Véronique Grisseaux

Fourteen-year-old Amy has a lot of changes going on in her life -- she's in a fight with her best friend Kat, her mother is thinking about dating for the first time since Amy's father died, and Amy herself might be having romantic feelings for a boy she keeps running into around town.

This comic book is a light and fluffy read. It's apparently based on a text-only book, which I am not familiar with, and perhaps that book was printed in a year when mentions of Britney Spears, Dance Dance Revolution, and One Tree Hill were more timely references. While the book's characters are in middle school, I felt some of the topics tackled here were more relevant to high school, namely, dating and being "in love." A couple of things really stood out to me as surprising --- the discovery of the mother's thong underwear and even more so, the "need" to have a female hamster raped by a male hamster. Yuck.

The book ends a bit abruptly, but I'm guessing there are plans to have more volumes. The "space alien" subtitle of this one is misleading as it refers mostly to Amy feeling like an outsider at times, although to be honest that is not a theme that is explored here as much as it could be. The illustrations fit the breezy style of the book, but they have a shocking lack of diversity -- not only are all the main characters Caucasian, but even background students, teachers, arcade players, etc. are also all white.

That all being said, this book is a good "candy" read -- sweet but not meaty. I could see how some young readers would find it appealing and could get into a book that can be finished in one sitting.… (mais)