The Love Report Volume 2

December 15, 2023
Lola, Grace, and their friends continue to explore the ups and downs of love. Grace struggles with shuttling back and forth between her newly divorced parents. Meanwhile, Lola is focusing less on romance and more on her friends, including helping Adele turn her new studio into a place where they can develop their respective artistic passions. Smarmy, arrogant Sean asks out Felicity; when she says no, he attempts to turn the entire school against her, but the other girls back her up. When Adele's art starts selling out at a local gallery, she's invited to Sardinia to paint a mural, and she brings Lola and Grace along. There, the girls learn more truths about romance and relationships even as a development back home creates a compelling cliffhanger for the next installment. Translated from French, this graphic novel is a big improvement over the first volume. Though most characters' faces remain similar looking, friendship takes center stage here and allows for deeper ruminations on love. The series still struggles to deliver messages about topics such as coercion, harassment, and loneliness without resorting to overblown caricatures--most of the male characters are one-dimensional, and one of the girls has a cartoonishly neglectful mother. But the emphasis on the girls' commitment to one another helps the messages land more smoothly and provides hope for the third book. Most characters present white; Grace is Black. A solid step in the right direction for the series. (Graphic fiction. 10-15)

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February 1, 2024

Gr 5-8-Grace, Lola, and friends continue their investigations into how love and romance will play a role in their lives as they grow older, beyond their current tween years. This volume features bullies, attractive older boys, a trip to Sardinia, "girl power," a kindly father figure, and a new character who has a backstory of family neglect. The girls are pixie-featured and present various skin tones and stages of physical development, from childlike to early adolescence. The settings are gorgeously illustrated and lighted-whether they are interiors of school rooms, old houses, or the illustrator's own Sardinia. While the group seems to be universally straight and cis-gendered, the storytelling and character development by the French creative team will speak to the concern many tweens hold with the question: "Will I be able to recognize romantic love in my own life?" VERDICT Buy where Volume 1 found an audience, and where graphic novels for young readers with an interest in international storytelling.-Francisca Goldsmith

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