The Back Cover
Hannah Stephenson
Skim, Mariko and Jillian Tamaki
If you’ve never read a graphic novel, Skimshould be your first. Written by Mariko Tamaki with illustrations by Jillian Tamaki, Skim is an astonishingly genuine portrayal of a teenage girl dealing with an absurd range of problems in high school.
Kim “Skim” Cameron doesn’t fit in anywhere — not with the popular crowd at her all-girls school, not with her own best friend, and not with her divorced parents. Skim reads like a diary in which the Tamaki cousins beautifully capture how, for a teenager, every moment feels equally significant, and all contribute to Skim declaring, “Being sixteen is officially the worst thing I’ve ever been.”
The narration is set in motion when the (perhaps gay) ex-boyfriend of one of the most popular girls in school (Katie Matthews) kills himself. This tragedy heightens Skim’s self-consciousness — because she appears to be Goth and is Wiccan, teachers and obnoxious, seemingly well-intentioned students worry that Skim is also vulnerable to attempting suicide. Mariko Tamaki’s words are spot on, as Skim defiantly explains, “John Reddear [Katie’s ex-boyfriend] was on the VOLLEYBALL TEAM, not a goth, and he KILLED HIMSELF!!!”
Skim feels even more awkward when she begins having secret lunchtime conversations in the ravine with Ms. Archer, her quirky, artsy English teacher. Skim’s thoughts as she falls in love with Ms. Archer are sensitively articulated in phrases like “It feels like there’s a broken washing machine inside my chest” and “I feel like I have wings but my bones are bricks. Because… because…” Jillian Tamaki’s drawings are powerful in their simplicity: she renders both Skim’s doodles and complicated emotions with equal precision and care.
Skim is one of the most true-to-life and brilliant books about high school I’ve ever read. The Tamakis’ words and drawings are strong and insightful, illustrating the seriousness of the subject matter. Whether describing a combination coven-AA meeting, a dance that is “supposed to be some other-worldly thing, but [is] really just the people you see every day dressed up, standing… in the dark,” or the memory of feeling unwanted at a party, Skim is unflinchingly exact in its portrayal of feeling teenaged and in-between.
For more about this book, visit www.groundwoodbooks.com/gw_titles.cfm?pub_id=1233.
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