Maw Books

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Emiko Superstar by Mariko Tamaki and Steve Rolston is this years Young Adult Graphic Novel Cybils winner.  I’ll readily admit that I’m not well read in the graphic novel genre but I thought this book was really cute.  I don’t think cute is exactly what Tamaki and Rolston were going after but I loved Emi’s character.  She’s just so dang cute.

Emiko Superstar is all about coming of age and self-discovery.  Emi just isn’t happy with herself.  After being fired from her summer job working at a coffee shop, she’s now babysitting and in her words “What was about to be the crappiest summer – was flashing before my eyes.”  So even though her summer was “sucking the big one right now” it was really hard to complain because she got paid a lot and the baby was pretty cute.

Everything changes when she discovers an underground scene of performance artists known as The Freak Show.  She’s really hesitant to go and is so scared the first time she shows up that she literally runs away before she even reaches the door.  Everybody, is well, so strange.  So confident.  Not afraid to be themselves.  Total opposite of Emi.  Can Emi break through her hesitations and transform herself into somebody else?  And can she do it honestly and without hurting others along the way?  And in the end will it be worth it?

So the last lines of the book (yes! I’m giving you the very last lines) says:

It’s, you know, your kind of atypical summer adventure story.  It’s got a freak show, freaks performance art, a little larceny, a little family drama.  I guess it’s a story about love, although it’s difficult to say what love is in this story.  I guess it’s a story about how love isn’t always what it makes itself out to be, if that makes sense.  It’s a story about how true love is hard to find.  Mostly, it’s a story about me and how I became a Superstar, for a little while.  About meeting other Superstars.  Finding inspiration.  When I finish the story, this is where I’ll tell you to press “play” on your favorite song.  The song that makes you feel amazing and famous . . . even if you’re not.

If there is going to be more of Emi in any future books, I’ll definitely would love to hear the rest of her story.  I thought the story was really great, characters were all really interesting, and the illustrations were just how I like them in a graphic novel.  I’m surprised at how much I did enjoy this one.  For some reason, I didn’t think I would.  When I finished it, I don’t even think I would have said that.  But the more I look back on it, the more I like it.  And I say that probably because more than a month later, I can still remember most of Emiko Superstar pretty vividly.

Mariko Tamaki website and Steve Rolston website.

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