[...] The Tweenage Guide to Not Being Unpopular [...]

[...] book, and I enjoy reading every installment. Jimmy Gownley has achieved that with his outstanding Amelia Rules! series. The Meaning of Life… and Other Stuff is the seventh volume in the series — although it [...]

[...] already talked about this book last year, based on a preview copy, but I wanted to revisit it, because it’s the kind of book [...]

[...] Don’t Want Kids to Know), the latest Amelia Rules! book ($10.99, Atheneum). I’ve already read it, but only in a black-and-white preview that doesn’t show off Jimmy Gownley’s art to [...]

[...] of my all-time favorite comics are graphic novel series for kids, such as Owly or Amelia Rules!, but I’m an adult, and waiting anywhere from six months to two years for a new installment is [...]

“…That kind of unvarnished portrayal of kiddom is what gives Amelia Rules! its comedy and appeal to youngsters (and those who remember what childhood was like). The normal outcome of a story about wanting to be popular is a character learning a lesson about how wanting popularity is shallow, about how all that matters is to be true to yourself. But that’s nicely demolished by Amelia here. She and a friend actually have that conversation, only to end it by wondering ‘what if the ‘yourself’ you’re being true to is a complete and total JERK?’…”

Good one! This sounds refreshing. :)

Now I wonder if the series later addresses any of these other fallacies adults told my cohort when we were kids:

* circles of friends are always rigid cliques (IRL my circle of friends included kids who were also friends with other kids whom I wasn’t friends with)
* being the prettiest and richest makes you the most popular (not if the varsity math team captain has way more friends than you do – being envied isn’t the same as being liked)
* there’s a pecking order in friendships and everyone agrees which kids are coolest (no there isn’t, suppose one group of friends bonds over their shared interest in Goth style and another bonds over their shared interests in preppy style, why would one of these group point to the other one and say “they’re cooler than us” instead of each one considering itself more stylish than the other one?)
* kids who earn higher grades have nothing to learn from kids who earn lower grades (IRL there’s more worth knowing than what’s on the test and holding up one’s end of a conversation is a worthwhile skill even if the kids cutting class to smoke it in the bathroom learn it before one of the honor students does)
* 100% unsuperficial friends are the only ones worth having (but if one waits until one finally finds some to bother trying to make friends, they may reject one for unsuperficial reasons like “I’m 20 and can’t enjoy the company of someone who does X [because s/he ran out of unsuperficial classmates and so stopped learning social skills at 10 and only tries to catch up at 20]“)
* all the kids who are popular are snobs (tell that to the ones who make lots of friends thanks to not being snobby ;) )
* all the kids who play sports are popular snobs (tell that to the loners on the track teams and in the dojos ;) )
* “peers” are nothing but sources of pressure to do bad (until you get called to serve on a jury of the defendant’s peers…)

[...] is the original post: Amelia Rules! Returns With The Tweenage Guide to Not Being … More on this:Amelia Rules! Returns With The Tweenage Guide to Not Being …Wealth and Happiness [...]

[...] link: Amelia Rules! Returns With The Tweenage Guide to Not Being … More on this:Amelia Rules! Returns With The Tweenage Guide to Not Being …Wealth and Happiness [...]

Money situation is where I can’t afford to buy comics currently, but once it gets stabilized these will be top of my list to get. They are proof that you can make comics that are fun, but still pull your heart strings a bit.