How lovely to read a book about cancer with a happy ending!

This short beautifully illustrated book about a teenage girl who has leukemia. It makes you experience all the ups and downs of someone suffering with cancer at such a young age and made me thankful for my own healthy children.

It was a refreshing change to read from the perspective of someone who has cancer and thinks they are going to die, as of course many do, but with so much hope and trust in the Doctors and nursing teams to cure her.

Heartbreaking and heartfelt. This book is sure to win over anyone's heart. I would definitely highly recommend this author.

The title of the book prepares you for the story before you even open the pages of this relatively short graphic novel. The images themselves are dull, mainly shades of gray and black with some reds thrown in intermittently. As the book opens, the 15 year old main character is walking down the hall to her oncologist’s office to hear the latest status and recalls the array of emotions that she has gone through over the past few years. There is the institutional smell of hospitals, the way people look at you when you have cancer, knowing that everyone feels sorry for you. She remembers her roommate who died. And she remembers what it was like to finally fall in love.

I won’t say that this book is an easy read, though it can easily be read in one sitting. Desjardins definitely honored the young girl looking for a book about cancer with a happy ending, but didn’t gloss over the fact that cancer is a very hard road. It impacts not only the patient, but everyone around them. Cancer is a very complicated disease. Treatments sometimes work and sometimes don’t. There is always a feeling of dread when going to the oncologist.

Fortunately, as the book winds down, we know that she is walking toward a happy ending. Artistically, Marianne Ferrer did a great job of expressing the girl’s emotions through color while still in very muted tones. As the girl, we never know her name, tells her boyfriend, who is colored in, that she is cured, she literally sheds her skin of cancer and is full of color herself.

Not a book for everyone, but a great way for young adults to understand what someone going through cancer might be feeling.

Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This story was a lot for me to read. I pushed through personal trigger warnings because I wanted to see if there really was a happy ending. I won't spoil whether there was or not. I did enjoy that it was a graphic novel-- for some reason, I was not expecting that when I requested to read it. The story follows a fifteen year old girl (so young to go through so much pain) and her battle with leukemia. The entire novel is more of a reflection than a progressive story, and I really enjoyed that part of it as well. I found my heart aching and swelling throughout the read.

This was such a cute read. I think this would be well suited to young cancer patients to give them some hope that they to can have a happy ending.

This book was a lot more light-hearted than I thought it would be. I know the title tells you that it has a happy ending, but it seemed to just gloss over something that could have a lot of depth to it. I did like that the reader is giving an inside look as to what is going on in the head of a cancer patient when they are headed to the doctor for news, I would have just liked for there to be more.

It felt like I was just reading the end of the story and there was a lot that had happened before that would have helped me connect with the characters more. Basically, I just wanted more.

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

Author: India Desjardins
Publisher: Quarto Publishing Group - Lincoln Children's Books
Frances Lincoln Children's Books
Publication Date: 29 Jan 2019

A Story About Cancer (With a Happy Ending) is a short YA story by India Desjardians, illustrated by Marianne Ferrer, and translated from the original French by Solange Duellet. The 96-page book follows an unnamed 15-year-old as she makes her way through the hospital on the way to find out how much time she has left to live. As she walks, she reminisces about the previous five years since her leukemia diagnosis.

The girl thinks about her treatment, the way others treat her because of it, and the guilt she feels toward her sister for taking up so much of their parents’ time. But the things that really resonated with me, were the mundane things, how she’ll never know how a TV show ends and how she’ll miss the taste of cookies and her grandpa’s lasagne. These are the things that made the book feel tragically real and emotionally raw. I read the whole book in one sitting but had to take far longer to decompress afterward than it took to read.

What makes A Story About Cancer (With a Happy Ending) particularly remarkable is how immediately you connect to the main character and the small cast of supporting figures. There’s Annie, the nurse who tries to provide happiness and a kindly ear, Maxine – the best friend of our protagonist who has also been struggling with leukemia treatments of her own, Victor the boyfriend, and the protagonist’s family, mum, dad, and sister. Even though they are only ever on the periphery of the story and are given almost no background at all, they feel intensely present.

While this story is told in the first person from the perspective of the teenage girl at its heart, we catch glimpses into how the diagnosis and treatment have affected everyone else’s lives too. I was particularly affected by a scene between the protagonist and her mother when the mother finally came to understand why her daughter didn’t like being told how strong she was. Another moment that touched me showed the girl coming to understand why her father insisted on cracking jokes all the time. It took me a long time to turn the pages after reading these pages.

I’ll admit that the artwork in this book wasn’t really my style, however, I felt it worked well for the story and there were moments where it really spoke to me. As the girl and her parents wait to hear her prognosis on a sterile, plastic, hospital bench, they seem to shrink away into their own personal darkness on the page in front of you. It is profound, and moving, and all too familiar for anyone who has waited on similar phone calls.

Despite its happy ending, A Story About Cancer (With a Happy Ending) is not the easiest book to read yet I believe it will bring hope to some people going through similar events, and understanding to those who, fortunately for them, have never had these experiences. For those reasons, I would recommend A Story About Cancer (With a Happy Ending) to anyone who knows someone dealing with a life-threatening diagnosis.

GeekMom received this item for review purposes.

Wow. It is amazing how much can be effectively communicated through a limited number of perfectly concise words paired with poignant illustrations. Cancer is such a heavy topic and the author handles it in such a captivating and honest way. And the illustrations are just phenomenal.

The young girl (we’re never given a name) has been battling leukemia for 5 years and is about to find out if she’s going to live or die. Either way, the battle is over, only the outcome remains to be known. The book opens with her and her parents entering the hospital, and her thinking over the years she’s spent there. How the hospital smells, how the color schemes are always bleh, and how her best friend and long-time hospital roommate Maxine lost her battle the previous year. She talks about how it has affected her family, her childhood, the things that people say to her that drive her crazy, and how they look at her like she’s dying. It’s all very realistic and genuine without being particularly emotive.

The illustrations…I just can’t say enough about how suited they are to the subject matter, how the images were so in sync with the words they were connected to, and in fact, sometimes communicated even more effectively than what was written. At the very end, when she reveals the outcome to her boyfriend Victor, is an illustration that took my breath away. It really said everything that needed to be said in that moment.

Long story short: Not a fun read to be sure (though I’d expect the word “cancer” being in the title hinted at that), but definitely an exceptional one.

This was a touching picture book, depicting a young person's fight, and triumph, against cancer. Told from the point of view of a young cancer patient, you are taken inside the mind of the sufferer and hear the thoughts she goes through. She reflects on the things she will miss if she loses the battle, and the people she doesn't want to burden with her illness. She also tells of how she understands that people need to say or do something, but their actions and words are not always the most helpful.

The colours used in the simple illustrations reflect the emotions of the narrator as she tells of her journey with few words.

Many thanks to the publishers from whom I received an eARC of this title via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

So cute and adorable. The pictures were absolutely gorgeous! Please pick up when you have the time. This book made me sad and happy at the same time.

I received this arc from Netgalley for an honest review. This graphic novel is told by a young girl and her diagnosis of cancer at the age of 15. It’s touching, raw, emotional and open. Truly beautiful.

I loved this book. It was so good. Don't have anything to describe. But everything felt real. Could get in easily. The writing was good of course.

It took me a while to figure out how to actually read this, because I wasn't used to the format - but I'm really glad that I did, because it was definitely worth it.

Even though you're told from the beginning that this book has a happy ending, that doesn't stop it from dealing with anything real, and I really enjoyed that aspect of it.

Also, 10/10 for illustrations!! They were just done so well!

Definitely not easy to read because even though it has the happy ending "warning" in the title, the story doesn't shy away from the reality of the disease. Such lovely illustrations!

Netgalley, and the publishers have kindly sent me this arc when I requested one. Here is my honest review. This story was just incredible. It gave this insight into what happens after the treatment. I am in love, and my heart hurts at the same time. All involved just invoked so much emotion throughout it all. This is definitely won't be something I can read all the time. Just maybe sentimentally. This is about a young girl who has cancer, is treated, and then, replays it all while she is in the doctor's office awaiting the news if the treatment worked.  If you have ever had loved ones who have had cancer, or you yourself have, this is just unbelievably relatable.

As a cancer patient, I was definitely interested in this book and just what the supposed happy ending would be. I will say, I was skeptical at first because it's hard to imagine a happy ending when it comes to cancer. But I was pleasantly surprised and the ending made me super emotional! Hearing the big R word is a huge deal when you're going through something like this and I was so happy to see that this was the happy ending. It reminded me of when I got the call and was told I was in remission and it just brought back so many feelings and emotions that I had when I found out. I loved the artwork and the story was easy to follow and, of course, had a wonderful happy ending that made the story so much better! This was a great story that I would highly recommend to anyone, whether they're a cancer patient, know someone going through cancer, or just want to read a quick story that gives a bit of insight into the life of a cancer patient.

This comic was a refreshing and hopeful book about a 15 year old girl who suffers from Leukaemia.

There isn't much that happens in the story, but it was a sweet read all the same. I didn't much enjoy the artwork, but some of the drawings were pretty enough.

I finished the book in 20 minutes tops, and it was an easy, fun read.

In this book, we meet a fifteen year old teen girl who has been fighting leukaemia since she was just ten years old. She lost her friend to leukaemia and we see how she feels about feeling a burden on her family and feels they'd be better off without her.



The images are full of mixed emotions with dark sad images for her hopelessness she feels and warmth with colourful happy memories about her life.



Victor is her other friend, nothing to do with cancer but her school, she falls in love with him and we see how they grow together despite the cancer between them that could be a ticking time bomb.



It was sweet and moving with little words, the story comes across well in pictures and is sure to tug on your emotions as we can imagine being the main character as she faces her future and appreciates her past.



Many thanks to the publishers for allowing me to review this book for them!

Narrated in plain English by a 15 year old leukemia patient, this is an emotional and realistic look at what it's like to be a teenager with cancer. As the title says, it has a happy ending. But getting there will probably bring a tear or two. The art is moody and the use of color has meaning.

This sophisticated picture book is inspirational and it honestly made for such a pleasant reading experience. Even though the title of the book declares it as having a happy ending, there were still stakes and I found myself to be nervous about what would happen to the protagonist. I feared her receiving bad news and what would happen to her family and the love story within was extremely emotional. I was left in tears at the end of the book and it drew out an emotional side in me that no other picture books have given me. This book encourages me to explore the genre more and I highly recommend it.

I believe this book is so important for children and adults and sparks up incredibly important conversations. I found myself feeling vulnerable at the end of the story and brought the issue to my attention. I found myself gravitating to articles relating to cancer and the innocent lives it’s taken. The lasting impact this book has is extreme and I’m so thankful to the author and illustrator for producing such special work.

I definitely recommend this book to everyone and believe that it could change your life. If you know someone who’s going through cancer this book will let you help understand what it’s like to go through such a hurtful experience.