Fall 2021: Wild Readers Group 5 discussion

For my graphic novel, I chose to read “Allergic” by Megan Wagner Lloyd. This comic was about a girl named Maggie who discovers she is allergic to dogs after desperately wanting a companion. She has two younger brothers who are twins and a new sibling on the way. She feels a bit left out in the family and convinces her parents to get a dog. After discovering her allergy to not only dogs but all animals with fur or feathers, she tries all sorts of different pet ideas from reptiles, a fish and hedgehogs. After a making friends with the new neighbor, the girls ultimately get themselves into a bit of trouble when they try to secretly and unknowingly bring home a pregnant mouse. Maggie was so desperate for a family pet to feel like something belonged to her. This book has a cute ending that leads to happy feelings after lots of frustration and sadness for Maggie.
I thought this book was really cute and seemed very familiar because it was based out of Sacramento. I also brought home my own puppy a week ago, so it was fun reading along and feeling a lot of the same excitement Maggie felt. Luckily, I am not allergic to my new puppy!
I have not read a comic book before and realized that I wasn’t paying attention to the pictures in the story. I completed the book and went back through to look at the pictures and realized how well the illustrator captured Maggie’s chaotic life. I also realized that many of the pictures that did not have any words in them, I completely skipped over and missed messages that followed the story line!
All in all it was a sweet story and would be great for a young reader, especially a child who might struggle with using their own imagination while reading book.