Amy's diary

In this English-language graphic novel adaptation of India Desjardins' Le Journal d'Aurélie Laflamme, the first book in a popular French teen series, readers enter the world of Amy, a teenager who is desperately trying to find her place in the world. It's just Amy and her mom now that her dad has died, but she has a best friend, Kat, and a possible love interest in a skater boy who works in the local pet store. True to her age, Amy is awkward and confused but also caring and kind, and she's striving to make sure everything in life works out the way she wants it to. Aynié's cute, cartoonish artwork incorporates passages from Amy's diary in snippets on picture panels as well as full-page entries. While many of the pop culture references are outdated, and an offhand rape joke seems out of place and unnecessary, the universal themes of growing up make Amy a likable, relatable character, and amid the few awkward missteps, readers will likely enjoy getting to know her.--Traci Glass Copyright 2019 Booklist

Gr 5-8-Amy is a middle school student whose life has been getting more complicated lately. She's been fighting with her best friend Kat, she's been struggling to keep her grades up, and her mother is starting to date again. After making fun of girls (like Kat) who are boy-crazy, Amy meets a boy who makes her realize that romance isn't a bad idea after all. Published originally as a series of French novels, the story alternates between excerpts from Amy's diaries and comic book panels. The book has plenty of visual appeal, with bright colors and doodles scrawled throughout the journal entries. Amy's mixed emotions about boys, her best friend's taste in boys, and her mother's dating habits will resonate with young people. The humor also rings true, and readers will feel for Amy as she copes with pimples or runs away when a cute boy talks to her. Unfortunately, some of the cultural references are outdated (Britney Spears songs, Dance Dance Revolution, One Tree Hill). VERDICT For middle school students looking for a sweet tale about the highs and lows of adolescence.-Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

While her teen angst is universal, diarist Amy feels like she is from another world.Fourteen-year-old Amy, who has a generous smattering of freckles and sprightly ginger hair, dutifully records many familiar teen trials and tribulations: crushes, unrelenting embarrassment, and social squabbles. Her best friend, Kat, dithers between ignoring her for a boy and demanding Amy's full attention when her relationship falters. Amy is in a tenuous relationship with Nick, a cute skater boy with whom she likes to kiss but finds herself tongue-tied when they actually talk. Her father died five years ago; now Amy struggles less with grief and more with her mother's beginning to date. While Amy's problems may seem familiar, they are never explored with any real depth. Throughout her narrative, there is little personal growth; the only things that change with any regularity are her sartorial selections. Every time Amy finds herself in a difficult situation, she runs from it, wearing thin any awkward charm. Even her space-alien feelings seem flimsy and perfunctory. Told in a diary format alongside full-color comic panels, this graphic novel was originally published in French in 2015 as an adaptation of a novel published nearly a decade earlier; this version contains scenes that read off these days, such as an unfunny joke about hamster rape and an unnecessarily awkward moment surrounding a dropped tampon. Amy's world seems to be a white, middle-class one. Surely there are more nuanced female characters than this. (Graphic fiction. 10-13) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.