I’ll read anything by Ngozi Ukazu, I loved Check, Please! back in the day and I just finished Flip and I loved it too!

There’s something about the way she tells stories that makes them so fun to read, while still pulling you in with real emotional depth.

I loved all the characters, genuinely. Chi Chi and Flip were both so fully fleshed out, with rich backstories and real motivations that made their journeys feel grounded and meaningful. The story touches on gender, race, and inequality in ways that feel natural and current, not preachy, just real. It’s exactly the kind of stuff teens are talking about nowadays.

And the side characters? So good. Chi Chi’s relationships with her friends and family felt so warm and real. I appreciated how this story showed that even when you’re surrounded by love, it can still be hard to love yourself.

Visually, the art style is pretty simple, but super clean and consistent. I especially appreciated how easy it was to tell who was who during the body-swap scenes.

Strong storytelling paired with a very powerful message.

4.5⭐

What a unique journey to self love actualization! There's nuanced commentary on class, race, and gender identity as well as effective mental health representation. While the premise is wrapped up in otherworldly circumstance, the core ideals of self worth and letting society influence you to an extreme extent are very relatable, especially for teens. Chi-Chi and Flip's arcs are stellar, both showing substantial, earned growth. Oh, if only the Flip from the first chapter could see how invested he becomes in a kpop group!

Engaging art style, but I did find that I was confused about who was in which body about a handful of times. I wish that we got more of a mental health update on Flip before the book ends. While Chi-Chi is the main character, I was invested in Flip as well and he was not doing great even towards the end. Even though he has a new support system I did wish we saw that he was more stable. I adored these characters so much that I'm left wanting more of them!

A cute take on the whole switching places trope. While I enjoyed this book, I did find it a little confusing at times to figure out whose body was whose because of all the swapping. Outside of that it had cute at and good messages about friendship and seeing each other. The other set of swappers was also kind of a dark side plot that's never mentioned again.

This fast-paced, laugh-out-loud story follows Flip and Chi-Chi as they navigate the chaos of waking up in each other’s bodies. While their predicament leads to plenty of comedy, it also surfaces deeper emotional truths. The narrative thoughtfully explores Chi-Chi’s experience as a young Black woman and shines a light on the hidden pressure and loneliness behind Flip’s seemingly privileged life.

The characters—main and supporting—are richly drawn, and the duo’s hilarious, twist-filled mission to undo the mysterious "curse" makes for an irresistibly bingeable read. But what lingers is the story’s powerful message: as Ukazu shares in the author’s note, “Some do not have access to their own self-worth.” Sometimes, it takes seeing the world through someone else’s eyes to better understand your own.

I think Ngozi is a very funny author so I do love what she puts out. I feel like this book could have been a bit longer or flourish as a series instead of a one off since some parts felt rushed with no kind of solution, but overall I will always enjoy her ability to make funny and colorful characters while still touching on serious issues like identity, race, depression with grace and humor.

Chi Chi has a crush on a rich white boy, who doesn’t even see her. She decides to do a promposal to him, but he accidentally opens it during a presentation he is making in class, and before she can stop him, he has not only seen it, but the rest of the class has too. And then he turns her down.

She runs off, and wishes that Flip liked her.

And then she wakes up the next day, and they’ve switched bodies. And they keep switching back and forth, for longer and longer periods, as the two have to adjust to living in each other’s bodies.

When I first heard about this book, I thought it would be funnier, having read other books by the author, but this, while funny, is also serious, because the wish was to have Flip like her, and what she learns, as she goes along, that it isn’t so much that he likes her, but that he sees her, and she sees him. Because, to live in each other’s lives allows you to see how the other half lives, so to speak.

And perhaps because it takes the long route to teaching the lesson, it allows you to see it, without being hit over the head with it.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review. This book is coming out on the 23rd of September 2025.

- [ ] Flip was an amazing book. With magical realism, mystery, romance, and real world issues, anyone would live this book. The graphics and attention to detail is phenomenal. This book has a part for everyone. I would rate this book a 4/5.

Gorgeous illustrations. Funny and relatable story - liking someone who doesn't even see you seems like a milestone most of us go through!

Chi-Chi Ekeh has an unrequited crush on rich white boy and fellow senior Flip Henderson. When Chi-Chi asks Flip out to their Mission Springs boarding school prom, via a video proposal that accidentally plays in front of their English class, he immediately rejects her. Absolutely mortified AND sleep deprived, she makes a wish that somehow turns true-ish and she's suddenly Flip and he's her - freaky Friday style. As they investigate how to turn this thing around while navigating each other's lives and switching back and forth, they get to know each other and themselves better.

It's so sweet the way their friendship blossoms despite their stress and how they take care of each other. Great read.

This book was a DELIGHT! It balanced humor and gravitas beautifully, and the themes were well woven. I never once felt like I was being beaten over the head with "lessons learned," but I felt like this is the kind of book that helps you truly see through someone else's eyes. And speaking of eyes, having Chi-Chi and Flip's eye colors switch when they did was an incredibly clever shorthand so the reader easily knew who was in what body. I plan to buy a copy of this when it is published. The only reason it isn't five stars is because there were a few times when threads were left dangling or plot points were not resolved well including...

SPOILERS AHEAD! READERS BEWARE!

-The chatbot that Chi-Chi was writing to was an odd addition that didn't add anything to the story. It just ended up being a strange red herring. The only time it really made sense was as a way for

Note: I received a DRC from NetGalley in exchange for a review.


“SENIOR YEAR BUCKET LIST? SWITCH BODIES WITH YOUR CRUSH.

Chi-Chi Ekeh has one huge problem: She keeps having crushes on rich white boys who have no idea she exists. Enter Flip Henderson, the most popular boy at school, who receives Chi-Chi’s private video proposal to go to senior prom.

But when Flip rejects Chi-Chi in front of their entire class, what happens next is completely unexpected: Chi-Chi―shy nerd and scholarship student―switches bodies with Flip. Suddenly Chi-Chi is 6’1” and cool, while Flip gets a crash course on Chi-Chi’s life―that is, k-pop, hair-braiding, and being a poor kid of color at a rich white private school.

With graduation looming and their body swaps lasting longer and longer, Chi-Chi and Flip must form the most unlikely friendship their school has ever seen. But will they survive senior year? And, most importantly, can they find a way back to themselves?

From bestselling author of Check, Please! comes Flip, a thrilling and fantastical tale about self-acceptance, black girlhood, and how walking a mile in someone else’s shoes can teach you how to finally see yourself.”

“Flip” is another wonderful book from Ngozi Ukazu. The illustrations were fantastic, and the characters and plot were amazing as well. This book is perfect for fans of “Freaky Friday” and Ngozi’s series “Check, Please.” I really enjoyed this book a lot!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Chi-Chi Ekeh and Flip Henderson are both seniors at the elite Mission Springs boarding school. Chi-Chi can attend Mission Springs because of a scholarship, she’s incredibly smart and nerdy, loves K-Pop, editing, and crushin’ on some rich white boys. Flip Henderson’s parents can afford Mission Springs, he’s popular, and on the swimming team.
Sleep deprived and sort of on a dare, Chi-Chi sends a video asking Flip out to their prom. He ends up opening the promposal in front of their English class and outright rejects her.
Weird things have happened repeatedly in their high school years at Mission Springs. So making a wish that comes true would not be considered out of the ordinary…right? Well, Chi-Chi makes a wish and WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA’AM is her crush, Flip Henderson. As they navigate one another’s lives, they find out more and more about each other and themselves.

#ThxNetGalley #NgoziUkazu #Flip

Flip
By Ngozi Ukazu

Thank you to NetGalley and First Second for providing me with an advanced reader’s copy of Flip by Ngozi Ukazu for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

I was drawn to this graphic novel by the cover and then once I saw who the author/illustrator was - Ngozi Ukazu, creator of Check, Please! - I knew I had to read it!

Chi Chi attends an elite private school where she shares her love of K-Pop with her two besties Esther and Yesenia and spends her years crushing on a variety of rich white boys who ads for cool, too rich, and too popular to even see her. When she makes a “wish” to have cool white boy Flip Henderson ask her to the X and her promposal goes terribly wrong and she is rejected publicly, and then falls and gets a concussion, things change. She ends up in Flip’s body and he ends up in hers. Will their switch be temporary and will it possibly lead to the two having a new appreciation for the other?

Read this graphic novel if you loved Check, Please! or enjoyed The Avant Guards. A suggested purchase for public libraries and high school library collections. The plot line is a la Freaky Friday and even though it can be difficult to keep track of which character is which when Chi Chi and Flip are in one another’s bodies, it is a cute story with relatable situations, a diverse cast, and a positive and well-represented topics relating to African culture, black hair, white privilege, and LGBTQ+ topics. Read this book or recommend it to other YA readers or teachers who are looking to share stories about walking in someone else’s shoes, loving yourself for you and not relying on others and their love to make you feel like you and to feel loved and important.

So, the first thing I've read from this author was the webcomic, Check, Please! The very much gay, very much white hockey webcomic that I binged when it was still in webcomic form. I enjoyed it wholeheartedly as it was hilarious, heartfelt, and just a fun read in such an interesting cinematic layout in comic form. Even as a black woman, I didn't think much about its whiteness until one day, I clicked on the About page and saw that the author's name was incredibly Nigerian.

It was then was I like *huh*. Not saying it's a problem, only that I was incredibly shocked to find out about it. Honestly, I loved that she created something like this. I didn't read her other book Bunt yet, but that's when I did start to realize that hey, this time it featured a black lead. And then, here came this book but with something more on the nose, and maybe serving as an iconic/ironic commentary of sorts but here starring a black woman body swapping with a white man. Like, there's layers to this lmao.

No matter what, though, I was sold. And, I'm glad for it. I was PRAYING for this ARC to get approved. I love bodyswapping as a trope, and Ukazu captured it so well between the unique presentation, the humor, the horrors and ofc the commentary! When she later states that Flip was basically an autobiography, I felt that! I too was in PWI and had a habit of wanting attention from the predominant race. I felt Chi-Chi's degree of self-loathing and loved that while that was a core part of her, there were so many other elements and aspects of her that rounded her out and that she needed to appreciate.

It also would've been too easy to just have Flip be the imperfect/perfect stock character of a white guy. I loved that he too is fleshed out with his own backstory with his familial situation and other negative aspects that are integral to his conflict with and foil to Chi-Chi. Ah, they made each other (gradually) become better people by the end of it and I was here for it!

The whole cast was great, and like Check Please! It is something I would love to see as a TV show. Overall, this was a really good read, and I definitely gotta buy it when it officially comes out. I'm curious to see what Ukazu will write after this.

From the illustrator/author of Check Please this YA graphic novel is a Freaky Friday-esque story about Chi-Chi and her crush Flip swapping places after her embarrassingly public promposal falls flat. Except this isn’t a one time deal, they keep flipping

It might have been as much a fish out of water feeling for me to put myself back in the head of a high schooler, as it was for these kids to put themselves in each other’s places (I am An Old after all)
I think everyone learned something though, me included!

It’s tempting to envy someone for a life you think is easy, but this book shows things are rarely as simple as they seem on the surface. Flip learns a lot about his privilege when he takes the place of a black scholarship student, who has been labeled as an unpopular nerd on top of it all. Chi-Chi learns that even money can’t buy the friendships and family she does have, as she’s pulled into Flip’s depression and dealing with his absent criminal father and mother struggling with addiction.

I was happy to see them find common ground, build a friendship - once they stopped arguing - and to see where their futures were headed. Interesting to see the resolution amd how it affected the times in each others lives

Thanks to First Second and NetGalley for the arc!

As with most of Ngozi Ukazu's work, Flip is a book full of heart. In it, we follow Chi-Chi Ekeh, a sweet, nerdy high school student with two major problems:

1. She was just rejected by Flip Henderson (the most popular boy in school) in front of her entire class.

and 2. She keeps magically switching bodies with him!

The structure for the story's plot is simple but neatly woven, filled a lot of depth and character work. I particularly enjoyed Ukazu's thoughtful navigation through conversations about black girlhood, identity, and self-acceptance as her characters are asked quite literally to walk a mile in the other's shoes. Flip and Chi-Chi both have a lot to learn, and I loved watching their dynamic and understandings of each other evolve over the course of the book. The ending is sweet and satisfying, offering clear closure and growth for both characters' arcs.

If you've read Check, Please!, you know that Ukazu's work is full of humor, and this book is no exception. Chi-Chi and her friends are goofy, nerdy teenage girls, and the story does an excellent job of balancing silly antics (often concerning teen fandom culture) and humor with the more serious central plot line. This is a book that asks thoughtful questions and takes the time to explore them, while also providing space for the story to laugh and breathe.

The art in this book follows Ukazu's signature style—filled with with neat linework, rich colors, and expressive character design. I particularly loved the way the artwork interweaves with the narrative to carry emotional beats (lots of visual humor and a lovely scene later in the book that expresses complicated feelings primarily through the art). The artistic trick to show when the characters "flip" into each others' bodies is also clever and nicely done.

If anything, I think this book might have benefitted from being a bit longer, allowing us to linger more with these characters and the time they spend in each others' lives (which we explore often through snapshots—leaving some places in the story that do not feel as deeply developed as they could be). This critique is, of course, also a compliment to Ukazu's skill as a writer: she creates characters whose lives feel dynamic and real, and who I long to spend more time with.

If you're a fan of Check, Please! or if you're looking for a warm, delightful graphic novel filled with a lot of heart, I would highly recommend picking this one up when it's released later this year (Sep 23, 2025)!

Thank you to NetGalley and First Second Books for the e-ARC of Flip!
5 / 5 ⭐
Is the grass really greener on the other side? Our protagonists Chi-Chi and Flip find themselves switching bodies - not once, but on a regular schedule as their lives spiral out of control. They have to confront the ways they devalue themselves and find something worth living for. Along the way, they have a lot to learn about themselves and each other.
CWs: mentions of suicidal ideation, drug use, racism

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

I love this creators art and stories so much. This one felt a little different but still hit as hard as their other ones have. Chichi and Flip felt like polar opposites but you see how much they have in common as time goes on. I really liked Chichi. She’s a nerd who’s into kpop and fandom and I could really relate to her. She feels like nobody likes her and has some struggles with her self image. She imagines herself being someone else. I could really see the parallels between this and The Bluest Eye in some ways. Flip has issues too that nobody really sees. Chichi being in his body helped her understand him better instead of him just being a hot white guy. Chichi’s friends were so cute too. Like the group was so understanding and ready to help. This was a really good look at self imagine and helping to better love yourself.

After totally striking out on her promposal to popular, rich white boy Flip Henderson, Chi-Chi (one of the few Black kids at her posh boarding school, not to mention a scholarship kid and a total nerd) finds herself switching into his body, seemingly at random. They have no idea what's triggering the switches and, even worse, they seem to be getting longer and longer. Plus, what if she misses the big KPop concert coming up???? Chi-Chi is a well fleshed out protagonist and a realistic portrayal of being one of the few Black kids in a predominantly white environment. Her friends are fun and, along with her, a very true to life look into stan culture. Flip is similarly well fleshed out (though he's clearly the side character here and not quite a second lead). The body swap mechanics here are well thought out--the fact that you'd have to deal with the brain chemicals and thus the mental illness of the new body you were in, and the horror of the thought of never switching back (explored in a haunting scene with a briefly appearing side character). Also loved the visual cue of occasionally showing Chi-Chi in Flip's clothes wearing a Flip mask and visa versa, as well as always drawing Flip in Chi-Chi's body with blue eyes, and visa versa with her brown eyes. Oh, and the book is funny, like really funny. Social commentary, self acceptance, and humor? Big thumbs up!

A nuanced and complex look at identity, self-image and the messy journey to self-love. The "freaky friday" body switching is a unique device to illustrate how the MC struggles to find herself and her place. A challenging but hopeful read for sure. Highly recommend.

This was such an incredible book from start to finish. Ukazu has shown her strength before through the Check Please! series, which have a strong core of heart and deep understanding of people behind a cute exterior. Here again, Ukazu's cute, polished art style belies an incredibly thought-provoking, emotionally driven story of two teenagers, both alike in misery. What initially seems like a sitcom-esque comedy of switched lives becomes a deeply entangled story of self-identity, self-worth, and hinging all of the above on external approval. This book may be really weighty and toothsome for some, but I think Ukazu gets the story across without needing to spell everything out. She does have a page in the back where she spells out some of her thought process behind the book, and it's fascinating, and may be helpful to younger readers who haven't seen this kind of self-reflective work before.

Overall, this book is heavy, kind, beautiful, and full of empathy, grace, and nuance for the tough lives of teenagers trying to make the world make sense when they don't have the words for their own problems. Also, it's hilarious, and I will be haunted by Sarah Spiegel for possibly the rest of my entire life.