The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl is told from the perspective of a self-described 15-year-old high school geek with a comic book obsession. His story documents much of the drama and trauma that high school students face, including bullying, friends moving on to new cliques, first time experience with girls and attraction, and the difficulties of a blended family. Throughout the novel, Fanboy develops a new sense of trust for his family and friends as he creates his own graphic novel and slowly shares it with the important people in his life. In doing so, his relationships become more adult and his understanding of himself improves. He grows up a little bit. The book incorporates the mention and discussion of many graphic novels and comic book series, even posing the ideas of collecting versus pleasure reading against one another.Grades 9-12

Originally posted on the Best Books blog by Jennifer Parry-Hill at 10:43 AM on Feb 5, 2008