Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0670062219 ISBN 13: 9780670062218

Publisher: Viking Juvenile, 2007

Synopsis

A very unscientific poll recently revealed that 99.9% of all people who attended middle school hated it. Fortunately, some of those people have grown up to be clever and talented comic artists, with an important message to share: Everyone can survive middle school!

Edited by underground comics icon Ariel Schrag, this anthology of illustrated tales about the agonies and triumphs of seventh and eight grade features some of America?s leading graphic novelists, including Daniel Clowes, Joe Matt, Lauren Weinstein, and Ariel herself. With a sense of humor as refreshing as it is bitingly honest, seventeen artists share their stories of first love, bullying, zits, and all the things that make middle school the worst years of our lives.

About this title

About the Author

Ariel Schrag is a well-respected graphic novelist. Her series of autobiographical comics are currently being made into a major motion picture. She works as a writer for the popular Showtime program The L Word. Ariel lives in New York City.

Reviews

*Starred Review* How bad was it in junior high? Comics artists visualize the anguish in this honest, acutely perceptive compendium of cartoon black humor. Editor Schrag, who relived her high-school years in several books, including Potential (2000), adds herself to an impressive roundup of artists, including Aaron Reiner (Spiral-Bound, 2004), Lauren Weinstein (Girl Stories, 2005), and Daniel Clowes, whose comics were adapted into an Oscar-nominated movie, Ghost World . Occasionally repetitious, the comics nevertheless hit the mark in terms of emotional content, whether the subject is making friends, embarrassing parents, or suffering through a first date. Wildly disparate in style, the black, white, and gray-tone artwork ranges from Eric Enright's minimalist contribution, with figures that look like toddler toys, and Jace Smith's freewheeling, bug-eyed monster-kid comic to Joe Matt's stark, crisply drawn contribution. Kids going through adolescence will relate; so will those who have come out on the other side. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Juvenile
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670062219
• ISBN 13: 9780670062218
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224
• Editor: Schrag Ariel