Sincerely, Harriet is a story about a young teenage girl who is diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and recently shifts to a new city so her parents can get help from better doctors. The primary plot focuses on the loneliness that Harriet deals with as she leaves behind her friends (who don’t reply to her postcards) and due to her parents usually working overtime.

The instant pull for me was definitely the art--it has a different style from the mainstream comic artworks and the color scene really sets with the subtle, sad tone of the story. The main character, Harriet, is often shown to make up stories and form rude opinions about others, like the mailman who stares at the dogs and the old lady who she thinks is a murderer. Though her personality doesn’t belong to the good-vibes one, I did find her interesting and was happy to see a character development toward the end of the story. The parents were justifiable for working overtime since they had a daughter’s treatment and their own dreams to achieve. Even Pearl, the old lady, plays a strong supporting role in Harriet’s development by propelling her to read books and find something she loves to do.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this to anyone looking for a quick read that also reflects on the ways that a chronic disease can affect someone’s life and/or personality, especially at an age where the diagnosed person can’t even fathom life itself.

I'd love to thank NetGalley and Graphic Universe for this book.

This book was cute, but I hardly understood at first what was going on. The plot wasn't clear. It skipped at times, and when Harriet went to the doctor, the dialogue bubbles were empty, and I didn't knew what she had.
In the end, the author explained some things and then I really understood.

I didn't really liked Harriet. She was so grumpy at times (most of the times, actually). But I know that I sometimes had the same moody attitude and I couldn't blame her.

The story was okay and easy to read. Sad at times. Beautiful at others.
2 stars.

There aren't a lot of books on invisible disabilities so it was really good to read one about it. The fact that it wasn't immediately mentioned as well was a pretty good way to explore it, as in real life, it's not obvious. Exploration of loneliness, friendship and priorities was also really good. Very good graphic novel

My 2nd read of 2019 was this short and simple graphic novel which I immediately fell in love with. A strange protagonist, Harriet has been writing letters to her friends and the camp and wonders why they haven't replied. Her mind is full of strange ideas, of the house being haunted and the lady downstairs being a murderer. When she befriends Pearl (the old lady she presumed to be a murderer) her life begins achieving some clarity, she begins finding happiness in her isolation - and the book ends on a positive note. The author attempts to portray the dissociation of a person from their disabilities, without being very vocal about it. Despite not being a brilliant work, a one time read of this lovely novel will be soothing. Thanks to NetGalley for an e-copy to review.

A middle grade graphic novel as saturated with color as it is with feeling.

Harriet's family just moved to Chicago and she's not enjoying spending summer alone in her new sweltering hot second story apartment. With her parents at work all day and her old friends away at summer camp Harriet is left alone with only her summer reading, her imagination, and the landlady downstairs for company.
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Like a regular teenage girl, Harriet prefers movies to books, and companions her own age to grandmotherly neighbors. Unlike a regular teenage girl, Harriet has a crazy imagination, and some pretty serious stuff on her mind.
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My favorite thing about this book was that it is realistic but overwhelmingly positive both in tone and in message. This is a story of a family facing real hardship, but instead of fracturing apart under the strain they come together. You can even see that reflected in the visuals. The panels are drawn in vibrant saturated slightly flat color which keeps the book quite upbeat and cheerful. But the characters themselves are actually realistic. They each have a different body type and skin tone, and project an overwhelmingly positive image.
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Overall I give this 4 stars and I'm intrigued to see what Ms. Searle does next.

Harriet has moved to Chicago with her parents. She wishes she could attend summer camp and writes to a couple of the girls she met the previous year. She is bored when her parents are at work and befriends the woman downstairs. Pearl tries to get Harriet to read more to expand her burgeoning imagination. As Harriet goes through several mishaps, the reader discovers Harriet’s limitations, dreams and realities.

This is my first graphic novel. If this book is any example, I have found a new genre to explore. This is a fantastic sample. The illustrations are vivid and enjoyable. The writing is complex while being informative at the same time.

This is a wonderful book about disabilities, friendship, loneliness, fantasies, and trying things one thinks they don’t like. How the author packed all of these great subjects into one story is amazing. Just like the book.


I received an eBook ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affects my opinions or ratings of this book.

I love the character and the representation in this book, but the pacing of it was so off. The transitions were awkward and it almost made the book feel out of order because it was so choppy during the first few scenes. Also, it ended kind of randomly. Everything else was great but the plot and structure needed tweaking.

This book tells the story of Harriet, a young girl who is pretty much left alone as her busy parents spend their time working. She is new to the city of Chicago and has no friends. She writes postcards to friends from back home, but gets no letters from anyone. She is befriended by an older woman who is also a former librarian. She encourages Harriet to read more and to make up her own stories as well. Harriet is also, later in the book, diagnosed as having MS and her parents finally start paying attention to her. At the end, she joins a creative writing group. I didn't love this book. The illustrations are pretty well done, but the story seemed to wander and there wasn't a real resolution. It really bothered me that Harriet's parents only seemed to pay attention to her after her diagnosis, but my main problem with this title is that the plot seemed incoherent and wandering. I don't understand what message the author was trying to convey at all.

Harriet lives with her family in an apartment complex where Pearl lives as well. Harriet deals with typical teenage issues in addition to her struggles with MS. The concept of this story was so interesting and I loved the illustrations but overall felt like it could go so much deeper.

Sincerely, Harriet is a heartwarming graphic novel about a girl suffering from a chronic illness, and the boredom she experiences as she's stuck in the apartment all summer.
I enjoyed the story a great deal. Harriet is a compelling protagonist, acting as normally as she can at her age, and the situations she gets herself into seem familiarly realistic. The story is presented well, with an art style and color scheme that beautifully captures both the melancholy of a bored teen, and the time period the story is set in. But entire time I was reading, I felt as though something was missing - I feel as though there is need for another layer to the story that would better capture Harriet's feelings.
Overall, it's a fast read with a sweet story and great artwork.

I'm not sure any of the graphic novels in my collection currently deal with chronic conditions and the fact that Searle has done it so well makes Sincerely, Harriet a definite purchase for my collection!

I really liked this book as a coming of age story for a shy teen. The man character also has a disability but that doesn’t drive the story. It is important to her life and understanding her experience. The book has good silent scenes and the characters are well developed. A quick good read for adults, and I would hope it appeals to kids.

The author’s note at the end of this mentions how Harriet and the polio survivor she imagines corresponding with have invisible disabilities, which can make it harder for people to extend them the same patience as they would for me visible disabilities. She masterfully tells Harriet’s story with small visual glimpses of what she has been through and what challenges she has without going in to deeper detail, in part because these are just small parts of who she is as a person, something she’s just beginning to understand for herself. There is more than enough in this tale to stir up our empathy for her.

"Stories are good company, aren't they? Always there for us when we need them."

I like the colorful drawings of the characters and the meaningful content of each bubble head. It is also a fast-paced story wherein it will leave you searching for more answers. The ending is not quite satisfying but all in all, the whole graphic novel is good.

We live in a world of #depressedpeople and tend to rant about all things unpleasant in life. But, do we even think of those people dying from sickness in their physical bodies when we said "I want to die" repeatedly? Like it's just an expression, a chant when you feel lonely or you're so sad you think you can't take everything. Remember what Charles Buchowski said in his book Perks o Being a Wallflower that "Others have it a lot worse."

"They think I'm scared of being sick, but it's not really that. They don't understand."

This is a story of a sick teenager who is in dire need of normalcy in her life.
"I don't want to be a teenager who can't go to sleepovers because I'm scared I might wet the bed. I want to find real friends who actually like the same stuff I do, and I want to do normal friend things with them and I'm just so tired of being alone."

Some of the quotes that I like in this book says:

"Don't be sorry, be better."

"Next time you're tempted to make things up, why don't you try writing them down?"

She has a librarian friend! How nice it is to have someone to lend you books! But she doesn't really like books that much and it kind of irritate me she acts that way. But maybe, there's a reason for it throughout the book. Just like what her librarian friend on a remark on The Secret Garden, "Mary Lennox has her flaws, yes. But that's part of what makes her story so satisfying." We shouldn't really judge right away. "She grows a lot over the course of the book," she added and that makes me think of really good books that have dull beginnings but boomed before it ends and ends up we don't want to finish them right away.

One time in their conversation, what the librarian said got me. After Harriet, said she likes movies better than books because it's tough to read, she said "I suppose they're not at all different, are they? Just different ways to tell stories." Few pages before the ending, Pearl the Librarian and Harriet got into another book talk. When Harry said that the book got her thinking, Pearl replied "A book can surprise you that way," and this, I think, is the truest thing in the story.

Here's the most important lesson I learned from the story: "It's okay to be sad and scared sometimes, but I promise you're not alone. We're all in this together."

I received this E-ARC via Lerner Publishing Group and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I’ve seen so many great reviews for this graphic novel, but honestly, I was rather underwhelmed and found myself at the end wondering if I’d only read a partial manuscript (I hadn’t). I appreciated the author’s intent to honor the librarians who impacted her life, but the amount of page space given to discussing classic book recommendations left the already clunky plot lines with no room to breathe. The art work was cute and I loved the MS representation (though I worry readers without prior knowledge might not recognize it), but I was missing the emotional core and clear plot line I needed to give a positive review.

Sincerely, Harriet is the story of a young girl in the 1990s who has just moved to Chicago in the heat of the summer, but is stuck at home while her parents work not knowing anyone. She is incredibly lonely and the two friends she is writing from her summer camp are not responding to any of her postcards. She also has an active imagination creating stories for the world around her yet having a hard time differentiating fact from fiction. She starts a relationship with Pearl, the older woman who lives downstairs, and is told of Pearl's son Nick who had been quarantined in the house during an outbreak of Polio in the 1950s. We also learn that Harriet suffers from MS.

I had a difficult time with this book. The fact that Harriet deals with a chronic illness drew me to the book, but it wasn't even mentioned until half-way through and she doesn't seem to be dealing with it very well. The "unrequited crush" is barely even touched upon as it appears that she had a crush on one of the two girls from camp who won't write her back. I was shocked at how little time her parents spent with her, how little they knew her, and how they really didn't seem to take the time to help her figure out what was going on. Pearl was an interesting character who kept recommending various books to Harriet to perhaps help her with her situation, but Harriet only actually read one of them. Great concept, but it simply fell flat.

Sincerely, Harriet
by Sarah Winifred Searle
Lerner Publishing Group
Graphic Universe ™
Comics & Graphic Novels , Middle Grade
Pub Date 01 Jan 2019


I am reviewing a copy of Sincerely, Harriet Through Lerner Publishing Group and Netgalley:



It‘s the summer of 1996 and Harriet Flores is suffering through a long hot summer while trying at first to hide symptoms of a Chronic Illness, one she and her family would later learn was Multiple Sclerosis. She’s lonely after moving to Chicago.


To cope with the boredom of that summer Harriet uses her imagination which sometimes gets her into trouble and she makes up fantastical tales and wonders if there are ghosts upstairs.


One of their neighbors Pearl, encourages Harriet to read and write causing her to have a breakthrough.


I give Sincerly, Harriet five out of five star!


Happy Reading!

I was blown away by how amazing this book was! I am so happy that I got a chance o review it before publication. I cannot wait to buy a copy for my Library. I loved learning about Harriet and her life. She spends a great deal of time inside, so her life may not seem very interesting. However, the intricacies of her summer vacation are riveting, and the message is amazing for young people, and even us not-so-young people as well!

I cannot wait for the next book from this author!

I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Harriet Flores is a sweet girl suffering from boredom as summer passes by.
She also just moved to Chicago with her parents, so she knows no one, and spends her time watching movies, writing to her camp friends, and with Pearl, the sweet lady downstairs who tries to encourage her to do more.

With her great and expanding imagination, she creates stories about the ghost that lives in the top floor - what do they have in there? -, the evil mailman - who barks back and glares at dogs??! -.

All the while, struggling to manage her illness.

Sarah wrote a great story, with nice characters and a great background! It's the first time I see Nicholas and Harriet's 'invisible disabilities' being shown in a stance like this, with colours, and nice character, in a way that teens can read and see a bit for themselves how Harriet can still live while having MS, but it still affects her life. Besides how Nicholas has his own life as well!

It's a great read, easy read, emotional read. I recommend it!

Spoilers ahead:







While I have not suffered the challenges of chronic illness, I've spoken to others who have... and isolation is one of the worst parts of this, I hear. To experience adolescence in the first place, never mind MS, is not the easiest of tasks. Sarah Winifred Searle illustrates these woes (literally and figuratively) in a beautiful way, with lots of focus on the quiet times between the "everything else" that is going on in life.