By Lynda Barry. Published by Drawn & Quarterly. Hardcover, 128 pages, B&W, 2022 (originally published 1990) The classic book featuring Maybonne Mullen and her little sister Marlys is back in print!Lynda Barry captures all the glorious magic and excrutiating pain of junior high school in this Ernie Pook Comeek collection from the early 90s. The star of this collection is 14 year old Maybonne who relays the angst and insecurity of life through hand scrawled diary entries, class assignments, and letters, in cursive with doodle and bubble letters. Of course, there is the ever-annoying yet adorable little sister Marlys who never fails to read her big sister’s diary. Barry deftly portrays the capricious nature of teen friendships, adolescent peer-pressure, and the kill or be killed nature of a middle school’s social scene in her signature style.No one but Lynda Barry can so naturally zero in on the joyous urgency yet heartbreaking poignancy of childhood. In an authentic teen voice full of diffidence and melodrama, the bespectacled and freckled Maybonne relates all of life’s indiginities on equal measure. Heartbreaking stories of a broken home, child molestation, an alcoholic absentee father and a bitter mom emerge between strips about home ec class, summer vacation, and babysitting, illustrating Barry’s peerless ability to make the reader both cry and laugh. "Barry's prose cleverly reveals the comedy inherent in adolescent self-dramatization; her quirky drawings, which resemble notebook doodles, somehow capture the appearance of the nerdy heroine and her baby sister." —Charles Solomon, Los Angeles Times
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