With wit and humor (as well as a thoughtful balance of image and word), Lucile De Paslouan entertains and engages. This book was a well done rumination on modern life and gender.

<b>2 Stars</b>. <i>What Makes Girls Sick and Tired</i> is a series of cue-card-esque collection of things that girls and women "sick and tired" of. With a very minimalist art design to accompany these pieces of writing, Lucielle De Peslouan lays bare the myriad issues women face today: everything from sexual assault, harassment, to body issues, sexism, misogyny, double standards, wage laws, etc. De Peslouan's short pieces do as they are designed, provoke thought and a great starting basis for conversation about feminism and femininity in today's world,

I was very much impressed with the sheer inclusiveness of this graphic novel, something we see from the very first pages of text, in representing women of different age, ethnicity, color, sexuality, physical ability, etc. Yet, despite my love of the message, much like the art style and writing technique I found De Peslouan's points to be very much simplified. It is not clear who the intended audience is for this kind of writing, although I image it would serve as a guiding tool for getting the conversation started among younger girls. <b>2 Stars</b>

I was given an advanced readers copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Girls are sick and tired of people expecting them to act like princesses from the time they are born."

While this book is short, and definitely falls into the category of a picture book, I found it to be really enjoyable and insightful. This short book covers so many issues that women face today, across different races, countries, careers, etc. Things that some men or even some women likely don't think about often enough. Some of the pages in this book shared harsh realities for many, and brought light to issues that are still being fought for. It was overall a fast, fun, and thought provoking read.

I chose to request an ARC of this book due to its origin as a zine (since I have a coworker who's super passionate about them) and also to find out some more reasons why I'm sick and tired. A lot of them I knew, but some of them I didn't even think about as being reasons - just as things that ARE, and that was a frightening realization, let me tell you! I greatly appreciated the intersectionality of the text which helped lead to the positive message at the end: we can all help each other be less sick and tired by uniting and supporting one another.

A lot of reviews have mentioned that they're not sure what audience this is geared toward. I feel it's a solid YA read and would fit right in next to our zine collection in the teen room. This is a valuable read for women of any age, but I think that teens would get the most out of it.

I received a digital ARC from the publisher via Netgalley.

This was a quick read, but definitely covered the main tenants of intersectional feminism. The art was super cute - fairly inclusive with different types of girls, and there were some nice pop culture references (like Nicki Minaj and Beyonce in the "Feeling Myself" video) throughout.

The author blurb at the end acknowledges that this was created by white women and is intended to start a conversation, rather than be the entire conversation. I think considering that, this is a good beginning: for anyone who's trying to get into feminism or understand it, this touches on multiple topics. I would say that this is a quick cute read for anyone already well-versed on feminism, though - there isn't much more to gain that hasn't already been said.

I didn’t know what to expect from this one. It’s marketed as young adult nonfiction, but – with some parental/teacher guidance, I think it’s appropriate for slightly younger readers, too.

I also didn’t know it was a Canadian publication until I read it, and so a few of the sections reference Canadian society (and racial groups) in particular. That isn’t a complaint; it’s just an observation.

What Makes Girls Sick and Tired is a short read that won’t tell you many things about gender inequality you don’t already know. However, I thought it was a good compilation of facts that could start some meaningful discussions. One of the things that impressed me the most was the way the creators took seemingly “smaller/minor” feminist issues and mixed them in with the “bigger” things.

One argument misogynists and conservative women make about feminism is: ‘You’ve got it great where you live. Look at women in Saudi Arabia!’

(In fact, I had an otherwise progressive man recently tell me Saudi Arabia is great for women…!)

This book makes feminism a global issue, and illustrates that there are issues in every country. The fact little girls are sold into marriage in rural India and Yemen and many other countries doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight against catcalling or the marked-up prices of women’s products and services in the West (“the pink tax”). One injustice doesn’t cancel out another.

I started highlighting lines in What Makes Girls Sick and Tired to share, and then gave up, because I’d highlighted about 90% of the text!

This is a book I think would be invaluable in classrooms for the 12-18-year-olds, but only if it’s presented to male students, too.

I guess it's pretty sad that we live in a world where there is a need for someone to write this book. Where people don't just know, so someone has to take the time to tell them.
This book could have been a hundred pages longer. It has a strong message and great illustrations.
I can see this book being used in a gender studies class, where they can really break down and dissect each point.
It is also a great tool to use with kids in a equality class setting.
A very fast and timely read that can be the springboard to a really important discussion.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with this e-ARC!
I enjoyed reading this book and it has a great message, sadly it was quite short. I would have loved to read more, I think it ended a bit abruptly and more details would have been amazing!
Even so, I adored how statistics were included in this book, statistics that were meant to show how much we still need feminism. The book was very diverse and I loved the way the authors were very aware of their privilege and the limits they had on telling some stories.
Overall, it was a really fast read with a great message!

A quick intro to feminism, There are a few supporting facts, but it doesn't explain the concepts in depth. I liked the illustrations and the theme of the book overall.

What Makes Girls Sick and Tired is a short, illustrated collection of reasons why feminism is so necessary, and why women are exhausted in this world we live in. It's a great collection that raises plenty of valid points, and I genuinely adored how diverse and intersectional it is; the author and illustrator are both cis white women, and they acknowledge their privileges in this sense, but the book itself focuses frequently on the specific experiences of women of color, indigenous women, queer women, trans women, fat women, and more.

While there is a lot of positive stuff to be said about this little book, I also have to point out the reasons this isn't getting a 5-star review from me:
1. I try never to say art in a graphic novel or illustrated book is bad, because it's all so subjective and I know the illustrator tried hard, but I very strongly dislike this illustration style.

2. There's hardly any mention of women who don't fit the "thin, able-bodied" appearance (regardless of skin color, sexuality, or gender identity)—just one quick panel about how fat women are less likely to be hired, which barely scratches the surface of what life is like for any woman above what society considers her "ideal weight". If the author wanted to be as intersectional as possible and make everyone feel included, as her author's note implies at the end, there should have been a lot more representation of women who don't fit the thin, able-bodied cliches.

3. I can't tell who this book is marketed for. While some of what is discussed feels a little over the heads of the average preteen, much of the phrasing feels very childish and gimmicky to me in the way that a children's book would, so I literally can't begin to guess what age range this book was intended for.

4. Finally, there are just so many missed opportunities here. There's no real talk about how women in politics are treated, or how hard it is for women to get proper healthcare, or how women's mental illness symptoms are so frequently overlooked or misdiagnosed, or how women of color get paid even less than white women, or how painfully high the statistics are for trans women being murdered... the list goes on, really. There are just tons of huge issues that could have been discussed if this book had been a little longer or hadn't taken up 95% of each page's space with generic illustrations.

I guess my final word is that I genuinely do appreciate what the author and illustrator tried to do here, but I think they fell very short from the mark and there are a lot of other, similar books that do a much better job than this.

Thank you so much to Second Story Press for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

A fantastic and succinct look at all the many injustices that women all over the world have to deal with on a day to day basic. Highly enlightening.

I was given an advance readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book was incredible- if it is sold here in the US I plan to buy one for every girl I know. It should also be gifted to schools and social service organizations. Warm and accessible for feminists young and old

This book was not written for me, well, not the me of almost 60 years of age.

All the concerns and statements I know <em>all to well</em>. They are facts, they are not made up, and they are true for all women.

Women of my age have lived with these truths all our lives.

This book is for the generations to come, for the younger girls and women who might still not know how women are being treated in this world, and will fight like hell to make sure it doesn't continue.

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-15-at-4.24.33-PM.png" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4727" />

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Screen-Shot-2018-11-15-at-4.24.19-PM.png" alt="" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4728" />

All in all, this is a list of all that is wrong with the patriarchy, and what needs to change. There are no solutions given, just that things need to change.

Sometimes it is necessary to name the problems in order to overcome them. Here is hoping that is the case here.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

A really quick read. Kind of a mixed bag: some of these tidbits were pretty standard stuff and just general statements ("Girls are sick and tired of constantly finding fault with themselves for never looking like the digitally altered girls in magazines"), while others were less well-known but presented here with facts and sources ("Girls are sick and tired of knowing that globally women between the ages of 15 and 44 are more likely to die of rape and violence than cancer, car accidents, war, and malaria combined"). I think this would be a good book for a teen girl or someone who's just learning about feminism. And although it was generally depressing since it was just a litany of the crappy things that girls and women all over the world have to face, it did end with a nice message:

"Girls are less sick and tired when they are encouraging, supportive, and united in solidarity with one another. It's one of the best parts of feminism."

This book is a wonderful introduction to all the things that make girls sick. No, not physically ill, but sick of being treated as second class citizens for a plethora of reasons. This book is a good way to highlight the struggles women around the world are facing and although it is short it strives to be inclusive. I think this book would be a great introduction to feminism in a middle grade or high school curriculum because almost every page introduces a new topic that could then be explored further. Another refreshing aspect of this graphic novel is that it shies away from direct conversations about politics (although we know many of the issues are caused or exacerbated by politicians/laws) so it can bring feminism to the forefront as support of women’s equality and not get mired down in modern politics.

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adore <i>What Makes Girls Sick and Tired</i> by Lucille De Pesloüan, though the reasons for which I love this graphic novel are thoroughly upsetting. The book is as it seems, a quick commentary on all the injustices that women face, from those faced by us all to those faced by those of different races and the LGBTQ community. While it’s a pretty fast read, it still manages to touch base on a wide variety of issues that are faced by all sorts of women in the world of today, issues that we are all, in fact, quite sick of.

The unfortunate thing about this book is that I don’t think the people who should be reading it, the sort who would benefit from this commentary are the sort of people who would ever pick it up. There are a lot of things that I related to with this novel, more things that I wish the rest of the world related to or at least understood to some degree. There was a time in my life, due to the unshakable misconceptualizing that comes with living in this society, where I had not considered myself a feminist. I didn’t understand what one was and had been brought up around a rhetoric that led me to believe to be such a thing was bad.

It was only through education that I was able to realize how wrong that view was. Perhaps, if anything, this book can find people who don’t understand and introduce them to a bit more truthfulness about feminism and the awful things women experience. And while I did enjoy reading this graphic novel, I also find myself feeling a little jaded and sad about the things in this world that I am still <i>so sick and tired of</i>.

<i>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

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This is a lovely little book about feminism and sexism. It definitely is a good way to start and also provoke a conversation/discussion. I found myself agreeing with basically every single example this book gives. The author really did a nice job and I'll definitely check out other stuff by them.

*thank you to Netgalley and Second Story Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*

4 stars.

I really enjoyed this! It raises so many valid points. I can definitely see this being a well liked Graphic Novel/Picture book for teens and adults but also for middle grade readers too. There is no age limit on this. It's for everyone. Even boys. The illustrations are very good and it's a short and quick read. So its more likely to be picked up and re-read quite a bit I reckon. Highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Excellent imagery, and quick biting text. It took much of what women deal with on a daily basis and brought it to the forefront. I can absolutely see teenagers reading this and getting some perspective on the plights of women globally. Great read.