Snotgirl Vol. 1

Snotgirl Vol. 1: Green Hair, Don’t Care

Bryan Lee O’Malley

2017, Image Comics

9781534300361

Graphic Novel, Fiction

 

snotgirlvol1

 

Reading Level: Not available

 

Interest Age: 14-17

 

Annotation: Lottie is famous on social media, but her life is less perfect than it seems.

 

Plot Summary: Lottie is a famous social media model who seems to have a perfect life. But everything is not what it seems. Her boyfriend dumped her and is now dating her old assistant. She doesn’t really care about any of her friends; they all just hang out to gossip. She finally met someone who she actually liked, and then something really strange happened when they hung out, but she can’t remember any of it. Worst of all, her allergies are so disgusting that people have started calling her Snotgirl.

 

Critical Evaluation: The art of this comic is really beautiful, but I think that’s the only thing about it that I liked. There was very little story to it. It was pretty shallow, which I feel might have been an attempt at satire but if it was, I don’t think it accomplished anything. Lottie is not a likable character, and her friends are even worse. There is something going on with the mystery of Lottie waking up in the bathroom with blood, but it is not only left unresolved, it seems to be completely forgotten after a point. I wonder whether it will be resolved in a future volume. I think that some teens may enjoy this, but there are other comics with equally good art that have much better stories.

 

Author Biographical Information: Bryan Lee O’Malley is a Canadian cartoonist. His first original graphic novel was Lost at Sea, and he best known for the six-volume Scott Pilgrim series. He is also a songwriter and musician. In 2005, O’Malley won the Doug Wright Award for Best Emerging Talent and was nominated for 3 Harvey Awards. In 2006, he was nominated for an Eisner Award for ‘Best Writer/Artist – Humour’, and won ‘Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Cartoonist (Writer/Artist)’ in the Joe Shuster Awards. He was also nominated for two Eagle Awards and for a second Doug Wright Award. (source: http://comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=2597)

 

Ties to Curriculum Units: none

 

Booktalking Ideas:

  • Talk about Lottie’s attitudes toward others

 

Challenge Issues: Violence, sexual themes

 

Challenge Defenses:

  • Mention awards the item has won or been nominated for
  • State the library’s collection development policy
  • Reference the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights
  • Provide rationale for the item being in the collection
  • As a last resort, offer the patron a “Request for Reconsideration” form

Leave a comment