?”

Initial Final Page Thoughts.
Um… huh?! Is this a series? But mostly fantastic.

High Points.
Maggie. Lucy. Alistair. The Brother’s Brill. New school. New friends. Alien. Sigourney Weaver in a bikini. Maritime Ghosts. Maps. “Awesome Rebel Social Group”. Change. “Drinking the Kool-Aid.” Awesome dad. Graveyards. Secret pasts. Volleyball boys. Friends you don’t grow out of.

Low Points.
I’m not sure whether Ms Hicks plans to write a sequel or turn this story into a series or not but there were two major questions that were left unanswered.
I didn’t really need to know the answers, but I would like to have.

I hope it’s a series, though.

Heroine.
Maggie (Or Magsby to Daniel), oh my heart bled for you. The thought of starting a new high school half way through a year turns my blood to ice.
I loved how incredibly normal you are (why is it that heroines in graphic novels are never angsty and dramatic and blaaah?) and your dry humour and how you just let your brothers get on with it.
Not sure how I feel about you not knowing who Patti Smith is, but it’s OK because between Lucy and I will give you an education.
Also, I loved that you’re a super mad film geek and love Alien and think that Ms Ripley was put in the film purely for you (which is true… except she was also put in there for me too).

Brothers.
I love my brother to bits and pieces but he’s not a rough and tumble kind of guy. He wouldn’t have left me running through a graveyard because he would have been glued to his computer, while I sat on the spare spinny chair complaining that watching him play on computer games is boring and I demand attention NOW.
So it was great to see these brothers with their play-fights, their banter and their realistic relationships between them, especially Zander and Lloyd who had me in stitches.

Love Interest-ish.
He’s not really a love interest but I feel like I need to have a mini shout out for Alistair.
Because I have a little crush on him.
What?! He has a Mohawk, you guys.

Best Friend.
So Lucy and I are pretty much the same person (so, naturally, she’s boss).
Love for ghosties- check.
Love for museums- check.
Get scared at films and then say they weren’t after they’ve jumped so hard the people in the row behind at the cinema have popcorn everywhere- check.
Ability to put foot in mouth at any possibility- check.
Piercings- check.
Shaved head- Um… TBA.


Last of the Zombies: A Musical Extravaganza.
Um. Yeah… that happens.
I know. I know.
It was like Will Grayson, Will Grayson.
Except take away the ridiculous cheesy ending and add zombies.
Zombies.
More YA books should have musicals/theatre in them (Books where the heroine gets chosen to be Juliet and a brooding boy who has a past/hates women/is a supernatural being gets cast as Romeo and then they have an intense, destiny-altering snog backstage do not count and should be stricken from this earth!)

Illustrations.
Like I mentioned in my review for Blankets, I really love comic books that are in black, white and grey. I don’t know why… maybe it’s because I can pretend I’m sophisticated.
But anyway, Ms Hicks’ panels are absolutely brilliant. They convey the emotions and the feelings of the characters so perfectly that when Maggie was starting school, I actually felt a bit panicked.
And the scenes where Maggie, Alistair and Lucy were in the cinema were just hysterical… that’s exactly what I’m like.
I loved how even though it was a light-hearted story, the panels are constructed and put together with so much thought. Seriously, no detail is spared.


You can actually read this book online if you want to read it and can’t wait for it to be published! It’s being put up on every week (I think, that could be wrong) but there’s plenty of it up already!

Theme Tune.
So I was going to choose a song that portrayed the difficulties of fitting in at school and how to find yourself and your identity and boys and brothers and all those sort of things.
But then I realised that Lucy (or… well, Ms Hicks) had provided me with the only true option for this book.

Dancing Barefoot by Patti Smith.

Because… well, like I need an excuse to use a Patti Smith song as my theme tune.
I can just imagine Maggie and Lucy having an impromptu dance party to this song while Alistair pretends to disapprove.

Sadness Scale.
6/10. If those two unanswered questions were answered then this scale would have been hitched up a few notches.
But as it stands… it’s quite tame. There are some bits which were a bit sad (Poor Lucy) but spooooilers.

Recommended For.
People who love contemporary graphic novels…with the occasional ghost. People who always wonder what the deal with the bloke with Mohawk is. People who always thought volleyball was for girls (Hey, I went to an all girl’s school, don’t blame me!) People who can’t watch Alien without declaring their undying love for Sigourney Weaver. People who have seen Ghostbusters more than 314 times. People who can think of prosthetic limbs without also thinking of that bit in Monkey Island. People who believe the most important things in life are science fiction and breakfast pastries. People who would quite happily go to the Maritime Ghost Museum (Is that a real thing? Seriously… I want to go).


I received an advanced copy of this book from the publishers.

You can read this review and lots of other exciting things on my blog here.

[Melki · Rating 3 out of 5]

It sucks to be Maggie! She wants things to be the way they always were, staying at home with her three brothers, being home-schooled by her mother. But, mom has gone AWOL, and Maggie's headin' out that door to school for the first time. There she will encounter friends and enemies as she learns the ins and outs of being a typical high school freshman. Oh, yeah...and she keeps getting visits from the ghostly widow of a dead sea captain...(?)

I loved Maggie's relationship with her brothers. Affectionate and playful, yet not sappy. That was totally believable. The high school milieu was done to perfection with cliques and rivalries, old resentments and plenty of angstiness stirred into the mix.

The ghost thing? Not so much. Does everything involving teenagers need a paranormal element? I get that the ghost was supposed to serve as a substitute for mom, but she and Maggie never really connect. That whole storyline dragged down the otherwise realistic tone of the book.

Hicks' artwork is top notch, and her depiction of the teenage world, delightful. Next time I hope she leaves the spirits in the gym locker. There's enough drama in being a teen without melancholy specters hanging around.

[Raina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, this is hardly at all like I expected.

The title is a bit misleading. With a widely-used phrase like "Friends with Boys," I expected a story focusing on that element of life, with some discussion of gender dynamics.

But this is really not that at all. Granted, Maggie only has one friend who's a girl, but the story doesn't spend any time dwelling on the complexities of gendered life.

Between that and the mockup covers in the extra content in the back which mostly feature the title "The Education of Maggie McKay," I suspect that the title was a last-minute change by the publisher. Boo on that.

When I got over my expectations, though, I mostly enjoyed this.

There's a little bit of Mean Girls (without the girls), a little bit of ghost adventure, quite a bit of family drama. I found myself wondering why Maggie found herself hanging out with the alternative crowd. She herself didn't seem like much of an alternative personality and I never quite got why the people who befriended her did.

And then there's the homeschool thing.

I was homeschooled, and my family followed the unschooling method. Most of my "schooling" happened out in the community. I spent a lot of time in clubs on various topics (shakespeare, creative writing, crafting...), scouting, sports, religious activities, and music lessons.
So this idea of Maggie spending her entire childhood up to high school in her house with her mom feels a little off to me. There definitely are people who homeschool that way, and maybe it's a trait of relatively small towns (like the ones in Nova Scotia?). But in my experience it's only the super-religious types who believe that homeschooling should happen exclusively cloistered in the home. That said, I've seen Hicks speak in person, and she was homeschooled, so perhaps this mirrors her experience. But it did strike me as odd, in a "convenient for the story/plot device" kind of way rather than in an ownvoices kind of way. It especially jarred with the depiction of this family as relatively hip and progressive otherwise.

But besides the weird depiction of something close to my heart, this is a fun, lightish comic book. I enjoyed the Alien cameo and found the characters likeable and believable. I would love to befriend the boys in this novel. And maybe that's the point.

[Licha · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's taken me so long to finally write a review on this one, mostly because it will be one of those reviews that I'll feel as though I'll never be able to capture how great this book really is. That's always how it is with the good ones.

The story could probably come off as another coming of age book, with our protagonist Maggie entering high school after years of being home schooled. She has three older brothers who have already established themselves in school, making Maggie feel a bit out of her element as she adjusts to this new experience. Lucy, an outcast girl, tries to befriend Maggie. Pretty soon, Lucy and her brother Alistair, another outcast for mysterious reasons, are hanging tight with Maggie.

Outside of school, Maggie has a loving father who is chief of police in town. I loved the father. He was everything a loving father should be. Her older brother Daniel, who tries to give Maggie advice about school, is being bullied by one of the jocks for unknown reasons, contradicting the image Maggie had of him being popular in school. Daniel also doesn't seem to like Maggie's new friendship with Alistair, which makes Maggie very curious about what happened to make Daniel dislike Alistair so much. Maggie's other brothers are twins and they seem to be at each others throats, always competing against one another, yet their love and bond is evident. This year however, seems to be a little different for them as they seem to be drifting apart due to outside influences and interests. To top it off, Maggie is dealing with the disappearance of her mother and a ghost who follows her everywhere. It is unclear whether Maggie's mom has abandoned the family, if she is AWOL on vacation taking a break from the stresses of family life, or if she has passed away. It is clear to see that all this is taking a toll on Maggie as she shuts down and withdraws into herself.

Yet for all that may seem like many other books we've read before, there's something new and refreshing about Friends With Boys. Lucy practically steals the spotlight from Maggie, the main character. Lucy is the kind of character you want to take under your wing and protect. She's the kind of character that breaks your heart in two, and makes you want to cry for her if someone hurts her. There's a scene where you see why her brother has become her shadow and only friend after he calls Lucy a freak in front of everyone just to prove to the popular jocks that he fits in with them. Lucy's face falls apart as you see the pain this dagger in her heart has caused her, and yet despite that she remains a happy spirit, her clean innocence untouched and her smile contagious to the reader. It's Faith's characters that make this book so special. You want to know them personally.

Something about this book had me feeling very emotional. This tends to happen to me when I care so much about the characters that they become real people to me. My feelings get lost inside those panels and I wish I could jump inside the pages of the book. I loved this wonderful book, I loved the characters in this book, and I am now a big, huge fan of Faith Erin Hicks.

[Sam Quixote · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Chuck Klosterman’s delightful book on villains, I Wear The Black Hat, the pop culture critic writes that he sometimes wishes he could just write “I LOVE THIS” or “I HATE THIS” when reviewing certain works of art and leave it at that, not (entirely) out of laziness but because teasing out the reasoning behind it dilutes the purity of his visceral reaction. I’m tempted to just say for this book “I LOVE THIS x 1000!” and it’d be true but probably not that informative!

Maggie is about to start her first day of high school after being home-schooled for years. She’s also the youngest of her siblings making her the last to start high school in her family – her twin brothers, Lloyd and Zander, and oldest brother Daniel, all having started years earlier. Her mother’s left the family for some reason, her dad’s been promoted to police chief of their small town and everything’s changing. Oh and she’s also haunted by a Victorian ghost…

Like a lot of First Second books, Friends With Boys is marketed as a young adult book and the high school subject matter is certainly appropriate for that demo, but, also like a lot of their books, this one can be enjoyed by adult readers as well. On the surface, it’s a wonderful coming-of-age story with loveable characters told in a compelling style, but there’s also layers to the story that can be appreciated.

Coming-of-age stories tend to focus on identity, which is the case here. Maggie is finding out what kind of person she is by moving away from the safety of her family home into the wider world of the public school and making friends outside of her brothers, while her twin brothers are struggling with establishing their separate identities from one another. When Maggie meets Lucy and Alistair, brother and sister with classic punk looks, Alistair is learning things about himself having recently split from the volleyball team because they mocked his sister’s different look to what is conventionally considered looking “normal” and is reconciling his past with who he is now and who he wants to be in the future.

Friends With Boys is such a captivating read because its story is character driven and Faith Erin Hicks has such a strong grasp of character that everyone in the book is fascinating, you can’t help but keep turning to pages to find out what happens next. Daniel, the wise and friendly older brother who’s already becoming an adult; Alistair, the handsome troubled young man and his quirky and charmingly guileless sister Lucy; and of course Maggie herself, our amazing heroine. Maggie makes friends, she learns about the complexities of friendship, and she learns something of the world and herself by the end. It’s a simple but elegant story that transcends labels like young adult.

Hicks captures the feel of being in high school with its regimented classes, various cliques, teen anxieties over appearance, and other aspects, though the absence of mobile phones and any mention of social media suggests the setting of the story is probably sometime in the 90s or earlier. Her drawing style is of the manga school, so it’ll appeal to fans of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim.

I would say stories about teenagers isn’t usually my bag and especially comic books about young adults drawn in a manga style. I’m thinking of O’Malley’s Lost At Sea which featured teenagers so twee and precious about everything they did and said that I just wanted to punch every single one of them each time they opened their hipster mouths! Hicks’ book is along similar lines superficially but vastly different in its treatment of the characters as much more realistic with the characters behaving in a way that wasn’t trying so hard to show them as cool but as people awkwardly revealing their personalities and worldview to others in a way that felt sweet and genuine.

Speaking of realism, yes there is a ghost in the book. It’s an interesting choice that gives the book a magical realist flavour but also acts as a metaphor for the absent mother (Maggie is “haunted” by her missing parent and doesn’t quite know how to deal with it). Part of Maggie’s character arc is realising why her mother left and coming to terms with how she feels about it. This aspect of the book is probably the most remarkable in how its handled. The reader is given barely any information and has to read between the lines to figure out why Maggie’s mum left them. It’s so subtle and yet asks the reader, presuming they are younger, to think for themselves and put themselves into an adult’s shoes - why do you think a grown up would to this? Hicks is asking the reader to think about the situation as much as she is making Maggie think about it.

I’ve seen some reviews which complain about how unresolved the ghost thread is, and I think those readers are missing the point. This book isn’t about the ghost, nor is it about tying up every story thread - it’s about Maggie completing her character arc, which she does. And if we continue with the theme of growing up, isn’t part of growing up realising that life isn’t like a story and that mysteries remain whether we want them to or not?

Friends With Boys is a heartfelt and compulsively readable story of growing up with a number of different emotions artfully woven into it. There’s stuff here that grown-up readers will appreciate as it gives us something more to think about while reading, but younger readers will find it gripping too. It also contains the most important quality a book should possess: it’s really, really fun to read. It’s got a great story, a wonderful cast of characters, and the writing and drawing are both first class.

I know I definitely read too many Marvel/DC books so I can get jaded about comics because so much of their output goes from crap to mediocre, but then I read comics like Friends With Boys and something clicks in my brain. Oooooooooh, I remember - THIS is why I love comics! If a book like this can pierce the cynical-but-ever-hopeful shell of this reader and - what’s that odd sensation? Oh it’s a feeling! How unexpected and pleasant! - yes, make me feel things while reading it, then it’s a special book that’s worth seeking out.

I LOVED THIS x 1000!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Graphic novels could be the longest on-again-off-again-still-going love affair in my life. Whichever form the tale takes, funny pages, comic book, web, or novel, the art has been a part of my reading life and love as a far back as I can stretch the ‘ole memory. Even before I could truly read, I was flipping through the funny papers with my father, trying to look all grown up, imitating his ruffle-the-paper-grumpiness on Sunday mornings. :) Sooo…

Nothing plays with my heartstrings and emotions while simultaneously pulling all of my senses into action with such force and fun better than the graphic novel style! Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks threw quite a surprising jab my way filled with mystery, spookiness, humor, friends, and family love!

“IT’S EASY TO LOSE YOUR SOUL IN HIGH SCHOOL.”

After a childhood of homeschooling with her mother, Maggie’s life is about to change in a hurry when she sets off for her first day of high school. Life had always been centered at home with her family, but ever since her mother left, Maggie’s life has been filled with change and uncertainty. Armed with her warmth, innocence, humor, and three annoying-yet-sweet older brothers, Maggie reluctantly jumps into the high school life and halls brimming with new kids, pressures, loneliness, and tests of all kinds! On top of ALL that, our Maggie is haunted! Yes, haunted by a ghost from the local cemetery! Haha…Do you see why I love this book yet? Can Maggie make friends, find her classes, and way in school all while trying to piece together the mystery and history of her ghost’s reappearance and her mom’s disappearance?

I loved Maggie from the first “WHAP" at her alarm clock. How could I not? The girl holds a deep love and admiration for badass Alien heroines, speaks and wears her heart on her sleeve for all to see, and projects such a vulnerability and honesty in her eyes that just pulled me in and made my heart ache. Some of my favorite Maggie moments though were with her brothers. The way she could communicate and share with each boy (including her Dad) in her life was adorable and heart warming. Each brother added a new layer to the fun, story, and to Maggie. The family dynamic truly was the heart beat of this tale for me. I could feel their love, camaraderie, protectiveness and caring for each other on every page! They made me very happy! It was nice to be a part of their family for a bit.

”I’VE ALWAYS HAD MY BROTHERS, SO FOR AGES IT DIDN’T FEEL LIKE I NEEDED ANY OTHER FRIENDS.”

I cannot end this review without pointing out one of my favorite aspects of the graphic novel art form and one in which Ms. Hicks kicks ass on! The use of silence. These pages and panels were filled with quiet moments between characters. No words were spoken, but the art and illustrations said and projected so much emotion all by themselves. I adored the awkward silences, tension, and love vibes thrown out there for readers to see and feel with glances, pauses, sighs, and those eyes—so much emotion in the eyes!
Btw…This book could hold my first graphic novel boy crush! Alistair was pretty adorable in a beaming smile, mohawked, sad-and-lost-but-trying-to-find-his-path kind of way! Pretty cute! :D

Anywho…I can’t wait for more from this gang! Every character—Maggie, Daniel, Lloyd, Zander, Lucy, Alistair, and more—added a smile, message, and ingredient to the story. I will be following and rooting for all of them.

Now go, go meet Maggie and the gang! Send my love!

[Jan Philipzig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sensitive, sympathetic coming-of-age drama that revolves around high school, peer pressure, angst, friendship, parties, popular culture and... well, a ghost. Not my favorite Hicks comic (that would be The Adventures of Superhero Girl), but enjoyable enough.

[♥Rachel♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first graphic novel I've read. I have no idea why I waited so long!

Maggie has a lot going on in her life. Her mother, who has home-schooled Maggie up until this point, has left the family. She's starting high-school with no prior experience, and really no other friends besides her three older brothers. Add to that, she's being haunted by a very sad ghost for reasons unknown. Maggie is really overwhelmed trying to make her way in school. Just figuring out who she's going to eat lunch with, makes her completely nervous. Understandably so, all of us remember the awkwardness of high-school, even with established friends! Maggie ends up befriended by Alistair and Lucy, brother and sister, who are sort of outcasts in school. They look and dress different: Mohawk, piercing, but very sweet. Maggie's oldest brother, Daniel, warns her off of Alistair, apparently he has a past with him. Alistair used to be part of the popular crowd which gave anyone who was different a hard time. But that's in the past, and there's a story behind why he's no longer in that crowd. The story touched my heart, and Maggie's too. ♥♥♥

Maggie, the main character was super cute. She's a tomboy who had me at scary movie fan. Who doesn't love a girl that loves the movie Alien? I love her excited quote about Ripley: "I mean, she drives a spaceship and uses a flamethrower and kills the alien in the end-" Aliens is one of my all-time favorite movies. I love it when Ripley gets into that cargo mover and says, "Get away from her, you BITCH!" Sorry, didn't mean to get sidetracked, but Maggie is my type of girl! I also loved the family dynamic, and her relationship with her brothers; all those boys, so protective of her. The twins were a crack-up, always killing each other but under all that you could see their affection. Like I said before, this was the first graphic novel I've ever had the pleasure of reading. I really liked it; so much comes across with very few words. The pictures convey a lot of the emotion. I was hoping there would be a sequel to this story but I guess this is a stand-alone, which is a little disappointing because there were some questions unanswered. I guess it's better to be left wanting a little more than wishing it was over, right? Anyways, I really enjoyed this and would highly recommend to fans of this genre or anyone looking for a cute story.

Thank you to First Second Publishing and Netgalley for allowing me to read this!

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

NEW GENRE!

For me, at least. I've always considered myself an open-minded person, but then I look at my shelves (YA, Aussie YA, Aussie YA, Classic, Generation Kill) and I realize how limited my book choices have been. I read my first Urban Fantasy series this year (Mercy Thompson, baby!) and now with Friends with Boys, I've entered Graphic Novel territory.

And I liked it!

This is the story of Maggie McKay, a homeschooled girl about to enter the shark tank of high school for the first time. She's dealing with typical teenage problems: a mother who's just run off, aggravating older brothers, and a ghost who follows her around. Anyway, who has time to worry about a ghost when you have to worry about fitting in for the first time. The setup to this story reminded me a bit of Mean Girls, but instead of Regina George and the Plastics, you have Matt and the Pack.


What I really liked about this was that it didn't go for the expected -- and easy -- route with mean girls but instead focused more on Maggie's loneliness and mean boys! The homeschool stigma is there for Maggie, but her older brothers dealt with the brunt of it when they first entered high school. While friendless, Maggie plays the role of observer and watches the dynamic between Matt George and her eldest brother, Daniel, Matt and the mohawked Alistair, and Alistair and Daniel. She finally makes a friend in Alistair's equally hair-challenged sister, Lucy. Lucy is energetic and spunky, a vibrant, lovable character who often puts her foot in her mouth while trying to draw Maggie out of her shell. However, there is nothing vindictive about Lucy. The Mean Boys, on the other hand, are constantly on the prowl. Wait til you get to the part about Maggie, the Mean Boys, and a stolen wooden hand.

I really enjoyed my first foray into graphic novels. It totally felt like cheating. A book with pictures! Lots of pictures! But there's also a plot there. It felt a bit disjointed at times with the different storylines (high school story, sibling story, ghost story, etc), but overall, it was well done.

If you want to try this novel for yourself, you can buy it tomorrow or read the entire novel on Faith Erin Hicks's website for another week. Here's the link. As Rayanne whispered to Angela in the opening credits of the ultimate high school show, "Go now. Go!"

To read why my nickname is now Magsby, check out Noelle's review of Friends with Boys at Young Adult Anonymous.

[Meepelous · Rating 1 out of 5]

Surprisingly disappointing for a book from an author and a publisher which I have enjoyed previously. I spent most of the book thinking maybe it just wasn't my taste, but when the end rolled around and I realized nothing had really happened... I'm not sure how this counts as a book?

Not to say that the art was seriously sub par or something, but literally nothing progresses in this book at all. About the only thing that happens is that Maggie's brothers suddenly inexpicably decide to become friendly with Maggie and her friends. Who are friends with Maggie for no apparent reason. They can all see a ghost, for no apparent reason. The ghost exists for no apparent reasons. Maggie's mother has disappeared for no apparent reason. Maggie and all her brothers were home schooled for no apparent reason. Maggie's family doesn't home school through high school for no apparent reason.

Maggie's cop dad lets her off scot free for stealing a historical artifact and gets her friends in trouble instead because apparently he's an asshole. For no apparent reason, and despite the fact that he had friendly hair at the start of the comic. Which he cuts off. I guess that's a reason. If the book was about police corruption, this could make sense. It isn't.

Faith Erin Hicks seemed to want to say something about girls being friends with other girls. Maggie talks about it for all of one page and it is sort of insinuated in the title I guess. But nothing really comes of that. A couple of those other things I listed previously did get some level of explanation in the book, but nothing to really explain the depths of drama that this book wallowed in. I had been assuming that the boy were all cursed or at least warewolves or something... But no such luck.

On a completely personal level I didn't really appreciate' Hick's depiction of homeschooling. But I can't really complain because she apparently was homeschooled. That didn't stop it from being a rather unnecessary plot point that only serves to reinforce stereotypes about isolation.

But perhaps I missed something important, I haven't gotten much sleep this week. Feel free to let me know in the comments...

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of a girl who, with her three brothers, was home schooled until high school. Completely likeable characters. Cop father. Small town... Novia Scotia, where Hicks was herself and her three brothers homeschooled. Ghost story, too. The story is basically about Maggie's adjustment to high school and dealing with a.. . parental issue I won't spoil here. Very engaging and seductive in that you like Mags and her three bros and her two punk friends... who sort of oppose the jock volleyball team... that aspect doesn't feel SO original or interesting, the typical high school bully stuff, nor the realization that we can't fix all our broken things, but I am sure high school kids would like it a lot. I did!

[kay! ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a super cute and short graphic novel that I read in like under an hour! three stars because while it was good i was hoping it would be longer!

[Noelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can read the entire comic for a limited time at Faith Erin Hicks' website Friends With Boys. Also, reading her creative process at the bottom of this page was pretty cool.

Friends With Boys is a web comic (soon to be graphic novel) by Faith Erin Hicks featuring previously home-schooled Maggie McKay's experiences adjusting to public high school, making friends outside her family and oh yeah...figuring out why that pesky ghost is following her around.

Maggie is a likeable, sympathetic heroine who is complemented nicely by her charismatic brothers. The sibling dynamics of both the McKay brood and Maggie's new friends Lucy and Alistair are my favorite parts of the story. The characters' interests really filled out the story nicely and were fun to read about to boot.

Hicks excels at communicating emotions with no words, whether it's her beautifully articulate facial expressions or wide framed scenery shots. Maggie's high school map and field notes are both hilarious and dead-on. The characters are all expressive and charmingly rendered.

Some elements of the story are left open-ended but I enjoyed filling in the blanks myself about the ghost and what she meant in relation to what Maggie was going through with her mom. Maybe that's just what the author intended or maybe I have an overactive imagination.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars.Friends With Boys has some pretty enjoyable funny, spooky and poignant moments.

This review was originally posted at YA Anonymous.

[Liz Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a story that I enjoyed for the plot, but not very much on the art aspect. It looks more like a manga, which might have been a better format. But, nonetheless, it was very interesting. Now, the title is a bit misleading, she is not a friend with just boys, they are her brothers, but it also forgets to mention that she is sort of haunted by a ghost. Yet, WHY DID YOU LEAVE THE STORY IN A SORT OF CLIFFHANGER? I NEED TO HAVE ACTUAL ANSWERS WOMAN!

[Stacey | prettybooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I borrowed Friends With Boys from Debbie while I was loaning her Relish – My Life in the Kitchen , one of my favourite graphic novels. Friends With Boys is the first graphic novel I’ve actually read since Relish nearly a year ago. I was particularly looking forward to it because it’s part contemporary – about a teenager called Maggie who used to be homeschooled until her mother left home suddenly, and now she has to find a way to navigate the treacherous world of high school – and part paranormal – Maggie is haunted by a ghost in the local cemetery she visits. I adore all things YA contemporary, whether novels, movies or TV series, and so I’d love to see more graphic novels in a similar vein. I’ve just bought This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki and there's a great list over on Women You Should Know.

I very much enjoyed the coming-of-age aspect of Friends With Boys, about the awkwardness of growing up and wanting to fit in but not really knowing how. Maggie’s always had her older brothers for emotional and academic support but now she’s alone and has to fend for herself – until she meets Alistair and Lucy, two school outsiders. I love that the artwork in young adult graphic novels perfectly captures what it is to be young. Maggie is authentic in her shyness and teenage awkwardness, and this is depicted wonderfully. Friends With Boys is a spirited story about growing up, making friends and starting somewhere new, and it touches on family relationships and the loneliness that comes with losing someone close to you. Although the majority of graphic novels are fantasy, illustrations enable the reader to see each character’s emotions quite clearly, in a way that’s incredibly colourful and vivid despite the black and white lines.

Friends With Boys has an unexpected paranormal twist that all becomes clear towards the end, and allows our protagonists to be a little adventurous, although I would have been happy with a completely ‘realistic’ story too! Friends With Boys is an enjoyable foray into the small but diverse selection of coming-of-age graphic novels. Faith Erin Hicks is illustrating Rainbow Rowell’s upcoming fantasy graphic novel and I can’t wait to see it!

I also reviewed this book over on Pretty Books.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggie is a fourteen-year-old girl who was homeschooled, like her three brothers, until her mother abandoned the family and took off. Now Maggie (whose father is the police chief) has to go to high school for the first time. Besides dealing with the usual trials of being the new kid at school, she's also haunted.

This graphic novel is mostly a sweet family + high school drama (Maggie needs to find herself, she's got issues with her mother having left, her brothers have friends and nemeses at high school and she is inevitably drawn into one circle and into conflict with another, etc.) The ghost is an interesting plot device because while technically it makes this story a "fantasy," the ghost doesn't actually do anything. She just appears now and then, never saying anything, bothering Maggie with her presence. The plot that ends the story, in which Maggie engages in a misguided quest to "lay to rest" the ghost, just activates more family and teen relationship drama, which seems to be the point. The ghost is a metaphor - alternately, for Maggie's vanished mother, for her search for herself, for unanswered questions that won't necessarily ever be answered, for guilt, for all the things you cannot put to rest. You could assume that Maggie is only imagining the ghost and it wouldn't change the story, really.

As a story, only 3 stars, though I am fond of these kinds of bittersweet bildungsromans about a gentler and friendlier adolescence than I had, but I also really like Faith Erin Hicks's crisp black and white art, which conveyed emotions and gestures and expressions very cleanly, along with action. I have been a fan of Hicks since her web comic Demonology 101, and I'm pleased to see her having professional success.

[BookCupid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gah! Where is the ending of the book? It can't finish like this.

As a home schooled child, Maggie's only close friends have been her brothers. But now that she enters high school, she must learn all about acceptance, putting herself out there, and finding peace with her mother's mysterious departure.

The illustrations were well done, and the characters easy to relate to. I loved the whole punk hair does. It was a breath of fresh air seeing teens that didn't fit into stereotypes. A quick read that will make you want to take a break and watch the Alien movie.

[#ReadAllTheBooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit that I'm a big fan of indie comics in general. Hopeless-Savages, Koko be Good, and Blue Monday... I love them all. Friends With Boys can now be added to this list. I literally sat and devoured this in one night, flipping back to scenes and images that I particularly loved, especially Maggie's interactions with her family.

One of the best things about this comic was that the main character isn't some picture-perfect character with flawless skin and great hair. (You know the ones I'm talking about- the characters who are supposed to be outcasts but look like models instead.) Maggie does have good skin, but most importantly she isn't perfect. She has hair that sticks straight up and a huge nose, which I found refreshing. It makes her that much easier to instantly relate to as an average person. I also loved Maggie's expressions throughout the book. She's a very expressive character and it shows through her facial features. Another thing that I loved about the artwork is that it reminds me of so many different artists without actually copying their style. Hicks might have potentially been inspired by them, but her artwork style is all her own. (Especially reminds me of Koko be Good and Blue Monday.)

The story line here is pretty interesting, although I'd like to warn people that the ghost part of the story is never fully explored. I'm not sure if that means there will be another volume, but if you're hoping for a big ghost story then you'll be disappointed. She (the ghost) does factor into the story, but not as the main grab. No, the biggest and most basic focus of the story is Maggie growing up and adapting to life outside of her comfort zone. Hicks does a good job of showing this off, from Maggie's awkward first day to her attempts to deal with some of the more major issues of her life.

This is only a brief glimpse into Maggie's world and I hope that this won't be the last I see of her, but this does work as a stand alone book for the most part. People wanting a definitive ending will undoubtedly get frustrated at it and I won't entirely blame them. This doesn't have the clear cut ending that I normally want my stories to have, but it's satisfying enough that I won't begrudge it. I loved this manga and I would love to see more like it, if not more of Maggie herself.

[Emilia P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decide what kind of book you are, FWB. Also, get a better title. This book wasn't about being friends with boys. It was a little bit about having brothers, and a little bit about Friends with Mohawks. And also about ghosts. It wasn't really about Being A Teen, and I think it lost a lot by being forced into being framed that way. A squarer focus on the ghost story would have made it a much better book I think. With so many un-fleshed-out plots, it was sort of forgettable.

That said, Faith Erin Hicks, I like the way you draw. Scott Pilgrimy, dynamic, and friendly, identifiable characters. Huzzah.

[Alice Oseman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really wonderful story abundant with complex characters.

[Seth T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a bit of a history with homeschooling. A personal history. I wasn't homeschooled myself (heavens no!) but my second, third, and fourth girlfriends were all (curiously enough!) homeschooled. None of them knew each other and they didn't even share social circles. Weird, right? My mom was even concerned enough about the social wackiness of homeschool girls that she declined to introduce me to the girl who would become my fourth girlfriend (and eventually wife).*

I don't have anything particular against homeschooling. Like any choice in any circumstance, it has its benefits and deficits. It's kind of like how when you buy a car that will have enough seats for four children (maybe your two and a couple of their friends), you're giving up a) decent gas mileage and b) the ability to ever approach looking cool again ever. Or when you opt for gas mileage, you're sacrificing the ability to take your family anywhere—heaven forefend the moment both of your children require a trip to the emergency room. So basically, whether you were homeschooled or publicly schooled or whisked away to that magical realm of the fabled boarding school, you missed out on some pretty cool things but simultaneously had an interesting and potentially valuable formative experience.


[Vaulable formative experiences like this one!
Also, this is a good place to once more note how much I adore overly descriptive onomatopoeia.]

Do the positives of homeschooling outweigh the negatives? Possibly. Do the negatives outweigh the positives? Again, possibly. It all depends on personality and circumstance. Some kids will take to homeschooling like seagulls to a dolphin carcass. And of course, things aren't quite so barbaric and wild as they were in the early days of the homeschooling movement. Now you'll find homeschooling collectives that particularly focus energy on creating social experiences for their young guinea pigs. Homeschooling is more an acceptable alternative to public education today than it has been at any point in the last century. Still, though, questions as to the child's social preparedness persist as the most vocal homeschoolers continue to show themselves awkward and painfully unaware of how ill-fitted they are with a society that really doesn't care where they went to school.** Case in point.***

With all this in mind, I was actually pretty pleased with Friends With Boys. Authoress Faith Erin Hicks parlays flavour from her own homeschooling experience into a young-adult vignette of a young woman's first days in a public high school. Maggie is anxious, unhappy, and maybe even a little bit terrified as she has to adjust to an educational dynamic that is not governed by her now-absent mother. My wife (Girlfriend Number Four and homeschooled, for those of you keeping track) confesses to having nightmares as a youngster that she would—for reasons contrived only in the logic of dreamworlds—be forced to go to a public school. There was even a time in junior high when she was invited to a friend's school for the day and she almost died of anxiety trying to concoct a scheme how to get out of the invitation. So Maggie's misery over her new situation is apparently pretty believable.

And while Hicks obviously has her own thoughts about homeschooling, she doesn't bang any drums in defense of or aggression toward the educational alternative. Hicks even has the opportunity when a new friend of Maggie's (previously, her only real friends were her older brothers) remarks at how she's not actually completely socially dilapidated. It's a great opportunity for Hicks to spaz out and diatribe in whichever direction she leans, but instead the author plays the moment out quietly, amusingly, and with little fanfare. Maggie's story reads, for its duration, as believable, human, and not really at all interested in making any kind of dogmatic personal statement—a valuable lesson in storytelling for those who'd rather make their points overt (and therefore trivial).



After reading The War at Ellsmere a few weeks ago, I knew I had to seek out more work from Hicks. While I admitted a lukewarm feeling toward her subject-matter in that earlier story, I adored her art. I had hoped that years and experience would grow Hicks into a creator I could follow without reservation—and it seems my hopes have not been disappointed. I discovered in the last two weeks Friends With Boys and Hicks' webcomic Superhero Girl and both are a joy to read. Friends With Boys fully does away with any reservations I held after reading Hicks' Ellsmere. Not only does her writing improve dramatically, but her art (with which I had no problems) just gets better and better.

Visually, Hicks' style shares some kinship with Bryan Lee O'Malley (in that if you saw one, you might be reminded of the other), but her technique is far more detailed. Friends With Boys' greatest success may be in its treatment of facial expressions. Hicks allows a sizable percentage of panels to tell the book's story silently, pushing panels to rely wholly on a character's look to convey the full force of whatever is going on in the moment. And she pulls this off better than most comics artists I can think of. As well, and this is really of minor interest, I enjoyed Hicks' fashion choices for all her characters. Their various and changing outfits add one more dimension of believability to the effort.



Friends With Boys is more than just a homeschooled-fish-out-of-water story. There's the part about adjusting to life without mom, the part about redemption from past mistakes, the part about forgiving and forgetting, the part about how jerks will be jerks. And there's the part about the ghost. When the ghost first popped onscreen, my initial thought was that First Second was in a rut—after all, Anya's Ghost , a young adult fish-out-of-water story featuring a ghost came out a bare year earlier. Fortunately, the two stories are nothing alike and both acquit themselves well on entirely different terms.

In any case, while Friends With Boys is about more than just a homeschooler trying to adjust to the "real world," it's the book's exploration of a particular homeschooler's life and distress that makes it such a winning story. Maggie is an endearing protagonist and her homeschooling-derived hesitations and insecurities are entirely understandable. When she makes friends, we as readers buy it. When she makes mistakes, we also buy it. She's a whole person and even if she has quirks that we ourselves may not exhibit, they're of an order familiar enough that any one of us very well might. We might even be surprised at how normal Maggie is for a homeschooler.



Notes
* It's not that she had anything particular against those of homeschooled ilk. She just knew that my recent history with two such young women was probably more complicated than it ought to have been because of the manner of their former education and the kind of upbringing that one might experience as part of a home that consciously set out to countercult the normative culture like that.

** Beyond the obligatory, "Huh. Homeschooled? That's weird," nobody is interested in where you went to highschool. The fact of someone's homeschooling will only come to mind when they start acting weird. At this point, the homeschooler is at a decided advantage, being able to simply fall back on: "Oh, sorry. I was homeschooled. Have a little grace?"

*** This guy makes homeschoolers look really weird to those outside the bubble. From this video, homeschoolers come off as defensive, over-compensating, and desperate to be accepted by a social group that they pretend to not care about. This kid is not the hero homeschoolers need but perhaps the hero they deserve? I suppose the problem is that despite the fact that homeschooling probably churns out scads of "normal, well-adjusted children" every year, those aren't the types of homeschoolers who would make a video attempting to address misconceptions about homeschooling.
_____________________

[Review courtesy of Good Ok Bad]

[Tessa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay, ready? 3...2...1...RANT.

"Wow, so you were homeschooled before you came to high school? That's so weird!"

Why. Why is this weird. I've never met a homeschooler who thought it was weird. I've never met a homeschooler who said, "Wow, you were public schooled? That's so weird!" Do you not get that this is rude or what.

"You just seem so normal!"

Why wouldn't she be normal? People are always surprised when I say I was homeschooled. It's not like you can tell just by looking. Homeschoolers are people too.

"But weren't you lonely without friends?"

Hold it right there, you insipid cretin. Maggie never said she didn't have friends. Why do you think she doesn't have friends? OH RIGHT BECAUSE SHE WAS HOMESCHOOLED AND PROBABLY KEPT LOCKED IN A TOWER LIKE RAPUNZEL.

"It must have been weird to have your mom for a teacher--"

Not really. Not really at all. It must be so weird to entrust your education to strangers.

"I think I'd miss being with people if I was homeschooled."

Because homeschoolers aren't allowed to be around people, I almost forgot. Wouldn't want to get to close to one. It might be catching.

"Do you think being homeschooled kept you kinda isolated?"

What, from people like you? I wish. No, we aren't isolated. Isolated means kept far away with minimal contact. It's not like we were in a Siberian death camp. We go places all the time. We go more places than you do, because we can go whenever we want and you have to wait until school's out.

"School's always been the main place where I found friends, 'cause you're with people all the time. And if you don't have that..."

...you what? You crawl under a rock and die because you don't have your friendships served up on a platter every day?


NNNNNNNNNNGGGGGHHHHH.

WHY DO PEOPLE THINK HOMESCHOOLERS ARE LIKE THAT. We're not, okay? We're just not. We're people, people who have friends, people who have 'social lives.' We aren't experiments or bombs.

This is so wrong and the worst part of all is that people actually believe this stuff. I wish I could say that this is wrong and people don't really say those things, but they do.

Betcha anything that for every messed-up (or not messed-up--that's just your stupid perspective) homeschooler you find, you'll find two or three messed-up public-schoolers.

***

Okay, apart from the above this book had no plot, paper-doll characters, and a lot of weird threads that made no sense. The art was lovely though.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

[image error]

http://www.friendswithboys.com/ <-Go here if you want to read some of this comic(there seems to be one page posted per day and the entire book is almost posted)

The word that comes to mind when I think of this book is "endearing". Everything about it is endearing. The characters are loveable, the plot moves at a fast pace and the artwork is gorgeous(in my opinion.)

I loved how the author could say so much with so little. There were times when there would be a few pages with no text or conversation but these pages would still communicate so much.

To me, this is almost like a typical Y.A book brought to life with beautiful drawings, except it doesn't feel typical. It feels special and fresh and full of personality and life.

All those ingredients are there for a "typical" Y.A book: It's about a girl who is starting at a new school(actually, she's been home schooled up until this point), she makes friends with a couple of outsiders, she is dealing with the fact that her mother left her family and there is also a touch of paranormal thrown in, by means of a ghost who stalks her.

Even though these things have been used and reused in Y.A books, it all seems brand new in Friends With Boys. Maybe because it's so incredibly endearing. Maybe because it's absolutely brilliant to read.

It's equal parts sweet, quirky, emotional, funny and quietly beautiful.

I don't know why exactly. But it's completely loveable. I recommend it to anyone who likes the idea of a Young Adult Graphic Novel. It's really damn good!

[Sesana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggie McKay has been homeschooled her whole life, and is about to start public high school for the first time. Her mother, who had homeschooled her and her three brothers, has suddenly left the family. So she has to adjust to an entirely new setting, making friends who aren't related to her, a missing mother, and brothers who are suddenly on the outs with each other. Oh, and the ghost of a sea captain's widow has been following her for years.

Forget the ghost for a minute, because she's not the point of the story. This is about Maggie's life, and especially her family. And I love her family. I love the relationship she has with her father and brothers. It's really great to see a realistic, loving, and supportive family in fiction. I also like that Hicks didn't go the route of making Maggie socially awkward because of her homeschooling. She's no more awkward than any other freshman would be at a totally new school. And I love that there's no overblown romance, and the only potential love interest remains potential at the end, and that Maggie has a crush on him for entirely non-shallow reasons.

There are a few questions that aren't answered by the end of the narrative, though. Most of these are intentional. We're supposed to put the book down wondering at some of these things. I mean, specifically, the entirely undefined motivations for the ghost. Those didn't bother me, much, though I think they'd really irritate some readers. I would, however, have liked an explanation for why Maggie's mother left and where she is now. I get that, sometimes, you just don't know these things, but it would have been nice.

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this graphic novel so much! The artwork is beautiful, and I love the use of shadow and light to bring emphasis or attention to a particular character or one side of the page or panel. Just brilliant! The art really tells a big part of the story.

I immediately connected with the main character, Maggie, since she was homeschooled and is going to high school for the first time. (I was also homeschooled, then I attended high school my Senior year.) Seeing her dealing with being a huge school filled with people was just like my experiences in school.
However, unlike myself, Maggie is also dealing with her mom's abandonment, her 3 older brothers, and a ghost that is haunted her! I have to admit the ghost seemed out of place to me at first, but as the story progressed I saw how it fit in with the rest of the narrative.

Maggie is very insecure in the beginning of the book, but she starts to find some courage and self-assurance as the story goes on. She makes friends and finds out about people, good and bad. She just learns a little more about the world and the society around her.

I loved seeing how Maggie's brothers will tease her, but are also very helpful, caring, and supportive to their baby sister. All the brothers have such unique characters, even the twins, so that they are well-rounded and develop through the story.

The plot is part high-school drama, part family drama, part ghost story, part coming-of-age story, with a dash of criminal action and street gang fights. There's some delightful humor too! This book has everything!

It bothered me that the mystery of the ghost is not completely resolved at the end, so I'm hoping that there will be a sequel!

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 4 out of 5]

After being homeschooled her entire life, Maggie begins her freshman year of high school...and she just wants to go back home.

I loved The Nameless City, and was also really impressed by this YA graphic novel. The artwork is dark and detailed, at once creepy nineteenth century and...very high school. Plus there are ghosts! Specifically, a ghost from the nineteenth century with a ~tragic~ backstory. I also liked that the ending mimicked real life and didn't really have closure, but you knew that the characters were all going to be okay.

Maggie's family life seems okay, but it's been a while since her mom left them and she's dealing with her father (who just got promoted to police chief), going to public school, and the fact that her three older brothers are weirdly popular.

All three brothers have different and well developed personalities, although at first I seriously thought they were in their twenties since they had facial hair. I also liked Maggie's friendship with Alistair and Lucy, but mostly I liked her brothers. They had some hilarious moments. Particularly the hitchhiking endeavor.

Mostly, though, I just wished that this was longer so I could spend more time with everyone!

[Camden Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought that this graphic novel was really cute and quirky. The illustrations were great and I loved seeing the early sketches of the characters in the back of the book. I loved the relationships between Maggie and her brothers as well as her friendship with Alistair and Lucy. This was a cute gem that I'm glad I found at the library.