As in Smile, sepia-toned pages mark the frequent flashbacks, which fill readers in on the evolution of this battle of the sisters, mainly involving Amara’s outsized personality, her love of drawing (art had always been Raina’s thing), and her love of snakes (Raina is terrified of them). The summer before Raina starts high school, she and Amara, their younger brother, and their mom take a road trip from California to Colorado for a family reunion. Fans of the graphic novelist’s work will be sure to delight in this return to the Telgemeier’s family drama.- Krishna Grady, Darien Library, CTįans of Telgemeier’s graphic-novel memoir Smile will be smiling all the way through this companion book, an often bittersweet but amusingly told story about Raina’s intense and difficult relationship with her younger sister, Amara.

Not only does the story relay the road trip’s hijinks, but it also touches on what happens with the advent of a new sibling and what it means to be truly sisters. This ability is what sets Telgemeier’s work apart and makes her titles appealing to such a wide variety of readers. The volume captures preadolescence in an effortless and uncanny way and turns tough subjects, such as parental marriage problems, into experiences with which readers can identify. The author’s narrative style is fresh and sharp, and the combination of well-paced and well-placed flashbacks pull the plot together, moving the story forward and helping readers understand the characters’ point of view. This realistic graphic memoir tells the story of Raina her sister, Amara and her brother, Will, as they take a road trip with their mother from California to Colorado to join a family reunion.

Telgemeier has returned with a must-have follow-up to Smile (Scholastic, 2010) that is as funny as it is poignant, and utterly relatable for anyone with siblings.

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