Reel Life

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Author(s)

Kane Lynch

Publisher

Graphix

Genre(s)

Age Range

Release Date

June 20, 2025

ISBN

978-1338853919

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When Galen's parents reveal that they're splitting up, his life is thrown into chaos. He knows he shouldn't like his dad's home-wrecker girlfriend, Jasmine, but she isn't a jerk like he expected. Then his mom brings home a new boyfriend -- and his teenage daughter! To top it off, Galen's friend Kyle has inexplicably become really mean. To process these confusing emotions, Galen and his best friend, Luna, decide to make a documentary movie all about his parents' divorce. But will the reel life of filmmaking help Galen face his real life?

Author-illustrator Kane Lynch draws on childhood experiences to tell a nuanced and deeply empathetic story about the messy, awkward, and sometimes funny dilemmas that result from evolving families and friendships.

Editor review

1 review

Parents are SO hard to deal with!

July 12, 2025 (Updated: June 03, 2026)

Overall rating

4.0

Plot

4.0

Characters

4.0

Writing Style

4.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

4.0

Galen and his friends Luna and Kyle are working on a film about Laser Slug, but Kyle hasn't followed the production schedule that Luna organized, and hasn't made the slug. When Galen and Luna are angry that the have to stop filming, Kyle decides to take all of his figures and quit. Luna reminds Galen that Kyle's parents are in the middle of a bitter divorce, and his father wants custody of the kids, and may move them to California. Galen, who lives with his yoga instructor father and graphic designer mother, can't really understand Kyle's anger, since he is close to both of his parents, watching movies on the couch with both of them every Friday evening. Soon, though, his parents start to argue more and more over things like sending him to camp so he doesn't spend all of his time indoors messing around with filming, and he finds his father sleeping on the couch, texting a "pal" whom he met at a conference. Sure enough, his father has a girlfriend, and his parents are separating. His father moves into an apartment, and he has to learn to deal with new people and situations. His father's girlfriend is Jasmine, a twenty six year old with green dyed hair who wants to be his friend, and who shares old sci fi horror flicks with him. His mother is angry, since she was supporting the family working long hours at her better paying job. She starts dating as well, and Galen is surprised to find her kissing a man on their couch! She's been dating Mike for a while, and arranges a get together for her new boyfriend and his daughter, Autumn, who does videos for her social media channel. She hangs out with Galen, but ends up taking the footage they film together and using it against him. Kyle has still been a jerk, and Luna even tires a bit of his attitude. When Autumn gets in trouble for her posts and runs away, Galen is the one who figures out where she has gone. How will Galen learn to navigate all of the new friend and family dynamics in his life.

Good Points

I'm still of the opinion that more tween readers have to deal with difficult situations with parents than with processing grief over ones who have died, but the amount of literature about dead parents far exceeds the stories about divorce. Galen's situation will speak to a lot of young people who are dealing not only with their parents being apart, but with new adults and possible step siblings in their lives. It was interesting that we first start with Kyle, who is handling things so badly, and then find out that Galen will have to deal with many of the same issues. Even Luna's parents are portrayed as having a loud argument. It is good that Galen is able to look at his situation critically and do a documentary about it, and I also appreciated that he rather liked Jasmine and didn't mind Mike or Autumn. Since this is based on family dynamics from the author's own youth, I was glad to see that these situations weren't entirely horrible.

It was painful to read about how dysfunctional and short sighted the parents in this are, but I am sure it's harder for teens and tweens to live with these parents. This is actually good, because it will make tween readers feel that THEIR lives are so much better!

I'm a huge fan of books where children have specific interests, and there are relatively few graphic novels with boys as the main character, even though a lot of boys are fans of this format. This is a good choice for readers who enjoyed Soontornvat's The Squad, Knisley's Stepping Stones or Gallego's Match Point.