Angry Little Girls

by Lela Lee

Four girls--Kim, Deborah, Xyla, and Maria--are each angry for different reasons, but they are all irritated with Wanda because she is always so positive.

Genres: Humor, Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Young Adult, Adult, Graphic Novels Comics

80 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2005

About the author

Lela Lee is a cartoonist, actress and writer. Her "Angry Little Girls" weekly comic strip and six anthology comic books is syndicated by Universal Press and published by Abrams and Perseus books respectively. “Angry Little Girls” is the umbrella name for her main character, the “Angry Little Asian Girl” which Lee created in 1994 while she was a sophomore at UC Berkeley.

In addition to the weekly comic strip, Lela also acts and writes. She is currently working on a pilot script and book. As an actress, she was series regular Jodi Chang in the SyFy show “Tremors,” and recurred as Bonnie, a surgical intern on “Scrubs." She has also guest starred on “Shameless," “Grey’s Anatomy,” and "Better Call Saul.”

Lela earned a bachelor's degree in Rhetoric from UC Berkeley. She is married and has two sons.

Reviews

[Alicja · Rating 3 out of 5]

rating: 3/5

A humorous comic about five angry little girls. It was cute and funny but lacked a bit of a punch. Lee could have pushed it further. She plays up on various stereotypes and some of the strips were just ingenious but others fell a little flat.

I will definitely read more though; this book was a bit of an introduction to the girls so I am hopeful she pushes the boundaries a bit in the subsequent editions. Just so we are clear, despite my negatives critiques it was funny and entertaining and put me in touch with the angry little girl inside.

[treehugger · Rating 4 out of 5]

HILARIOUS!!! Everyone should read this and tell me what kind of angry little girl they are: disenchanted princess, pissed off Asian, "fresh" soul sistah, the crazy girl who talks to the sun..

This little graphic novel was sitting on my roommates bookcase and provided me with an hours worth of laugh-out-loud good times...and when you're living with 6 other girls, you take that wherever you can get it :).

[Farfished9 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is wonderful! Everyone BUY IT!

All growing up, my friends didn't have the heart to 'not let me be korean too' hehe and even though i'm still hopelessly white and I should have grown outta the resistance to accept own racial background...to this day they all still let me pretend...'i'm korean toooo' (la la la)

Thanks to all the halmunees and umas for 'washing' my kimchi and putting hot dogs in my kimbap! MmmMmmm love...

Thanks to Lela for writing this book!

ps cats are way better

[ee · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was everything to me and more

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I took the quiz I'm a cross between angry and fresh. But I'm pretty sure after reading it I experience all the angry colors of the wind.

[Manu]

Maria is my spirit animal

[Takata · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this years ago and brought it back out to read. I have the second book which I plan to read next. Funny stuff.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Lee’s childishly-illustrated graphic novel, we are introduced to the Angry Little Asian Girl, the Disenchanted Princess, the Crazy Little Latina, the Fresh Little Soul Sistah, and Gloomy Girl. They all take turns interacting with each other, and they families and other friends, in short snippets of events and sometimes just one frame. There is no real story here; just commentary on what it is like to be a girl disguised as humorous shorts. Each character represents a personality type: the Angry Little Asian Girl thinks everyone is insulting her; the Disenchanted Princess has everything but is still unhappy, the Crazy Little Latina is in her own hippie-like world, and everyone thinks she’s crazy; the Fresh Little Soul Sistah is “well-adjusted and positive”; and the Gloomy Girl is always seeing the negative. Like when FLSS says “Good Morning” and GG thinks “I don’t think I can live up to her expectations”.

This is a quick, light, fun read that will especially appeal to girls. Although grossly oversimplified, we can all relate to being or knowing these characters. The situations are funny and often reflect the way girls relate and communicate with each other, involving issues like weight, parents, race, and relationships. No one “story” takes up more than a two-page spread, so even the most fickle of readers will have a hard time losing interest. The illustrations, though simple, are effective and colorful. The bright yellow cover with large red letters are hard to miss.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

The illustrations and non-sequiturs and brand of humor is quite my favorite. I'm giving an extra star for nostalgia and how tickled I am for this author.

The advice is sound, and where does a cliche come from? Some of the lessons, I could have used as a cosmic heads up before letting certain people in my life.

Sometimes friends are late. Just be glad they showed up.

To make a friend, you have to shut one eye. To keep a friend, you have to shut both eyes.

We really don't have enemies. Some of our friends are just trying to kill us.

Beware of the friend who gossips about you.

Friendship has no room for jealousy.

I do think you must be familiar with the Little Girls characters to fully appreciate this volume. Otherwise, what's up with Crazy Eyes? Why's the little Asian one so angry?

My history: I've loved Lela Lee's "Angry Little Asian Girl" comics since discovering her in the summer of 2000. I liked the web comic, and I was happy when her work appeared in Asian American online magazines and other places. When I was in SF a few years ago, I dithered about whether to purchase apparel and tchotchkes because I loved her characters so, despite outgrowing that fashion ages ago. So, I was delighted to find this little book at the Green Valley book fair. Finally, some of her work I could make room for!

[ pop sugar reading challenge 2016: a book with a blue cover ]

[Bailey Desai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Forgot how much a love these stories.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

The character list within the book jacket is clever, but I thought I was in for a novel that essentializes people. Now that I've finished, I'm not sure if it did or didn't. At first, I wasn't thrilled with the author checking off all of the racial categories and naming people angry little Asian, crazy little latina, or fresh little soul sister. However, while reading the novel, I realized that this apparent racism, sexism, etc. was intentional in order to allow the author to critique assumptions and the ways we react to them. The story is incredibly clever.
I also REALLY like the idea of young women embracing their anger, talking about it, and taking action. I need to talk about this book with friend to figure out if it kept the critique constant or if it fell prey to it.

[Kathleen O'Nan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leela Lee is a brilliant comic book writer! She hits it on the head every time. Her main character, Kim, an angry little Asian girl, is a tiny replica of her angry mom, Mother Lee. Kim would vehemently deny this but that's part of the humor. So funny but also so true to life. I'm going to read all of her other books.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Turns out I'm a disenchanted type angry girl.
Even though its a relatively simple (although probably not a kids book), it was really refreshing to see female anger be represented in a nonjudgmental way and even presented as normal.

[Lisa Underwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a fan of graphic novels, but I wanted a quick read over lunch today. For the first 10 pages or so, I hated this book. But then, I found myself laughing, and even (gasp) relating to some of these characters. I read it in less than 20 minutes, so it's a short one - but worth a few laughs.

[Am Y · Rating 4 out of 5]

Colourful and a pleasure to get through, although a bit cliche.
I should add that, despite the title being about "little girls", this is a comic for adults. Definitely not for kids. No mature themes, but it does deal with a lot of angsty adult issues that would be lost on a younger audience.

[Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angry Little Girls rule!

[Effobee · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Motherly Love

YOU UGLY. THAT WHY YOU HAVE NO FRIEND.
ALL DAY RONG YOU DO NOSHING! DO SOMESHING!"

Need I say more?

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome. Makes me smile everytime I read it.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Katie and I found this book at Kinokuniya in San Francisco's Japantown over Thanksgiving weekend. We love the attitude and its therapeutic value!

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you don't like this book, well, get lost, moron!
Lela Lee is hilarious!

[Susie · Rating 4 out of 5]

So cute...and angry! Who would've thought I most identified with the fresh little soul sistah!

[Spacecat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angst. Japanese American Character/issues. Seattle Author.

[Kimlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is the cutest little picture book. it has funny text. and i really relate to the angry little asian girl!

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this and keep thing in perspective...

[KC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic! Very cute, very angry. @$%& you with cute hair.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

A children's book for adults. Kind of like Peanuts, if all the characters were variations on Lucy.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING ALERT!!!!!!! This book is seriously so funny! looking for the others now =]]]

[Wendy Lu · Rating 4 out of 5]

So very, very cute in an offbeat sort of way:) You identify with all of them at some point.

[Potassium · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of silly and also adorable comics.

[Lindsay Hicks · Rating 5 out of 5]

HILARIOUS.