Ayun Halliday

I’m a cautious traveler but even so, things sometimes go wrong. I’m amazed Ayun Halliday is still alive. In her traveling career, she just roars into the unknown with no money, forethought, food, or common sense. From wandering through a midnight jungle searching for a wedding to instead being attacked by a pack of dogs, to buying mystery drugs from a sketchy salesman in Vietnam, to being assaulted by an angry madam for snapping pics of working girls in Amsterdam’s red light district, show more to dislocating her knee miles from help in Indonesia, she’s certainly had her share of misadventures. I can’t wing it. She’s braver than I am. show less

Ayun Halliday may not make for the most sensible travel companion, but she is certainly one of the zaniest, with a knack for inserting herself (and her unwitting cohorts) into bizarre situations around the globe. Curator of kitsch and unabashed aficionada of pop culture, Halliday offers bemused, self-deprecating narration of events from guerilla theater in Romania to drug-induced Apocalypse Now reenactments in Vietnam to a perhaps more surreal collagen-implant demonstration at a Paris show more fashion show emceed by Lauren Bacall. From taming the wild dog packs of Bali to requiring the services of a bonesetter in Sumatra, Ayun Halliday offers up the best of her itinerant foibles as examples of how not to travel abroad. For instance, on layover in Amsterdam, Halliday finds unlikely trouble in the red-light district—eliciting the ire of a tiny, violent madam,—and is forced to explain tampons, which she admits, “might have looked like white cotton bullets lined up in their box,†to soldiers in Kashmir—“They’re for ladies. Bleeding ladies.†A self-admittedly bumbling vacationer, Halliday shares—with razorsharp wit and to hilarious effect—the travel stories most are too self-conscious to tell. show less

Sadie tells a whopper of a lie in order to fit in at her new high school: She tells people she has a peanut allergy. She even goes as far as ordering a medical bracelet and looks into ordering an epipen. But managing her new life and friendships under the cloud of deception proves much more daunting than Sadie expected. You can't believe what she's trying to do but the authors present Sadie in a sympathetic light that has readers seeing her side of the story. Her palpable guilt rings true, show more as does the teen scene at school. This book very effectively considers the consequences of deception. Lib note: Passing references to White Russian cocktails, illustration of giving the finger, and a crack about fake orgasms, all perfectly within context but making this more suitable for promoting to high schoolers rather than middle school. show less

Summary: Even though it’s less than an hour away from her previous school, Sadie is not thrilled about having to move – again – and leave her friends behind and start a new high school. But Sadie’s got a plan for a way to make herself stand out in a new school where nobody knows her: she’s planning to tell them all about her serious peanut allergy. And it works; Sadie starts making new friends, including Zoo, an offbeat but charming boy. The only problem? Sadie’s not actually show more allergic to peanuts, and keeping her stories straight is getting more and more difficult.

Review: I enjoyed the heck out of this one! It reminded me a lot of Friends With Boys or Drama – both the “new kid trying to fit in on the first day of school” thing and just in their general sensibility and sense of humor. Sadie was relatable, and Zoo was charming and sweet – although I wish his techno-phobia had been explored a little more, so it would have been more than just a convenient character quirk. I also liked some of the character choices that Halliday made – in particular, the growing distance between Sadie and her old best friend, the interplay of relationships among her new friends, and the hurt and confusion on both sides when she won’t introduce Zoo to her mom. The artwork is also great, line drawings vaguely reminiscent of Raina Telgemeier‘s style, but mostly greyscale except for Sadie, who’s always wearing a pop of pink. Is the moral of the story earthshakingly novel or complex? No. But it’s a cute story, and one that feels both current, and relatable to anyone of any age who was ever the new kid in school. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: Definitely recommended to fans of Raina Telgemeier and similar YA graphic novelists, or anyone looking for a fun and charming hour’s diversion. show less