I absolutely loved This One Summer. The story has two main characters, Windy and Rose, but it focuses on latter. They only hang out over the summer, when Rose goes to Awago. It is a coming of age story, with the girls developing interest in boys and paying more attention to the adults' emotions. The art style, the writing, everything was so beautifully handled. I really enjoy comics that are more down to earth, slice of life kind of things. This was exactly that. It was so grounded; it felt like something I could have experienced. The general attitude by the main character just felt so pre-teen girl and wow, did I not miss that time in my life. I really feel like the authors captured what I felt like at that age. The two girl's world felt so big; they were the only things that mattered, adults don't know anything and they were obviously cool enough to hang with the teenagers. Man, what a pain. Reading this made me want to call my mom and tell her I'm sorry for being such a jerk all the time. Stories like this really exemplify female narrative; a man could not have written this story. It goes to show the importance of female writers; stories like this should be told. Not everything in comics needs to be exceptionally humorous or grandiose, sometimes it can be as simple a story about one summer. The emotions, the nuances in plot and dialogue made this a really successful story in showing a teenage/pre-teen experience. It did not dumb it self down for younger audiences, nor did it make it so intense that it would be unappealing or scary to kids of this age. This is a story I wish I could have read when I was younger, I'm sure if I did I would relate to Rose so much more.
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