About This Book:
A rivalry between sisters culminates in a fencing duel in this funny and emotional debut graphic novel sure to appeal to readers of Raina Telgemeier and Shannon Hale.
Sixth grader Lucy loves fantasy novels and is brand-new to middle school. GiGi is the undisputed queen bee of eighth grade (as well as everything else she does). They’ve only got one thing in common: fencing. Oh, and they’re sisters. They never got along super well, but ever since their dad died, it seems like they’re always at each other’s throats.
When GiGi humiliates Lucy in the cafeteria on the first day of school, Lucy snaps and challenges GiGi to a duel with high sisterly stakes. If GiGi wins, Lucy promises to stay out of GiGi’s way; if Lucy wins, GiGi will stop teasing Lucy for good. But after their scene in the cafeteria, both girls are on thin ice with the principal and their mom. Lucy stopped practicing fencing after their fencer dad died and will have to get back to fighting form in secret or she’ll be in big trouble. And GiGi must behave perfectly or risk getting kicked off the fencing team.
As the clock ticks down to the girls’ fencing bout, the anticipation grows. Their school is divided into GiGi and Lucy factions, complete with t-shirts declaring kids’ all
*Review Contributed By Karen Yingling, Staff Reviewer*
A new look at sisters fighting
Telgemaier’s Sisters, and Davis’ Figure it Out, Henri Weldon, and Hale’s Real Friends, I’m not so sure! The toxic nature of Lucy and Gigi’s relationship is so completely awful, and rooted in such deep emotions that I wish they had been shown seeing therapists. My own daughter like to read books where people went through terrible experiences, since she said it made her own life look better, so perhaps this is the thought behind this story.
Towards the end of the book, the girls do start to communicate and work through some of their problems, and their mother also admits that she hasn’t handled the father’s death all that well. In an end note, the author discusses her own family relationships, and includes the information that she lost her own father at the age of 19, so this is based on some real life emotions. I was glad to see that there was a very supportive grandmother, and that Lucy had Sasha at her side.
There is a wealth of information about fencing practices and procedures in the book, and anyone looking into that sport will find this to be fascinating. Each chapter starts with an overview of a move or technique, and there is a match depicted with good detail.
Readers who enjoyed the one other fencing book I can think of, Rhodes’ Black Brother, Black Brother, or the familial relationships in Mericle’s Bad Sister and Johnson’s Twins, will find this graphic novel by the Bagley wife and husband team to be an interesting look at sibling dynamics, which is made more intriguing by the addition of weapons, even though they aren’t dangerous ones!
