Hicks, Faith Erin. Friends with Boys. New York: First Second, 2012.
Genre: Contemporary, Graphic Novel
Recommended Age Group: 13 and up
Personal reaction to the book
Friends with Boys is a graphic novel by Faith Erin Hicks about a teen, Maggie, who is forced to start public school like her three older brothers. She is awkward and, as the new kid, nobody really pays attention to her except Lucy and her older brother Alistair, both of whom have mohawks and are outsiders. Maggie negotiates high school as well as her insecurities of hanging out with Lucy and Alistair and living in her older brothers’ shadows.
I initially liked this book a lot, but the more I think about it the more I think the execution is off.
For one, Maggie’s mother has recently left the family, but this isn’t really explained into much detail. It makes it more confusing when it seems like her brothers have been in public high school for a while while Maggie is only coming to it now after she was homeschooled by her mother. Thus it’s implied that her mother has recently left her, but doesn’t that make it convenient that it’s time for her to enroll in high school?
Furthermore, a ghost haunts Maggie, but the ghost doesn’t seem to do much or add any meaning to the story.
At the end of the book, I felt like things came together a little too neatly. I liked Maggie, and I really liked Hicks’ visual style, but I feel like this was just a miss. Also, “Friends with Boys” is a really inaccurate title as she really doesn’t dwell on hanging out with boys and boys alone except for once or twice. That’s the story I was looking for. I couldn’t really advocate buying this for a young adult collection.
Author Facts
- Hicks was homeschooled with her three older brothers just like Maggie.
- Hicks first pitched the premise for Friends with Boys to DC Comics’ Minx imprint back in 2007.
- An extremely influential comic for Hicks was “Bone” by Jeff Smith.
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