Cynthia Copeland's graphic memoir is a surefire recommendation for fans of Raina Telgemeier. As a child of the 1970s myself, I really identified with the scenes from her childhood. Despite the time period specifics, her seventh grade year (spent juggling friend drama and her new job as a "cub" reporter) is one that every preteen girl will relate to. This is a sweet book, complete with its lovingly depicted growing pains, that I will recommend far and wide!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great graphic memoir about a young girl growing up in the early 70's and how she learned to embrace herself and her passions. This is such a great book about learning to deal with bullies, finding something you're passionate about and embracing it. I really loved the art and watching Cindy grow as she learns to accept herself and let her friend find herself in the process as well. This is a great graphic novel for middle grade readers and would probably be enjoyed by younger YA readers as well.

This is an interesting look at a girl whose teacher tells her she should write, and she goes for it. She lives in an extremely “traditional” household. Her brothers are expected to be businessmen and make a living. She is only allowed to wear dresses or skirts and if she becomes more than house wife, okay, if not, okay. I hate the father in this story. He so clearly favors the boys and wants his daughter to be his little princess forever, but I love this girls tenacity. Her willingness to go after a story, and realizing that it’s nice to have a boyfriend, but it’s not everything right now. A fun graphic novel for any age.

I really enjoyed this children's/young adult graphic novel.

The illustrations are clear, colourful, engaging and the attention to detail was excellent.
The storyline is great and really draws on a lot of the key issues that were being discussed at that point in history. It was interesting to see Cindy's progression from a child who couldn't care less about current affairs to an emerging young adult who began to discover who she was and her place in society.

Covers a variety of issues such as bullying, friendship changes, young love, politics, history, equality and women's rights.

I have already preordered a copy for my school library as I know the pupils who love Raina Telgemeier will love it.

Thanks to Algonquin Young Readers, Netgalley and the author for the chance to read this ARC.

This is great for fans who love realistic stories in graphic novel format. Hand it to kids who have exhausted all of Raina's books and the Sunny series.

Cindy finds that middle school in the early 1970s is fairly stressful-- all the cool girls are wearing elephant bells and blue eyeshadow, but her parents are more conservative and make her wear longer dresses and sensible shoes. She also finds that they encourage her brothers more than they encourage her. She has one really good friend, but that friend starts hanging out with the cool, mean girls. On the bright side, she finds a boy in her class with whom she has a lot in common, and the two hang out and talk a lot. Also, she talks to her English teacher about writing, and her teacher connects her to a local newspaper reporter, a woman, who brings Cindy along to various events and helps her write articles, one of which is published in the newspaper. Cindy manages to make new friends, keeps up with writing as well as photography, and manages to gain the support of her parents for her endeavors.

Strengths: The details of school, fashion, home life, and sociopolitical events are all covered in an engaging and interesting way. The fact that this is a graphic novel actually helps tremendously with the understanding of what the world looked like at this point in history. I loved the reported with the VW Beetle, and yes, Cindy's parents probably would have been totally fine with her tagging along. This was also rather poignant-- in the 1970s, writing was still something that one could use for a career. I am always worried for journalism majors now!
Weaknesses: This was definitely a white, middle class story, but also a great feminist one. We just need some graphic novels about people from various backgrounds, and if they are also historical, so much the better. Graphic novels are a strain to read on my e reader (the pages have to be about 3"x5", so the print is minute), so I'm sorry for the lack of details in this review.
What I really think: Like Holms' Sunny books, this one made me ridiculously happy, since it covers a period of time during my own childhood. Will probably purchase at least two copies. I do sort of wish the cover were avocado green, though. Or maybe purple. Or orange. Better if it were a plaid of all three-- that would have captured the colors of the time! I was a little surprised that girls wore jeans to school; we weren't allowed until 1976.

I wanted to give this a higher review, but the format I was sent was terrible. The pages were out of order, it was hard to read, and I had to stop about 25% of the way in because of this. The illustrations were nice and the story (as far as I can follow) was really interesting. I liked the way it incorporated history, edits to the main character's articles, and what the character may have been reading into the story. I hope to read the full story once this book is published. For now sadly, I just hope that the publisher fixes the issues in regards to reading this galley on a Kindle. I tried to download the story and read it on an app that I use when I can't send the book to my kindle, but that option wouldn't work either as I could not download the book on that app.

This is a story of a 12-year old girl who becomes a cub reporter in order to pursue her dream of writing. Even though this beautiful memoir takes place during the 70s, today's youth will be able to connect to the themes of friendship and identity.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very sweet graphic novel memoir about Cindy, a 7th grade girl navigating the social world of middle school (and avoiding the "predators") and learning how to become a journalist under the mentorship of one of the few female reporters. Set against the backdrop of the Nixon administration, politics are woven throughout, especially gender politics and sexism. At the beginning of the novel, Cindy's interests in her future as a professional are invisible to her father, who only sees her brothers' interests as important. The end of the novel is a bit pat and everything is more neatly resolved than seems completely true to life. On the whole, though, it is an enjoyable read.

This was pretty cute, I love middle grade graphic memoirs, so I was excited to read this, but unfortunately, this didn't quite reach the level of other books in this genre that I've loved like Smile by Raina Telgemeier, Real Friends by Shannon Hale, and El Deafo by Cece Bell. I think this book just maybe has less crossover appeal for general audiences. The other books I've mentioned are books that I feel children and adults can enjoy, but this one felt more like it was just for kids, which is absolutely fine and doesn't mean I think this has less value than those other books. It just means that for me, I didn't get the same enjoyment from it. I also wasn't super keen on the art, it just wasn't my kind of style, so overall, while I had fun reading this, it's not particularly one I would recommend to adults who enjoy middle grade.

*thank you to Netgalley, Algonquin Young Readers and Cynthia L Copeland for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*


4 stars.

Cub by Cynthia L. Copeland, is an entertaining and well told story about a 12 year old girl who becomes a Cub Reporter, while also dealing with day to day life of being 12 years old and facing the minefield of the usual ups and downs of school life, with friendships, bullies, dating, hair and make up, and also discovering who you are. It's a lot to go through. 

This Graphic Novel shows young females what it is like and her experiences while providing readers a positive role model. We get to follow Cindy through her journey in the early 1970s. It isn't always easy and it isn't always fun, but she gets through it by working out what she needs to do and with help from her mentor, a female reporter named Leslie Jacobs, she manages to learn how to be a reporter. She also discovers her love for drawing and photography, which she is very good at.

While aimed for middle grade readers, I reckon adults who are still children at heart will also this book. The illustrations are very good, both in the style and the colouring. I would highly recommend this for those who live authors such as, Shannon Hale, Kayla Miller and Raina Telgemeier.

This book is a gem! I wish I'd had it when I was in elementary or middle school, but I look forward to being able to share this book. I love that it's set in 1972 but will be completely relatable to today's young readers. It was a joy to watch Cindy pursue her dreams and discover herself throughout this book.

I loved the art -- there's plenty to look at, especially on the two-page spreads. I enjoyed that some of Cindy's articles are included, at first with edits from the reporter she is shadowing. Readers can see the progress in her writing, and I thought this was such a great way to get young readers interested in journalism, even if journalism in their time looks a little different.

Overall, this is a great graphic novel for middle grade readers and belongs on a bookshelf next to both classics like HARRIET THE SPY and newly beloved books like ROLLER GIRL.

[placeholder review - full review to come] This graphic memoir follows Cynthia Copeland through her start as a cub reporter in the 70's. I loved it, even though the illustration style was not my favorite. Still, as a writer and editor, this book brought me sheer joy. It also has strong themes of female empowerment (becoming a reporter at a time when women were mostly homemakers). Perfect for kids interested in journalism and adult-lovers of the graphic memoir format.

I was unable to read this text as it did not download properly on my Kindle app for iPad. The pictures were cut off. Some of the text was cut off as well. Unfortunately, the pages arrived out of order. I'm not sure what happened, but it made the text unreadable. If there is a way to fix this, I would love to actually read the text and write a thorough review.

Loved this! As a mother of two teen girls this girl empowerment book really hit home. I didn’t grown up in the 70’s, but I was born in them. This book can relate to all girls on all levels of early teen drama and getting into adult ‘real-world’ issues. It was inspirational to put a female as the main character in the limelight.
Cindy is 12 and in 7th grade. She gets the opportunity as a new ‘cub reporter’ at the local newspaper. She sees up close how in the 70’s the job market was ruled by men, reporting and writing on a corrupt president in Watergate, All this while dealing with friends, boys and every other 12yr old drama that crosses her path!

This groovy graphic novel is set in the early 1970s. Seventh grader, Cindy, is told by her teacher that she would be an amazing writer and sets her up with an internship with a female reporter. Oh and since she's still in school, she is dealing with the usual middle school drama- popularity, friendship, fashion and boys.
I love how this novel intertwines a young girls story with editing, reporting and writing. Witty and engaging- many students will enjoy reading about an assertive girl their age navigating middle school while also succeeding at writing!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced read in exchange for an honest review.

Take a walk through time with Cindy and her friends! Cindy is a typical 1970s American teen-ager with typical 1970s American teenager worries. I can verify this because I, too, was a child of the '70s.

Cindy's insight into friendships, jobs, and finding oneself kept me reading and learning a little history along the way. You won't go wrong reading this book (and a graphic novel, at that)!

Sweet autobiographical graphic novel about the author both coming of age and finding her voice during the 1970s. Could easily be used as a part of a school unit on women's rights.