It is so sad that there is a need for this book... But, especially at this time, the subject of consent is even more important than before. This is a perfect tool to use in school to bring up consent to discussion.

I feel I am fairly educated on what consent means. I wanted to read this book to see if there was something I could learn still, and to see if this book would be something I think a teenager would read. (Or maybe because I still think I am in my early 20's and "hip") There where parts of the comic that I had not considered fell under the need for consent, so it was indeed educational.

Still, I do not think a teenager would pick up this comic by them self. It has the grownup lecturing tone over it, and a lot of the conversation felt staged and unnatural. BUT, I belive it could be a great tool to use by schools in the sexual education to teach teenagers about consent, and to respect each others boundaries. Sex ed. has been lacking in a lot of places and we start to see the repercussions of this. By starting early, the right attitudes can be taught and I belive this comic can help more towards this than to listen to the "old and boring teacher who does not know what it is like to be a teenager today".

A thoughtful and provocative graphic novel for middle grade and teenagers meant to teach them that they decide what is right for their bodies and breaking down that consent is not the absence of no, but an enthusiastic YES from both parties. The graphic novel takes place as a discussion between a diverse group of teen girls as they talk about a student who was raped and then to consent, relationships, porn and what is and is not appropriate—in addition to a group of boys joining the conversation.

While I didn’t particularly agree with the posting nudes section (because they seem to place blame on the victim for sharing pictures of themselves—as in the argument, once it’s out there, it’s out there forever, and you can’t control what someone else does with it), the rest of the discussions between the teens are absolutely spot on. Teens need to talk about sex—not just sex education, but consent, what harmful relationships look like, peer pressure, and that it’s okay to change your mind even after you already gave consent.

The notes at the back of the graphic novel contain lots of fantastic discussion topics and resources for further reading and additional information. Most of the resources gathered are focused on the UK (particularly the legal bits), but readers outside the UK can still gather valuable information.

I received this ARC from Netgalley for an honest review.

Beautiful book that has words and ideas that need to be said. Consent is an incredibly important part of relationships and needs to be more acknowledged for younger people.

The story starts when it is revealed that a new girl at school has just transferred in because she was raped and did not want to deal with all of the gossip at her old school. Unfortunately, word travels. There are conversations that basically blame the girl and the book focuses on truth and consent.

I find it so very important to have these conversations with teens and be very open and honest about what consent truly means. I definitely liked the message that consent isn't not saying no, it's saying an explicit yes.

This book handles many situations that teens today face and helps them understand them and how to handle both the situations and their feelings about them. The graphic novel format is very engaging and makes it an appealing read for the age group it targets.

It's great to see a graphic novel about consent. The book does a great job of covering consent and what it means. The conversations between the characters, though, seem too contrived. I tend to like to have messages and information inside of a good story, but this seemed more about the information than about the plot. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because the goal of the book is to specifically provide information about consent, which it does. It just seems like a lot of potential that could be turned into something more. I hope people continue to put more graphic novels with subjects like this one out into the world.

This graphic novel starts with a group a friends finding out a girl at their school got raped, leading to a conversation about consent (both in hetero and gay couples). The characters were diverse and representation was on point.
It was really informative and not really a story but I really enjoyed it. It's the kind of stuff we need to teach at school and I wish I read this when I was younger.

What Does Consent Really Mean? provides age-appropriate information about consent in a graphic novel format.

Though written for middle- and young high-schoolers, this book, all about the meaning of consent, is important for people of ALL ages. I love that the characters depicted in the conversation are diverse and do not perpetuate harmful stereotypes. I highly recommend this book for everyone!

I was intrigued by this book. Could someone actually make consent an easily understood issue in a graphic novel format that kids would read?
What Does Consent Really Mean, clearly lays out what consent is and the official meanings behind the adult words. This is a PSA in book form. while it doesn't speak like teens speak, the dialogue speaks just like we wood in a class or seminar but the form makes it easier to digest without being lectured at by an adult.
The only thing I didn't like is that the women girls had to school the boys about consent. I am for women empowerment and love where the girls tell the boys to stop when they aren't comfortable. The issue is that it still makes it a foreign idea that boys should consider this as an issue. Men and boys must start holding each other accountable and not accept rape culture. I would have liked to see the boys discuss it on their own and then run into the girls. We have to make it acceptable for boys to question "macho" behavior.
Overall, this is very informative and will be of more interest to teens than any seminar or scientific pamphlet we would give them.

This book covers an important topic thoroughly and without condescension. That being said, I'm not sure the graphic novel format is the best for this topic, as it doesn't really read like actual teens speaking.

Loved it. I am the Queen of Consent and I will be the first person in the room to destroy someone who treats consent like it's a joke. Made for a YA United Kingdom audience so the lingo is a little wonky for American kids, but I don't think it'll be too difficult for them to understand.

There is inclusion of girls, guys, AND queer kids in the discussion of consent (thank you god), discussion of pressures girls face in relationships, pressures guys face in society (aka my favorite talking subject ~toxic masculinity~), an overall marvelous emphasis on how important communication is in relationships, and the kids are diverse in race, as well.

It didn't get too into detail on certain subjects mentioned (like the porn industry, sexual assault), and didn't at all mention the phrase "rape culture" (which is extremely unfortunate), but I can't expect to see content you'd learn from a Gender Studies 101 class in a YA graphic novel. So I guess what I mean is, this is a good start for the targeted demographic.

Lots of great content, but only getting a 4/5 from me because it still seemed like it was trying too hard to pack in all this information in a way that would be "hip" and "cool" enough for young adults. I appreciate it as it is now as an actual adult, but rewind five years to when I was a teenager and I would've prolly thought it was annoying. And thusly not paid attention to it. Cos teenagers can smell from a mile away when an adult is trying way too hard to be relatable. And they love to make fun of adults trying to connect with them. (not that I did that when I was a kid, tho. cough, cough.)

That aside, I AM SO HAPPY to see adults putting in this kind of effort in order to get young people to pay more attention to consent, because inclusive consent education in the US is still very, very much lacking. That this graphic novel is soon to exist makes me internally weep with joy.

How do you have those awkward conversations you don’t want to have?

I don’t know, but you have to have them. I don’t know if it’s less awkward to do it through a comic book, but this comic does a good job in educating young people what consent is and why its important.

The subject matter seems geared toward older kids than the comic style is. Or maybe kids need to learn about it younger than I’m comfortable with.

Either way, it’s an important topic that warrants discussion, warrants education, and is well-explained.

I started off reading this book, thinking, they should explain it to guys as well! Fortunately they did cover that, although only about halfway into the book (I was not paying attention to what part of the book it was in/percentage of my electronic ARC). It touches upon grooming, how porn isn't real, and other things that might be too awkward to talk to a younger person about. This book isn't a substitute for actually talking about these difficult issues, but it's a good starting point.

A group of high school aged friends talks about consent in various forms - relationships, friendships and sex.

This book was clearly written by adults but I think it did do a good job about talking about consent in an educational and less awkward way. I liked that they explained consent in sex but also outside of it. It is a quick read and I think could be useful for teens to understand what consent means. I am not sure if they would necessarily pick this up on their own, but it could be good in a school setting.

effective that it considers all sides of consent and what consent means for teenagers. I think it will appeal to many readers. impressed by discussion questions at the end.

I found this was an amazing first approach to the topic of consent. I love that the cast was so diverse in race and ethnicity even if it wasn't as much in sexuality (it wasn't explicit on the page even if it was understood that one girl was bisexual). I think consent is a much more complex issue than how it was presented here. I liked that they talked about the differences and similarities between the consent that the girls and the boys give (even if I found it extremely binary like... girls are like THIS and boys are like THAT and no talk on non-binary people). And I think it brushed over really complicated topics that would need more conversation and understanding like power imbalance and other topics like same sex relationships. It was very simplified but I think it's important nevertheless. I really enjoyed the art work and the colours. I also liked that no one had all the answers and nothing felt really preachy. It felt like a constant conversation that they were having and a normal conversation teenagers would have. But the end felt super unrealistic like you have all these people who had ONE conversation and suddenly changed their entire behaviour and relationships. I don't have anything against happy endings (I actually LOVE happy endings) but I actually found this was too idealised.

I liked the drawings, and the message is obviously very important, but unfortunately the execution was seriously lagging. Not only did the characters not sound like teenagers, they didn't even sound like adults having a natural conversation, but rather like adults reading aloud lines they had been given by an over-eager PSA scriptwriter. It was stilted and unnatural and very, very eye-roll inducing.

Which is a shame, because the topic is SO important. I would love to see this plot worked over by a thorough editor to see what could come of it then.