Giant days

*Starred Review* Daisy, Susan, and Esther are best friends in their first year at university, and together they face down everything from ex-boyfriends to bad colds to Neanderthal bros who deserve a powerful education in the consequences of oafish male gaze. Though exaggerated facial expressions and cartoonish occurrences are frequent, the core of the story is the heartening friendship between the three girls, whose experiences are grounded in realism. Daisy has a comical run-in with her nana after a wild night out, but the story arc deals more with her burgeoning sexuality than appearing put-together for her elderly relative. Susan targets her erstwhile best friend in a misguided attempt at revenge, but she gradually realizes that forgiveness (however begrudging) makes for a powerful alliance. The overall tone is lighthearted, however, and Allison's pitch-perfect teenage snark is the ideal match for Treiman and Cogar's lush, candy-colored scenes full of rich, character-building detail and marvelous background action. With a masterful hand, they telegraph hilarious visual jokes with the subtlest of cues, like a raised eyebrow or flop of hair, and their figures are full of motion and vitality. A pairing of art and dialogue like this is uncommonly good, and with limitless potential for further stories, there's happily plenty more down the road.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2016 Booklist

Gr 10 Up-A hilarious peek into freshman year of college from the eyes of three spunky but realistic young women. Susan, Esther, and Daisy have become fast friends during the first few weeks at university. Brash Susan suffers no fools and hopes to take down the patriarchy. Punk/goth Esther can't escape the drama that seems to follow her every move. And sheltered, super-sweet Daisy begins to explore new aspects of herself (including her first experiences with drugs, clubbing, and girl crushes). Collecting the first four issues of the acclaimed comics, this volume showcases the trio's misadventures as they navigate the highs and lows of that pivotal first year of college. From enduring a dorm room flu epidemic to bringing down the dudes responsible for putting Esther on a website that objectifies "hot" freshmen girls, the friends' high jinks will cause chuckles and groans. Allison's sparkling and wry dialogue, which fans of his Bad Machinery (Oni, 2013) will recognize, and Treiman's laugh-inducing illustrations combine to create a fun romp for older teens looking forward to their college debuts. Cogar's warm and vibrant gem-tone colors complete the package. Briticisms don't detract from the reading experience (except for Daisy's birthday celebration in a bar-teens can legally drink at age 18 in the UK). The work is appended with variant covers from individual issues. VERDICT A pitch-perfect exploration of the small and large milestones of early college life that should garner a place in collections serving older teens.-Shelley Diaz, School Library Journal © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.