Token (edition 2008)

http://www.bostonbibliophile.com/2010/02/graphic-novel-monday-token-by-alisa.htm... ( )

Shira is totally uncool--she wears retro fashions and dreams of old-style Hollywood glamour and romance. The mean girls at school make fun of her, her best friend is a chain-smoking 80 year old, and she's never been kissed. Ever since her mom died, Shira and her dad have been very close. When he falls in love with his secretary, Shira chooses a destructive way to cope with her feelings of loss. When sexy Spanish bad boy Rafael enters her life, things get even more exciting for Shira. ( )

One of the things I really like about the Minx imprint is the emphasis on diversity. The books have main characters from all sorts of class, ethnic and religious backgrounds, and I think that's great. Token was enjoyable though alittle too much of a typical teenage romance for me. ( )

Token - Alisa Kwitney & Joelle Jones 14-18
This is a Minx graphic novel, and probably one of the last coming out of Minx. Shira is 15 and Jewish and attends a Jewish high school where she feels very out of place. She has never had a boyfriend, and spends most of her time with her grandmother and her grandmother's friend, both over 80. Her father is fairly strict and when he begins dating his secretary she starts shoplifting to get back at him. This is a very true coming of age story with a lot of the pain all teenagers feel at this time, especially when they have always been Daddy's princess and suddenly are not anymore. The back of the book says that the book takes place in 1987, but I don't really have a feeling for that particular time period. It really could have taken place almost any time. Shira's eclectic wardrobe and sort of Don Draper-y dad make it seem more like the 40's. She almost has sex with an unknown boy, but it's avoided just in time. So - great coming of age, and very emotionally resonant. ( )