I love Ngozi Ukazu’s Check Please! and was thrilled to hear she wrote another book. This was delightful! Captured the chaos of college/art school so well.

Given the set-up, the plot direction here is pretty predictable. It's the standard plot of any sports underdog story. What lets this one stand out is the underlying currents that Ukazu pulls in. We're not just looking at sports as a method of self-actualization and empathy building. We're also looking at a toxic, manipulative environment and how dreams can change over time. Entertaining, to say the least, and with some depth to back it up.

I absolutely loved every moment and page of this graphic novel! Outstanding characters, laugh out loud humor, relatable stories, and artwork that is so fun to look at. This has all the great teamwork vibes of classic underdog stories plus the quirkiness of art school students. Where else will you get a proud furry on a softball team?! There are romance side plots, lots of "stick it to the establishment" energy, and a charming setting with some sinister undertones. I love the diverse cast of characters and how well rounded they all are. I read through this so fast and was cheering the team on the whole time. A must read!

As a fan of the "Check, Please!" series, I was excited to see a new graphic novel from the author. Her stories are always well written. This story, unlike her previous series, is not illustrated by her. But, the art was just as good with a distinct and compelling illustration style. I felt the illustrator did a particularly good job with the setting and scenes, providing lovely cinematic perspectives. This story centers a girl, Molly, ready to go off to college. But, not just any college, her dream art school right in the city where she lives. At first everything is great and she has a full ride scholarship. Then a loophole is discovered and the scholarship is taken away. This leads to a zany journey in which Molly creates a scheme to get a new scholarship. In the process she deals with predatory school loans, making new friends, and fighting for that new scholarship. The story was fast paced and relatable. It deals with a lot of issues teenagers will be going through graduating from high school and then dealing with college. It also had a diverse cast that felt realistic rather then token. Will be purchasing for my collection and recommending to students. (Thank you to Netgalley and First Second for the ARC)

PICA, Peachtree Institute of Collegiate Arts, is Molly’s dream school, and she’s set to start her freshman year on a full scholarship. Until she isn’t.

She discovers that PICA awards a sport scholarship to every member of a team that wins at least one varsity-level game, so she has the bright idea to start a softball team. With her best friend Ryan’s assistance, they round up a racially diverse group of artists with varying degrees of athletic ability to play!

The whole cast and story were delightful. Each character was fully developed and their individual personalities really shined. I was smiling and laughing at their antics the entire time. It was the charm of CHECK, PLEASE combined with the humor of SAKANA, which was the perfect combination. I need to find a crew like this to play softball with.

Student loans suck. The debt is so stressful, but so is being pressured to attend college. I appreciated how this topic was handled with humor, and the book also shed some light on gentrification.

BUNT! is about college freshman, Molly, who was promised a full ride scholarship, only to discover that she actually has no scholarship. While considering the alternatives, Molly finds a softball scholarship, where if her team can win at least one game, it’s theirs.

I am not a sports person at all, but Ngozi Ukazu has already got me to read a whole webcomic about hockey, so of course I was ready to read about softball! This was such a fun graphic novel that really highlights some of the issues with universities and gentrification.

Everyone on the team was unique and fun and added so much to the group and the story. Molly and Ryan’s friendship felt so genuine but I just really loved the team as a whole. The way they all joined the team for their own reasons but by the end were all there for each other, that’s one of my favorite kind of stories.

Thank you to NetGalley for making this available in exchange for an honest review!

"Bunt! Striking Out On Financial Aid" by Ngozi Ukazu is a thoroughly enjoyable graphic novel that offers a fast-paced and captivating read. As a fan of the book, I appreciated its exploration of important issues such as gentrification and the flaws within the university system, adding depth to the narrative beyond the softball game premise.

The characters, particularly Molly and her teammates, are well-developed and easy to root for, drawing readers into their journey from the very beginning. While I found myself fully invested in the story, I couldn't help but wish for a bit more depth in certain topics and storylines. Nonetheless, the book kept me engaged from start to finish.

One of the highlights of "Bunt!" is the illustrations, which are beautifully crafted and complement the storyline perfectly. Overall, I had a great time with this graphic novel and would recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining and thought-provoking read.

Bunt! is a fun YA graphic novel that follows Molly, an incoming freshman at the local art college, as she discovers her scholarships didn't go through. To get financial aid, Molly finds a loophole leading her to form an on campus softball team where we meet the full cast of ragtag characters. As she navigates her first year, we see her ups and downs and various realizations she makes along the way. We form a connection with the team and root for them to win at least one game so as to meet the requirements of the scholarship. Molly and her best friend, also the coach, really stood out as the heart of this story. The pacing was the only thing I struggled with, as sometimes it jumped time but didn't give any visual indications to convey that. I had a fun time reading this, and would recommend it to anyone interested in reading about college experiences. Ngozi Ukazu creates wonderful diverse characters and I plan to continue reading more of their stories. Thanks to First Second and NetGalley for access to an eARC for my honest review.

A relatable book for anyone who paid for college, struggled to pay for college, knows anyone who paid for college, took out a loan, knows anyone who took out a loan, or played intramural sports at college.

What I mean is, this is a relatable book to pretty much everyone and boy, what does that say about society? (Besides that intramural are an incredible way to make lasting friendships)

Ngozi and Mad really do a wonderful job of combining their writing and art together to make this graphic novel about Molly, an art student at college whose hometown is the college town. Through really no fault of her own, she loses her full scholarship and needs to find a way to pay. An obscure loophole allows her to create a school softball team and as long as they win a singular game, the scholarship is in the bag. That’s it. Just one game. How hard can it be?

This was such a fun time and had so much emotion and heart running through it. I will read any college sports story in any medium that Ngoni wants to write and add in Mad’s artwork? A winning combination.

I really enjoyed this because the characters are funny, there is a lot of good dialogue where characters get to know each other and connect through sports. Some of it was a little bit complicated but I really did enjoy the friendship between the two main characters. Overall a fun time!

Rating: 5
Genre: Realistic
Thank you First Second Books for providing an e-copy through NetGalley

Summary:
Molly Bauer has dreamed of attending PICA, the prestigious art college of her hometown. But the moment she steps foot on campus, her hopes are utterly destroyed. Her name isn’t on any of the freshmen lists because her full-ride scholarship has completely disappeared! There is no way she can attend without it, but she refuses to tell her struggling parents. After stressful research, Molly finds a loophole in the school policies: If she forms a sports team and they win one game, she and the whole team can receive an athletic scholarship. Determined to beat the system, Molly brings together a ragtag crew of artists - from steamer furries, to shy port artists, to snarky designers, confident fashionistas, and troubled sports fans, - and recruits them to join her brand new. With the help of a PICA dropout and best friend, can Molly and her crew become good enough at softball to win one game and triumph over the academic financial system? Or is it all for nothing?

What I Liked:
Bunt! is a hilarious and honest look at art school, from its rigorous and overwhelming workload, to its massive debt and the lengths as which students have to succeed, asking the overarching question: Is art school worth it? Molly as a protagonist is fantastic - funny, energetic, intelligent, and passionate to see her plan through and get to her dreams. Throughout the story, Molly realizes that her dreams aren’t so pretty in reality and that sometimes, in order to be happy, they have to change. Each of her friends bring wildly different backgrounds, energies, and support, with character designs that reflect their personalities. Each never loses that spark, and readers will love the whole softball team, both as individuals and as a whole. The art style is bright, cartoonish, and expressive, reminiscent of Scott Pilgrim, bringing light-hearted joy and amusement as readers watch the team learn, struggle, and slowly crawl to victory. Underneath the crazy hijinks and fun personalities of the crew lies the serious undertones of how massive college debt, inane and predatory academic policies, and stressful assignments affect young adults and budding artists, discouraging many for a number of factors. Is it worth it to put yourself through such stress just to be in a near financial crisis in your adulthood? Overall, Bunt! is a wonderful graphic novel for young aspiring artists who want a fun yet contemplative story about finding friends, making solutions to large problems, and realizing dreams can change, many times for the better.

What I Didn’t Like: Nothing!

Review Date: February 13, 2023

A hilarious graphic novel about Molly a freshman student at PICA, an art college which owns a lot of city property, who lost her scholarship and tries to get another one by starting a softball team. The art is brightly colored with bright neon colors and heavy lined. The characters are expressive and the flow of the story is fast that the school year flies by. The characters are distinct but don't have depth except the three main characters. It's very fun and highly recommended!

Check!Please is one of my favorite series so I was super excited to see that Ngozi Ukazu was publishing a new graphic novel, however I'm sorry to say that this utterly lacked the same charm that Check!Please did for me. Molly is an incoming freshman at Pico University, her dream school, but when her full ride scholarship suddenly disappears, Molly must find a way to fund her dreams and not let her parents find out about her mounting debt. The solution comes in the form of a little known financial aid loop hole. If she can form a softball team and win one game in the season, she and her teammates will get their schooling paid for.

There are a lot of similarities here with Check!Please. Molly is a first year. She's perky and hyper like Bitty. There's a sports focus and a wide range of characters and personalities. This just fell really flat for me. I realize I am probably in the minority here, but I just found everyone annoying. The authors played fast and loose with the softball rules and the big conclusion was. . . convenient. I can see why this one will appeal to readers, it just wasn't to my taste.

I LOVE FOUND FAMILY AND COLLEGE SPORTS STORIES MIXED INTO ONE SO MUCH AHHH

When Bunt was announced I was over the moon to read something Ngozi and Mad made together, as I am SUCH a big fan of both of them!! And this book absolutely lived up to my excitement!! It was fun, it was heartfelt, the art was great (Mad is amazing at expressions in background characters in particular, but all of the art was amazing), I loved ALL the characters and I just had SUCH a good time!!! Highly recommend!!!

In Bunt! Molly is accepted into a local, prestigious private art school on a full ride scholarship that miraculously disappears. She can't actually afford to go to the college without the scholarship, so she hatches an ingenious plan that exploits a loophole in the school scholarship documents that says if a sports team wins just one game they get tuition paid for. What follows is the impossible task of gathering random art students and making them collaborate long enough to win.

This was a fun story. You have an absolutely quirky cast of random art students - the self proclaimed weirdest and gayest bunch around - and throw them together and hope that magic happens. The author put a lot of thought into how to make PICA an evil institution but at the same time cool enough to want to go to. The artwork is great - I loved how all the different characters had such different looks and personalities.

Honestly, there just isn't anything bad that I can really say about this one. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to read it.

I have been a fan of Ngozi Ukazu since she started publishing her hockey comics online, and I am once again more than satisfied with her humor, her heart, and the cartoony-yet-realistic art.

Molly's full ride art school scholarship gets denied on her first day of orientation. Now she has no way to pay for school. Through searching the PICA financial aid and scholarship book, she finds that every athlete on a team that wins one game gets a scholarship. She just has to put together a softball team at art school.

I loved the art of the graphic novel. The story was good and I liked how it balanced the silliness with more serious topics. Perfect for upper high school and new adults.

Thank you First Second Books and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this great book! It’s such a good story about teamwork, perseverance, friendship, and fighting for one’s beliefs. Loved the graphics; lots of detail and color. Such a fun, quick read!

I'm always looking for YA books with older characters because so many kids want to read about older characters, not just other high schoolers. This helps fill that gap, and while the premise and plot are definitely a bit over the top, it's a quick, funny read with an entertaining cast of characters.

I never thought I would see an art school become parasitic. And yes, that is a very hard sentence for me to say because most art schools with clout can build careers. In this case though? Pica is not worth it. Very not worth it.

Molly doesn't believe that her dream school would fail her, with its seeming dedication to historic preservation. She fought to go to college locally after getting a full-ride, and turned down a full-ride at Duke. But Pica has misplaced her scholarship, saying that they can't accept it and the people that dispensed it are not reachable by phone. Dropping out is not an option at this juncture, especially since Molly's face is on the cover of her welcome package, as a model scholarship student. So she tries another option: softball. She's played since high school, and her best friend knows the game. He can be a coach. Due to a loophole in academic scholarships, if their team wins one game, they get a full ride. The "if" is the big part.

It's a desperate plan, but the other option is Molly confesses to her parents who will give her the I-told-you-so. They may also make her transfer to a more affordable place. So she'd rather fix this mess rather than ask the president for help when the latter starts attending games. It's not a good look, and she knows it.

Ngozi didn't have to dive back into the fuzzy world of Check, Please! to give us a good story; she shows us how brutal college life can be, with plenty of humor about having to run for the bases rather than walk. And as Molly finds out, dreams don't have to die if you need to make a change.