Stuck in the Middle: 17 Comics from an Unpleasant Age

by Ariel Schrag

Book Overview

A very unscientific poll recently revealed that 99.9% of all people who attended middle school hated it. Fortunately, some of those people have grown up to be clever and talented comic artists, with an important message to share: Everyone can survive middle school Edited by underground comics icon Ariel Schrag, this anthology of illustrated tales about the agonies and triumphs of seventh and eight grade features some of America's leading graphic novelists,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670062219
• ISBN13: 9780670062218
• Release Date: May 2007
• Publisher: Viking Children's Books
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 8.5" x 11.0"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Fun to read!

I wanted something fun to read and this was perfect! It is like going back to middle school, just for a visit, so it's ok. The book came quickly and in great condition! Thank you!

for people who care about middle schoolers

nice collection of short comics about my favorite group of people: middle schoolers. most of them show the painful side of early adolescence.

Middle School May Have Made Me What I Am Today...

...but only in opposition and it sure felt like hell going through it. I bought this book to leaven the whole experience of my daughter applying to public middle schools here in Brooklyn. (The process is a little different in NYC - lots of choices, lots of stress about where you'll be accepted, and where your friends will wind up.) I didn't buy it for my daughter. I bought it for me. Interesting that the recommended reader age here is 9 to 12. I'd say more like 25 to 48. You need a little distance on the experience to recognize the full scope and the universality of the humiliations and terror depicted herein. (As to the reviewer who disparaged the lack of diversity, I would both agree, and contend that this is true of almost every anthology published in our country!. Rather than harshing out on a young editor who made it possible for a lot of little-known just-starting-outers to get published, let's hope for wider nets in the future, and a high level of quality from all fortunate enough to be represented. One way to cast those nets and catch those fish is to publish more anthologies such as this, thus inspiring more outcasts to become graphic memoirists! Viva La Revolution!) At any rate, now I have this book, like Vinnie the Tampon King's Giant Roller Coaster Period Chart & Journal Sticker Book, on the shelf, ready to whip out when the girl needs a boost. But for now, it's mine, all mine. I lived through it. I've earned it. Lay it on your favorite adult art freak and wait for the nods of recognition. Or maybe you know a former mean cheerleader who's making ammends as part of some 12-step program. This volume will remind her in no uncertain terms to whom those ammends should be made. Or subvert the system by donating it directly to a middle school library. Just sneak it on the shelves when the librarian isn't looking. Art saves lives.

Unjustly Lambasted?

At the moment, I'm surprised to find that the two existing reader reviews for this book are quite unflattering. To be sure, one drawback of an anthology containing the work of this many comic artists is that the final result will probably be uneven. And so it is here. But I find it quite unfathomable that one critic faults the book for, essentially, being too "white." Gee, diversity is important, but do anthologies all need to be compiled by the United Nations in order to be worthwhile? This volume's intent here is to show the dark and often funny side of the middle school. (Its subtitle is, after all, "Comics from an UNPLEASANT Age.") And on those terms, it succeeds, sometimes wincingly well. The highlights include the work of the brilliant Daniel Clowes (of Ghost World fame) and the simple, effective lines of Cole Johnson. Editor Ariel Schrag also contributes two pieces that made me squirm with her convincing depiction of the superficiality and overwhelming self-consciousness that makes the `tween years sometimes so horrible. And she draws good, too.