The drama of adolescence

DRAMA by Raina Telgemeier. Graphix, September 2012.

Telgemeier follows up SMILE with another GN that centers on the joys and angst of adolescence. Callie loves the theater. She learned early on, though, that her true talents lay behind the scenes as part of the crew. She has loads of ideas for this year's production including an onstage canon that will actually fire. Of course, there is more to life than the stage. Callie's love life keeps her occupied, too, with crushes seemingly always on the guys who are unattainable. Telgemeier absolutely nails what it is to be in middle school, to want to become "something," to find one's place in the world. Readers will certainly find aspects of themselves in this GN. <406>

My friend Dahmer

MY FRIEND DAHMER by Derf Backderf. Abrams, 2012.

A graphic novel about Jeffrey Dahmer? Who would have ever imagined this? But Backderf, who attended high school with Dahmer, offers incredible insight into the making of the serial killer. Being a teen in the 1970s seemed rather easy, but Backderf notes that Dahmer's life not simple. Parents who were in the process of a bitter divorce who shouted vitriol at one another until his father moved out; a mother who was taking all manner of pharmaceuticals and who had episodes of strange and siturbing behavior. Add to this mixture other adults who did not notice (or elected to ignore) the increasingly strange behavior of Dahmer himself and his increased use of alcohol to get through the day, and you have the makings for someone whose view of others and his own role in the world is seriously askew. Backderf manages to create a portrait of Dahmer as a person rather than the caricature presented by the media when his crimes were uncovered. How many other potential Dahmers might there be in our world? Backderf's storytelling uses spare text and haunting illustrations to pull readers into the world of Jeffrey Dahmer.
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