Author(s): Keshni Kashyap

Graphic Novels

In the tradition of "Persepolis "and "American Born Chinese," a wise and funny high school heroine comes of age. Tina M., sophomore, is a wry observer of the cliques and mores of Yarborough Academy, and of the foibles of her Southern California intellectual Indian family. She's on a first-name basis with Jean-Paul Sartre, the result of an English honors class assignment to keep an existential diary. Keshni Kashyap s compulsively readable graphic novel packs in existential high school drama from Tina getting dumped by her smart-girl ally to a kiss on the mouth (Tina s mouth, but not technically her first kiss) from a cute skateboarder, Neil Strumminger. And it memorably answers the pressing question: Can an English honors assignment be one fifteen-year-old girl s path to enlightenment?"