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Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me
Cover of Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me
Borrow

One of FORBES Best Graphic Novels of 2019
On BCCB 2019 Blue Ribbons List
One of NPR's Best Books of 2019
Booklist 2019 Editors' Choice
One of Bitch Media's Best Queer YA Novels of 2019
Author Mariko Tamaki and illustrator Rosemary Valero-O'Connell bring to life a sweet and spirited tale of young love in Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, a graphic novel that asks us to consider what happens when we ditch the toxic relationships we crave to embrace the healthy ones we need.
Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley's dream girl: charming, confident, and SO cute. There's just one problem: Laura Dean is maybe not the greatest girlfriend.
Reeling from her latest break up, Freddy's best friend, Doodle, introduces her to the Seek-Her, a mysterious medium, who leaves Freddy some cryptic parting words: break up with her. But Laura Dean keeps coming back, and as their relationship spirals further out of her control, Freddy has to wonder if it's really Laura Dean that's the problem. Maybe it's Freddy, who is rapidly losing her friends, including Doodle, who needs her now more than ever.
Fortunately for Freddy, there are new friends, and the insight of advice columnists like Anna Vice to help her through being a teenager in love.

One of FORBES Best Graphic Novels of 2019
On BCCB 2019 Blue Ribbons List
One of NPR's Best Books of 2019
Booklist 2019 Editors' Choice
One of Bitch Media's Best Queer YA Novels of 2019
Author Mariko Tamaki and illustrator Rosemary Valero-O'Connell bring to life a sweet and spirited tale of young love in Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, a graphic novel that asks us to consider what happens when we ditch the toxic relationships we crave to embrace the healthy ones we need.
Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley's dream girl: charming, confident, and SO cute. There's just one problem: Laura Dean is maybe not the greatest girlfriend.
Reeling from her latest break up, Freddy's best friend, Doodle, introduces her to the Seek-Her, a mysterious medium, who leaves Freddy some cryptic parting words: break up with her. But Laura Dean keeps coming back, and as their relationship spirals further out of her control, Freddy has to wonder if it's really Laura Dean that's the problem. Maybe it's Freddy, who is rapidly losing her friends, including Doodle, who needs her now more than ever.
Fortunately for Freddy, there are new friends, and the insight of advice columnists like Anna Vice to help her through being a teenager in love.

Available formats-
  • OverDrive Read
Languages:-
Copies-
  • Available:
    1
  • Library copies:
    1
Levels-
  • ATOS:
    2.5
  • Lexile:
    230
  • Interest Level:
    UG
  • Text Difficulty:
    K - 2


 
Awards-
Reviews-
  • Publisher's Weekly

    Starred review from March 4, 2019
    Laura Dean is a terrible girlfriend. Self-absorbed and careless, she breaks up with Frederica, 16, for the fourth time, via text message after being caught cheating at a school dance. But Freddy loves Laura Dean, and they’re soon back together—sort of—though Freddy’s relationship myopia renders her isolated and dismissive of her friends, all of whom are struggling with their own issues. A medium tells Freddy to call the relationship quits, but she has no idea how to stop perpetuating her part of the cycle. Bold, clean lines and pink highlights characterize rich art by Valero-O’Connell (the Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy series) as panels breathily dense with the personal details of the characters’ lives morph to suit each meaningful scene. A largely queer and physically and ethnically diverse cast inhabits this vision of teenage Berkeley, and the high school–specific mixture of self-possession and cluelessness with which Tamaki (This One Summer) imbues them lends depth and individuation. This exploration of toxic relationships and social dynamics at the cusp of adulthood is, like its cast, sharp and dazzling. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 14–up. Author’s agent: Charlotte Sheedy, Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency.

  • Kirkus

    Starred review from April 1, 2019
    A 17-year-old struggles to navigate friendship and finding herself while navigating a toxic relationship. Biracial (East Asian and white) high schooler Freddy is in love with white Laura Dean. She can't help it--Laura oozes cool. But while Freddy's friends are always supportive of her, they can't understand why she stays with Laura. Laura cheats on Freddy, gaslights and emotionally manipulates her, and fetishizes her. After Laura breaks up with her for a third time, Freddy writes to an advice columnist and, at the recommendation of her best friend Doodle, (reluctantly) sees a psychic who advises her that in order to break out of the cycle of her "non-monogamous swing-your-partner wormhole," Freddy needs to do the breaking up herself. As she struggles to fall out of love and figure out how to "break up with someone who's broken up with me," Freddy slowly begins to be drawn back into Laura's orbit, challenging her relationships with her friends as she searches for happiness. Tamaki (Supergirl, 2018, etc.) explores the nuances of both romantic and platonic relationships with raw tenderness and honesty. Valero-O'Connell's (Lumberjanes: Bonus Tracks, 2018, etc.) art is realistic and expressive, bringing the characters to life through dynamic grayscale illustrations featuring highlights of millennial pink. Freddy and her friends live in Berkeley, California, and have a diversity of body shapes, gender expressions, sexualities, and skin tones. A triumphant queer coming-of-age story that will make your heart ache and soar. (Graphic novel. 14-adult)

    COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  • School Library Journal

    May 1, 2019

    Gr 9 Up-Frederica Riley's tall, confident, and effortlessly cool girlfriend Laura Dean is the most popular girl in school. Laura breaks Freddy's heart over and over again, but Freddy still takes her back each time. Doodle, Freddy's BFF, introduces her to Seek-Her, a mysterious medium who echoes what Freddy's friends have been saying: stay away from Laura. But Freddy continues to sacrifice friendships for the sake of a destructive relationship, and consulting advice columnist Anna Vice may be the teen's last chance to listen to reason. Valero-O'Connell's artwork is the best part of this graphic novel. Soft, sweeping lines emphasize Freddy's emotional torment, the unconventional paneling lending itself to the tone of the story. It's not easy for someone in a toxic relationship to be objective, but Freddy manages not only to help herself but also to be there for Doodle, who arguably has the biggest problems of the entire novel. In fact, teenage Doodle's relationship with an adult is glossed over and should have been addressed. However, Tamaki and Valero-O'Connell do bring to life an artful narrative of relationships-old, new, harmful, and healing-and what happens when you learn to navigate them. VERDICT It's frustrating to watch Freddy flounder, making bad decision after bad decision, but there's something endearingly vulnerable about her beautifully drawn experiences that will resonate with teenagers. Consider for medium and large collections.-Michael Marie Jacobs, Darlington School, GA

    Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

  • Booklist

    Starred review from April 15, 2019
    Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Freddy finds herself in an on-again, off-again relationship with the impossibly cool Laura Dean, who, surely not by accident, has an air of James Dean about her, from her floppy hair to her slouchy posture to her piercing gaze. Freddy feels invincible in Laura's orbit, and even after things truly go wrong, like when Laura sneaks off to make out with other girls, Freddy's inexorably lured back in. Freddy's friends range from dismayed to resigned, but none so much as Doodle, who's dealing with problems of their own and desperately needs a friend. Freddy's emails to an advice columnist offer insight into her thoughts and feelings, which are further telegraphed in the stunning artwork, which masterfully captures the mood with gestures and facial expressions, from Freddy curled into herself behind a curtain of her thick black hair to Doodle focused intently on their Dungeons and Dragons plans. Shifting perspectives and soft pink washes give the artful black-ink artwork a cinematic feel. Tamaki (This One Summer, 2015) truly gets to the heart of the struggle to balance the intoxicating allure of being loved by someone thrilling and a desire for a healthy, autonomous sense of identity, all in pitch-perfect teen dialogue. Touching gently but powerfully on topics of bullying, homophobia, and toxic relationships, this superb graphic novel has its finger on the pulse of teenage concerns.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

  • The Horn Book

    July 1, 2019
    In this relatable, heart-wrenching, and often funny graphic novel, it's immediately apparent that Frederica's self-absorbed girlfriend Laura Dean is an unsuitable partner for our tenderhearted protagonist. Freddy is so consumed with seeking answers as to �cf2]why�cf1] Laura Dean keeps breaking up with her that she completely overlooks her in-need best friend Doodle. Black-and-white panel illustrations with pink accents feature a cast diverse in race, gender expression, and body type.

    (Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

  • The Horn Book

    Starred review from July 1, 2019
    This relatable, heart-wrenching, and often funny graphic novel opens with seventeen-year-old Frederica ( Freddy ) Riley's email to advice columnist Anna Vice. For almost the past year I've been in love with a girl named Laura Dean. Which is the hardest thing I've ever been. Because?Laura Dean?keeps breaking up with me. That self-absorbed, thoughtless Laura Dean is an utterly unsuitable partner for our tender-hearted protagonist is apparent four pages in?but so is Laura Dean's charismatic appeal. Freddy is so consumed with seeking answers (from Anna Vice; from new potential crush Vi; even from a fortuneteller) as to why Laura Dean keeps breaking up with her and what to do about it that she completely misses what's been happening in best friend Doodle's life, at a time when Doodle needs her most. Freddy's insightful and painfully honest first-person narration, in the form of her journal entry-like emails to Anna, is balanced by dialogue full of witty banter and warm moments of friendship among Freddy's supportive, queer-centric Berkeley community of friends and mentors (all of whom urge Freddy to forget Laura Dean and find someone who deserves her). Black-and-white panel illustrations with pink accents provide additional characterization and feature a cast diverse in race, gender expression, and body type. By the time Anna Vice writes back near the story's end, Freddy is well on her way to finding her own solution?one readers will cheer. katie bircher

    (Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

  • The New York Times

    "Tamaki and Valero-O'Connell's tender-hearted narrative sings with real, honest emotion that will resonate with anyone trying to figure out love."

  • the A.V. Club "The visual storytelling is precise and thoughtful, and it's evident that the artist has spent a lot of time designing spaces that feel lived in and characters who immediately exhibit specific personalities... Tamaki excels when she's writing stories about young women discovering their strength in times of crisis, and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me falls right in her creative sweet spot."
  • Paste "Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me is the perfect next read for fans of Love, Simon and To All The Boys I've Loved Before, books about young love and struggling to figure out what it means... It's exactly the sort of book that a lot of teens need to read to feel a little less alone, and a good gateway graphic novel for fans of Netflix's new glut of romances or a stepping-stone for readers ready to graduate from graphic novels like The Baby-Sitters Club adaptations to more complicated, nuanced stories."
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    First Second
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Mariko Tamaki
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