This book is beautiful. The art style makes me want to blow up panels and hang them on my wall. I love the pallet and want to gush about the art all day long. 5 stars for the art!

Unfortunate I did not feel as positive about the story. There would be pages where I thought the story was coming together, then something would happen and it would feel rushed or too convenient, I don't know exactly, but it did not flow throughout. I wanted to like it because the I liked the concept and it is a sweet story, but it was only OK. It is by no means bad, just OK.

**Thanks again to NetGalley for this digital edition lent to my tablet**

I try to pick up graphic novels I think my 9 yr old will enjoy. He's all about the Smile books, doesn't even phase him that the main characters are all girls. He just loves those heartfelt stories. Yeah, Ivan! He likes that we can share a book. And we both loved this one!

The main character is reeling from the loss of her mother. She is trying to keep the family business going, and keep her family together all while being a middle school student. She is running a laundry. And then guess what?

Yeah, ghosts...seriously great story about loss and adversity. You just have to read this one! Plus the graphics were amazing, the colors are few but they just pop!

Marjorie feels like a ghost. After her mother's unexpected death, her father ignores her and her younger brother and sits depressed in his room, no adults help her in running her family laundromat, and she is frequently bullied by the other girls in school.

Wendell is a ghost, albeit one who is in denial. He tells fantastic stories to the other ghosts about his life and how he died, but no one believes him. He wants to feel like he's alive again and decides to take a train out of the land of ghosts back to the land of the living.

This beautiful graphic novel by Brenna Thummler has stunning graphics and a fun storyline. I thoroughly enjoyed the beginning and middle of the novel, but I had a small (but I think important) problem about the conclusion of the story. It was the there was a (I think unneeded) part where one of the popular guys in school ends up asking Marj out for a date after the whole laundromat situation is solved. I think Thummler was trying to show that Marj was doing OK, and that she was starting to move on after her mother's death. However, I had a problem with the fact that Thummler makes it seem that a girl can't really move on until she had some boy like her, or that having a boy liking her back is indicative of finally being happy after a traumatic event in her life. Why couldn't she keep Marj as the strong independent girl who (with the help of the ghost friends and her family) was able to go through this difficult time in her life? Why did she need a boy in the end? Keep in mind, she's only in junior high school (I'm assuming because there was a part where the popular girls were giggling about there being high schoolers at an upcoming Halloween party), she really doesn't need a boy to tell her that her life is finally going her way.

In the end, I think that the art merged beautifully with the story and invoked a sense of nostalgia and innocence, even in Marj's difficult circumstances. It was a great story about acceptance, friendship, and moving on. I highly recommend this book to everyone, even with the small hiccup about the boy.

Such a perfect evocation of mundanity, I gave up at a third of the way through. Ghosts or no ghosts, bugger all had happened.

I love this book! The colors are gorgeous, and the story is heartwarming. This is a great read for people of all ages!

I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. It deals with a variety of topics, including (but not limited to) grieving over the loss of a parent.

It loses a star for loose ends. (Too many spoilers if I start listing them.)

I was utterly charmed by this graphic novel. The drawings are breathtaking (the colouring especially) and the storyline really sweet and touching. I felt for Marjorie from the very beginning, and though she should really have called the police on Nigel the first time he trespassed, as a 13-year-old with an absent father, I can understand why that didn't happen.

Wendell grated on my nerves at first, but as we got to know him better, I started understanding why he acted out the way he did. He did seem somewhat younger than his 11 years, but I'm willing to blame being dead for reverting to a younger childhood.

I loved the end and how the laundrette did become a "spa" after all.

This book is beautiful. The illustrations are great, and the color pallet sets the tone. It’s a depressed color palette in cool greens and blues. It fits the story as Marj is depressed. She’s a teenage taking care of her brother, father, and the family laundromat after her mother's passing. And an conniving neighbor is doing his best to put her out of business. Thrown into this story are ghosts. Ghosts in sheets. It’s the only way they can have a form. But they are rarely seen in the real world, until now. I found this book sad and lonely to begin with, but you make the trip with the characters to finding a happier tomorrow. It works, and deserves the advanced praise it is receiving.

Pude leer este libro gracias a Netgalley.

Comencé a leer el libro sin grandes expectativas - de hecho es la primera novela gráfica de la
Autora- pero desde que comencé la lectura el mensaje emotivo que nos comparte la autora
hizo que me enamorara de la historia.

Marjorie debe hacerse cargo de su familia a tan corta edad debido a la repentina muerte de su madre la primavera pasada. Ella es una chica algo triste que pasa sus días atendiendo la lavandería (el negocio que originalmente era de su mama) la escuela y demás tareas de la casa, aunado a esto debe soportar los clientes prepotentes y a el Sr. Mostacho que acosa su negocio constantemente tratando de convencerla de traspasarlo. Pero la vida de Marjorie dará un giro tremendo al percatarse de una serie de eventos extraños que suceden durante la noche en la lavandería, una noche conoce a Wendell, ella al principio no lo trata muy bien ya que piensa que es una broma para arruinar el negocio pero después de varios encuentros se da cuenta que es un fantasma de verdad. Wendell es un fantasma que se niega rotundamente aceptar que está muerto y viaja al mundo de los humanos para sentirse un poco más vivo y allí es donde conoce a Marjorie con quien trata de forjar una bonita amistad.

La premisa se lee un tanto sencilla pero en realidad es un libro que nos habla de la resignación, por un lado tenemos a Marjorie que no puede superar la pérdida de su madre y que poco a poco con ayuda de la amistad de Wendell mejora y ve una luz dentro de su mundo oscuro. Del otro lado tenemos a Wendel (mi personaje favorito) que es un niño que muere de forma repentina y el cual no quiere aceptar que está muerto, porque según él, la vida en el mundo humano es más diversa y divertida que en el mundo de los fantasmas, juntos aprenderán sobre la vida y la muerte como un proceso natural en los seres humanos.

Los personajes son muy humanos, el dibujo es increíble ya que tiene el lado caricaturesco sin dejar de lado el estilo propio del artista.

Sin duda una novela que merece ser leída y recomendada para reflexionar sobre el valor de la vida.

It has been a while since I read/reviewed a comic/graphic novel. This book was available in the NetGalley Read Now section and decided it may be a good time to catch up. 

This is a very quaint book, it has Marjorie a lonely girl trying to come to terms with the loss of her mother, and the running of a laundromat. In another realm, we have ghostland(yes, it is that sort of book) with ghosts being covered in sheets and one little ghost has set out on an adventure into the land of the living without permission. He stumbles into the laundry and oversees the plot to force a takeover of the laundromat. There is an unlikely alliance formed which leads to the triumph of good over evil. The villain is a little weird and the drawings are very nice, you feel for all the characters. This book is a good read for those looking to try something small and different.

Note: I received this book from the author/publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a big fan of graphic novels so I barely hesitated to grab this once I saw the key words "graphic novel" and "haunted laundromat" in the same space. And overall, I had a nice time reading this! It wasn't the best, it wasn't the worst (by a long shot), it was kind of in the middle for my experiences so far.

My main issue was with the plot/storyline. The story has a sort of non-linear style to it, which is fine and I can enjoy that, but it wasn't all there. I felt like it was lacking in some areas. However, trying to weave together the stories of a thirteen year old girl who is running her family's laundromat and an eleven year old ghost boy who comes back to the living human world is no easy task. Two extremely different lives coming together and somehow becoming one is tricky but Thummler does manage to bring them all together and make it work somehow.

By far the most striking thing about this book is the art. The levels of detail and use of color are so beautiful. There are plenty of pages where the art stands alone and shines. Seriously, there are some really gorgeous pages in this book. If for no other reason, grab this just to look at the pictures.

Sheets is sweet, it's sad, and the art style is amazing. I really, really enjoyed it. Wendell was adorable and I could read about him forever. This could have easily been a five star book, but the plot needed a little more work and the ending was kind of rushed. Overall, this is one I'd definitely recommend..

This was a sad but hopeful story. It touches on death - Marjorie dealing with the loss of her mother, and Wendell dealing with the loss of his life. I liked the art; blue was a prominent color and it seemed fitting to the colorful but muted tone it was going for. There were gaps in some parts of the story, but nothing that deters the reading experience.

Thank you NetGalley and Diamond Book Distributors and Lion Forge for the copy. I requested a copy from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

This is a fantastic graphic novel. This has an original idea and beautiful artwork. The ending is a little weak but loved it overall.

This was a nice, simple, sweet story with art that was lovely to look at and well-suited to the tone of the story. I do wish it hadn't been quite so simple, because the overly-cartoonish villain did ruin the gentle, melancholy mood of the story for me, and I would have liked a little more time spent with the ghosts. I really would have liked less of the broad strokes of middle-grade fiction (villain, generic bullies) and more time with the main characters. With that said, I still found myself smiling and enjoying the book for what it was, flaws and all.

It's 1998 in Marjorie's world and the feels are no less in 2018.

"Mom opened glatt's Laundry when she was only nineteen. Bath then, it was "Dellaway Laundry", which is loads better. But then she met Dad and lost the ability to make rational decisions."...She died the past spring, and then Dad sort of did, too. He's still 100% opaque but slightly less visible."

This is the story of a girl, Marjorie. Not just any girl; a girl who feels out of place and invisible to the world. And she loves books and the piano. She's blond and awkward and has to care for a family while her father, depressed after his wife's death, (not a spoiler) stays in bed all day. It's basically teenage me. Except while I worked at a bookstore, she works at a laundromat. Let's just say I don't think I've ever related more to a character.


"Grown-ups are skilled at making terrible things great."

Our other character is Wendell, the ghost of a little boy. He is the cutest thing ever. He's a cute little ghost that over-exaggerated how he died to a bunch of other ghosts.

And he lives in a trailer. And goes to ghost AA meetings. But Wendell gets kicked out of his house and needs a place to stay. So a lot of things go wrong because of one big asshole (and Wendell's clumsiness)

Owen, her little brother, is just precious but a little bastard, like most pre-schoolers. Marjorie has to deal with being the mother, father and bread winner of the house while still going to middle school.

But Wendell, the ghosts and Marjorie work together to save the laundromat. Everything ends well. I know this sounds like a child's comic, but it's not. It deals with death of family and friends and the depression of the child in the child-headed household as well as the bullying and heckling she faces. It's very dark at times, but extremely sweet and endearing.

This is a great book for people of all ages to come to terms with the loss of a loved one, and, of course, for some laughs.

The artwork in this book is stunning! It lies somewhere between cute and lovely. I have looked through the book three times already. The idea of a ghost haunting an actual sheet is priceless. Ha ha. I was going to give this three stars because there really is no plot, and the storyline is scattered, but you know what? It's a Graphic Novel and the premise itself is kind of the plot, so four stars it is!

I'm always a fan of reading graphic novels, especially ones that have a deeply personal storyline that explore profound themes such as grief, loss, and coming of age. In Brenna Thummler's middle-grade graphic novel Sheets, she explores some of these same themes in such a beautiful and poignant way that I really enjoyed...

The Pros
What immediately strikes me about this graphic novel are the two perspectives that make up this story—Marjorie and Wendell. Both come from two completely different words, both carrying their own burdens and marked by the tragedies from their past, which ultimately brings them together. I really liked how their stories very much complemented each other and it's also an interesting juxtaposition: Marjorie is living with the ghost of her mother and her passing in a metaphorical way, whereas Wendell is quite literally an actual ghost who feels he doesn't fit in with other ghosts in the afterlife and instead wants to explore the living world. By the end, it's very clear that both characters need each other, and it's really sweet how this pans out over the course of the story. 

I especially gravitated toward Marjorie's story in this novel. Her days are spent busy handling the family laundromat, a place her mother had put her heart and soul into before her passing, and the absence of her mother is absolutely palpable. Along with juggling the laundromat and its array of disgruntled customers, Marjorie is also dealing with a depressed father, having to put on a brave face for her younger brother, and feeling isolated at school. You can feel everything that Marjorie is struggling with as she tries to keep her life from crumbling. It's so visceral throughout the story, especially in the moments when her mind flashes back to certain memories of her mother before she quickly has to bring herself back to reality. Your heart aches as you hope that everything turns out for Marjorie, and I think this story handled grief and loss in such an honest, compelling way.

The other detail that sets this graphic novel apart is the art style, which is absolutely breathtaking and almost dreamlike, filled with vivid hues of blues, greens, and pinks. These were often my favorite pages, as I would just sit there and marvel over the detail of these illustrations.


What I Didn't Like As Much...
The main detail in this novel that I wasn't as big a fan of was Mr. Saubertuck. His character overall just seemed a little too outlandish and cartoonish, so much so that he didn't seem as real against Marjorie's true-to-life struggles. He just came across as a ridiculous caricature who popped in every now and then, and to me that only weakened the plot.

This next criticism wasn't a major drawback for me, but merely something that I noticed: Wendell was clearly the little boy in Marjorie's flashback who had come to her side when she once got lost in a corn maze... yet this isn't ever confronted in the story? There's never any moment of recognition between Marjorie and Wendell, or even a feeling of being reunited. I get that Wendell might not remember because a ghost's memories often fade after they've died, but even Marjorie doesn't try to help him remember nor does she even seem to acknowledge that she once knew this little boy who is now Wendell's ghost. It's just a detail that ends up getting glossed over and never properly confronted.


Final Thoughts:
All in all, Sheets by Brenna Thummler is a poignant and emotionally affecting middle-grade graphic novel that perfectly illustrates themes of family troubles, grief, loss, isolation, and learning how to move forward. The stunning artwork combined with the dual narratives from our two protagonists help to illuminate these themes and to carry the story forward. It balances both lighthearted and heavy subject matter, making it a very approachable book for young readers, and I ultimately considered it an enjoyable read.

Sheets is a very beautiful book, and not just because of the art. It manages to tie the threads of Marj, a young girl who has lost her mother (and is losing her father to grief), and Wendell, a young ghost who is struggling to accept his death. Thummler weaves these stories together deftly and with such a light hand that the story seems entirely natural, despite the supernatural elements.
I loved the character of Wendell - his anxiety, his attempts to reach out to Marj, and his heart shone out of the pages. While the villain of Sheets is perhaps a little bit of a caricature, it works well in the brightly coloured, simply drawn style of the comic. I really admired Marj for her strength in keeping the laundry going, dealing with her brother, and the sensitivity with which she treated her dad. Even though she would have been well within her rights to lose her temper with her dad for making everything so difficult, she had a real maturity that made it impossible for me not to warm to her.
This is a gorgeous, haunting story depicted in a simple, attractive style. It has a lot to say about grief and acceptance, but it says it quietly, leaving you reflecting long after the final page.

God, I was about to cry for the first 220 pages of this beautiful comic, but it has a very satisfactory ending. LOVED the drawing style!