Member Review
Review by
Alice B, Reviewer
First of all, thanks to NetGalley and Algonquin Books for sending me an eARC in exchange for a honest review.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.
I don't think, as Italians, we can experience working as a (cub) journalist at the age of 12 - surely not where I grew up - but with all her middle school problems, heck if Cindy didn't bring me back to my time as a twelve-year-old girl.
It doesn't matter if it's the early 1970s or the early 2000s - 2001/2002, in my case: it's a little sad and a little comforting at the same time realizing some things never change.
Cindy is a good student, nobody would associate the word "fashion" to her clothes and she has only one, true friend. She sees school the way it is: a jungle full of preys and predators. Unfortunately she's one of the preys and Cindy has her tactics to avoid the predators, hoping to stay invisible and out of their radar. Guess what? It doesn't always work. Yeah, because mean girls like Evie, Tammy and Leah seem to always be able to find her.
Really, you have no idea about the huge déjà-vu I experienced.
What if her friend Katie joins the popular girls at their table in the cafeteria?
What if Cindy gets the occasion to try something new out of school, something she could make a difference at and carve an opportunity for her future out of it?
What then?
It's 1972 when it all begins: Nixon is president, but the Washington Post is exposing the Watergate to the public opinion. Journalists are under the spotlight like never before, but women doing this job are only a few - and they cover minor stories.
It's a world ruled by men at every level - Cindy's very own father gives advices for a successful future to his sons, but not to Cindy.
Cindy though has a great example in her English teacher and a greater one in Leslie, the reporter teaching her the job and a way to do even better - in doing so, even Leslie finds the courage to ask her editor for major stories coverage.
Under Leslie's wing, Cindy learns to write about important issues in a way that is true and objective, but she also learns the world is so much bigger and complex than her middle school drama: corruption, war, environment, equality between men and women treated as a matter of fact but still ignored by laws in many States all over the country.
Cindy's teenage years are marked by activism and people finding their own voice - just like Cindy at the end of her seventh grade.
"Cub" is a coming of age graphic novel that you're not gonna be able to put down - because no matter how popular you were in middle school, that kind of drama between friendships and bullies is something you lived one way or another - and that reminds us we have to fight for our dreams, to let the world hear our voices no matter those who want to shot us down.
You have to know English isn’t my first language, so feel free to correct me if I make some mistakes while writing this review.
I don't think, as Italians, we can experience working as a (cub) journalist at the age of 12 - surely not where I grew up - but with all her middle school problems, heck if Cindy didn't bring me back to my time as a twelve-year-old girl.
It doesn't matter if it's the early 1970s or the early 2000s - 2001/2002, in my case: it's a little sad and a little comforting at the same time realizing some things never change.
Cindy is a good student, nobody would associate the word "fashion" to her clothes and she has only one, true friend. She sees school the way it is: a jungle full of preys and predators. Unfortunately she's one of the preys and Cindy has her tactics to avoid the predators, hoping to stay invisible and out of their radar. Guess what? It doesn't always work. Yeah, because mean girls like Evie, Tammy and Leah seem to always be able to find her.
Really, you have no idea about the huge déjà-vu I experienced.
What if her friend Katie joins the popular girls at their table in the cafeteria?
What if Cindy gets the occasion to try something new out of school, something she could make a difference at and carve an opportunity for her future out of it?
What then?
It's 1972 when it all begins: Nixon is president, but the Washington Post is exposing the Watergate to the public opinion. Journalists are under the spotlight like never before, but women doing this job are only a few - and they cover minor stories.
It's a world ruled by men at every level - Cindy's very own father gives advices for a successful future to his sons, but not to Cindy.
Cindy though has a great example in her English teacher and a greater one in Leslie, the reporter teaching her the job and a way to do even better - in doing so, even Leslie finds the courage to ask her editor for major stories coverage.
Under Leslie's wing, Cindy learns to write about important issues in a way that is true and objective, but she also learns the world is so much bigger and complex than her middle school drama: corruption, war, environment, equality between men and women treated as a matter of fact but still ignored by laws in many States all over the country.
Cindy's teenage years are marked by activism and people finding their own voice - just like Cindy at the end of her seventh grade.
"Cub" is a coming of age graphic novel that you're not gonna be able to put down - because no matter how popular you were in middle school, that kind of drama between friendships and bullies is something you lived one way or another - and that reminds us we have to fight for our dreams, to let the world hear our voices no matter those who want to shot us down.
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