Bittersweet story about laundry, little lonely girls and ghosts, many of them. To read and to suggest to everybody that may feel alone.

Storia agrodolce con un sacco di biancheria, ragazzine solitarie ma risolute e fantasmi. Da leggere e consigliare a chiunque si senta solo.

THANKS NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

Have you ever seen a sad ghost? Because I have and it breaks my heart that someone forgot him. I read this graphic novel in one go, I was so captivated. Brenna uses beautiful colors and still the panels can show you the depressing boredom, the sad day to day life, making it palpable without words. A skill of show don't tell that many movie directors don't have. The main character seems to be multi-dimensional, although there isn't much description and is unpretentious, but still a fighter. There's a lot of subtext and room for wonderful interpretations as well as some puns. A simple, heart-warming and tear-inducing story that seems a wonderful fantasy.
After reading it here it goes on my to-buy list, because it's something I want to have at home for guests and for nieces as a bedtime story.

Sheets is a cute and charming story that dives into the relationship between Marjorie, a young girl running her family's laundry business, and Wendell, a ghost. The art is fun and fitting for a middle grade audience, and the contrasting colors between the Land of Ghosts and Land of Humans works well. While the interactions between Marjorie and Wendell were sweet and had depth, Marjorie simply didn't hold my attention as a main character and her story felt fairly monotone throughout. The elements that took place in the Land of Ghosts were more interesting, but not fleshed out much. The antagonist, Mr. Saubertuck, was fairly bland and seemed stereotypical of a middle grade story. However, I appreciated the way this book dealt with aspects like grief, depression, and death in a way that doesn't sugarcoat the experiences while still making them accessible for younger audiences.
Rating: 3/5

Great graphic novel dealing with hard topics. I loved this book and the graphics were fabulous. I would highly recommend this for young adults.

This is such a wonderfully illustrated book with a story that is sad but also hopeful, entertaining and so heartfelt. It is about grief and friendship and life's hardships and I promise you my heart was aching throughout the whole thing.
To me, the cover looked like it would be a fun and adorable story but it quickly stabbed me in the heart. It also mended it as it's such a beautiful story that might be really important for some kids (and also not-quite-kids-anymore) to read.
The art style is so pretty and I fell in love with the colour scheme. I loved this so much.

I think the concept behind this is really cute. The colors are amazing throughout the whole graphic novel. it's just the scenes with the human characters were boring. I didn't really like the art style either for those parts. I was more excited to read the bits about the ghosts.

This was a fantastic young adult graphic novel, featuring a girl dealing with the death of one parent and the lack of a second. Her father isn't dealing with his wife's death, so he's barely conscious, so it's up to Marjorie to keep their laundromat going, and to take care of her younger brother. Meanwhile, Wendell doesn't feel like he fits in in the afterlife. And where better for a sheet-covered ghost to go but a laundry? A great story showing two characters finding friendship and learning to deal with life (or afterlife)'s hardships.

Highly recommended for teen graphic novel sections.

This is a middle grade graphic novel about grief. It centers around a thirteen year old girl that lost her mother and her father is so overcome with grief that he has shut down. Marjorie is forced to carry the weight of the family business and household chores along with the day to day of being a teenager. The story has a fun supernatural element with Wendell the ghost. The story didn’t blow me away but the art certainly did. It is just beautiful.

This was so stinking adorable, I absolutely loved it! It's the story of a young girl who is coping with her mother's sudden death and trying to keep the family business running after the tragedy makes her dad totally shut down. It's also the story of a young boy trying to cope with the fact that at 11, he is dead and is now a ghost.
Over the course of a few nights, their life and afterlife intersect, and a true friendship develops.
With beautiful, quirky illustrations this one is a top pick for tweens and younger teens.

I decline the opportunity to publish a detailed review. The appeal of this particular book was not evident to me, and if I cannot file a generally positive review I prefer to simply advise the publisher to that effect and file no review at all.

Thank you for your kind attention to this note. Regards.

After her mother dies and her father sinks into depression, 13-year-old Marjorie Glatts is forced to take over the household chores including looking after her younger brother and running the family Laundromat, all while trying to keep up with school. Nigel Saubertuck, the baddie of the tale, is determined to take over the property and turn it into a five-star spa and yoga retreat and he won’t stop at anything including sabotage to do it.

And, if all this isn’t bad enough, the laundromat has attracted a ghost infestation in the form of Wendell, a sweet but rather clumsy middle school ghost. His unintentional mishaps will bring things to a head and unless she can find a solution quickly it looks like Marj will lose everything. Fortunately, she and Wendell come up with a plan to save the day – it just requires little help from Wendell’s fellow ghosts.

The graphic novel Sheets by Brenna Thummler is a little gem of a ghost story- an unusual blend of both heartbreaking and heartwarming. Much of the plot depends on the artwork and, fortunately, it works very well with the story. The muted color palette helps show Marj’s mindset, her overwhelming sadness and the sense that she is just floating through her days like a ghost. The ghosts themselves are depicted as sheets with eyeholes, sort of Halloweenish I suppose but sweet instead of scary.

Sheets is aimed at a middle grade audience but I found it enjoyable and insightful not only for children but for adults. I liked its overall message that no matter how bad things seem, it can get better; we all just need a little help from sympathetic and understanding friends. Sometimes I think this fact is lost on us adults especially where children are concerned – you hear it all the time, they are resilient, they can bounce back quickly from any tragedy. Maybe, but a little help and understanding can go a long way to provide a safe surface for them to bounce back on.

Ok, end of sermon. Sheets is a sweet compassionate story and I recommend it for both children and adults, perhaps especially for sensitive children who perhaps need a little Wendell in their lives.

<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Diamond Book Distributors for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review</i>

I am loving Brenna Thumler's work. Between "Anne of Green Gables," and "Sheets" I'll definitely be following her work closely.

The story was charming, sweet, and original. The artworks was really beatiful with some full page spreads that left me staring. Great book, highly recommend for middle grade readers and up!

I was provided a copy by the publisher via NetGalley. Sheets by Brenna Thummler talks about solitude, depression and grief. I enjoyed the graphics and the story but the beginning was a bit slow.

Sheets is a very sweet story. Marjorie’s story just about broke my heart… a young girl dealing with grief and taking the burden of caring for her family while her father is all consumed by his grief. And Wendell, the ghost’s story is just as intense as it unfolds through the book. Glad that Marjorie and Wendell’s stories end positively with them thwarting the bad guy.
A well-developed tale even if a little simple. I especially liked how the author used a different type of color palette. Very unique style and beautiful, detailed illustrations. You could spend a long time exploring each scene.
Thank you NetGalley and publisher, Diamond Book Distributors and Lion Forge, for the opportunity to read this ARC.

What can I say, this book is so perfect I can't give less than full marks. It made me feel so empathetic, light-hearted and full of love that I ended up crying at the final stage. Doesn't happen often, I must say.
The plot is wonderful: I found myself frantically flipping the pages, looking forward to know what would have happened next. And I wasn't unsatisfied - both Wendell's and Marjorie's stories are astonishingly real and emotional, they reflect true life in many ways, even in the way the characters' gestures are portrayed. Everything is just so accurate, so WOW.
What is more, Wendell is terribly cute. I would love to have him as a friend, or a kind of pet (I know it's impossible, but nevermind I'll keep hoping it will be in the future).

I do highly recommend this graphic novel to all the people looking for something new, fresh and smart, but it's also perfect for parents who would like to find a book that will help their children not to fear ghosts and paranormal entities.

I'll put it among my favourite books ever.
Many thanks to both NetGalley and the author for a free copy of the book!

This was a cute story. Kinda fun. But really weird.

It had some heart. And the art was ok once you got used to it. Well - the faces, I mean - they took some getting used to; I liked the rest of the art.

I get that it was about dealing with death, but it didn’t really draw me in, emotionally, or otherwise. It was a decent story - but there were a few things that left me scratching my head. The ghosts were just…well, I can’t place it. Kind of odd. And how did Nigel know about them?

Anyway, it was a quick, interesting read - but it didn’t bowl me over.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley, Diamond Book Distributors, and Lion Forge for a copy in return for an honest review.</i>

This is from an advance review copy for which I thank the publisher.

This was a great ghost story about real ghosts and a young girl who felt like one. Thirteen year old Marjorie Glatt runs the family laundry business while her bereaved dad runs a 24/7 pity party in the apartment above the laundry. Even school wouldn't be so bad if her life was not lonely and PE such a pain. Her work life isn't much better, plagued as she is by the obnoxious Saubertuck, who wants to buy out the Glatt family so he can open a spa on the premises, to which end he starts a campaign of sabotage.

Help is at hand though, in the unlikely form of Wendell the young ghost, and who sneaks out of the ghost compound to explore. he haunts the laundry and at first causes issues, but eventually...well, it's spooky how things work out! The story is well illustrated, well told, and it makes an interesting use of sheets! I recommend it in the spirt in which it was written!

Sheets shows a situation that hurts but it's real, there are infants with adult obligations, victims of bullying, those who doesn't feel safe to open up, but still many can fight (thanks goodness!)

Heart eyes on the style of the illustrations, the characters' faces look like the animation that went on TV during my childhood, and something reminds me of Charlie & Lola.

Sheets had my heart at first page, because I love how pleasant pink and blue are together, the landscapes are so beautiful! Many of them could be a wallpaper on your cell phone, or just a big frame in the wall, Wendell's world is less colorful, but the details are so cute

Sheets is a melancholy graphic novel that deals with harsh themes but with the most incredible colors I have ever seen in sequential art.

Loved this! The story and the illustrations are beautiful! Will definitely be looking for more stories by this author. Highly recommended!

I decided to read this book on a whim, and I'm so glad I did. Sheets is an adorable children's book that talks to people of all ages. There are parts of this book that are completely fantasy, and other parts so anchored in reality you can see yourself in Marjorie's shoes. It's the juxtaposition between fantasy and reality that pulls the reader in. We all want to see good defeat evil and friendship prevail no matter what type of situation a character may be in.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Author: Brenna Thummler
Publisher: Diamond Book Distributors / Lion Forge
Publication Date: 28 Aug 2018