Jessie Elliot Is a Big Chicken by Elise Gravel (review)

Jessie Elliot—coyote lover, comic illustrator, and “nerd extraordinaire”—is relishing her “last summer as a child” before high school. The summer doesn’t go quite as she planned, though, after she has a falling out with her best friend, Julie, when she refuses to go riding on an ATV at Julie’s family cabin because the driver is a thirteen-year-old boy who doesn’t provide the girls with helmets. When Julie goes anyway, the friendship gets temporarily broken—to the point where Julie even hangs out afterwards with their mutual sworn enemy, Isabelle Lemoine. Meanwhile, Jessie is elated to spend some time with her crush, neighborhood boy Ben, when the two bond after a close call with an intimidating security guard on the grounds of a mental hospital (where the local kids sometimes trespass for thrills). The humorous and poignant short text is heavily illustrated on a notebook-paper-like background as though Jessie is doodling an account of her summer. Stylish tones of pink, turquoise, and chartreuse are outlined and accented with dark navy, and the cartoonish magic-marker style of the drawings adds appeal to an already engaging read. Both text and pictures paint an authentic picture of this transitional time, and Gravel excels at pithily portraying the rocky ground of the early teenage years, from friendships going off the rails to childish pranks on elderly neighbors that get carried a bit too far. Reluctant readers will want to check out this quick pick, as will the thoughtful, artistic adolescent crowd.