Growing up sounds terrible.
No one has time to do anything fun, or play outside, or use their imagination. Everything is suddenly so serious. People are more interested in their looks and what others think about them than having fun adventures. Who wants that?
Not Lora.
After watching her circle of friends seemingly fade away, Lora is determined to still have fun on her own. A tea party with a twist leaves Lora to re-discovering Alexa, the ghost that haunts her house—and Lora's old imaginary friend! Lora and Alexa are thrilled to meet kindred spirits and they become best friends…but unfortunately, not everything can last forever.
Character sketches and notes about the book’s development. Full-color illustrations sketched and penciled digitally using Procreate, then colored and finished in Photoshop.
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Ghosts. Best friends. Friendship. Growing up. Change. Death. Acceptance.
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Gr 3-6-Even though her middle school friends have all traded make-believe play for video games, memes, and parties, 12-year-old Lora Zi is reluctant to let go of childhood. An impromptu solo seance sparks a friendship with Alexa, a ghost girl who will never grow up. But despite Lora's efforts to avoid adulthood, she finds herself changing-reconnecting with the friends she feared had left her behind and making new ones. Meanwhile, Alexa reunites with Diana, her best friend from when she was alive. A children's book author, Diana has grown old in the years since Alexa's death, but she prides herself "on being a child at heart." Dialogue and illustrations have a lively, liquid flow. Yee's art is whimsical and engaging, reinforcing the graphic novel's themes of memory, magic, and change. The palette relies on shades of transition: the hues of dusk and dawn, of autumn and spring. Yee dedicates her book to "every child-and young adult-who is afraid of growing up," and her characters embody this theme, drifting apart and reuniting, pulling together and learning to let go. VERDICT A beautifully illustrated, bittersweet coming-of-age story for anyone grappling with the joy and sorrow of growing up, growing old, and moving on.-Amanda Charles, Los Angeles P.L.?(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.