Sisters

The third book in a four-book boxed set we bought at the Eslite main store in Taipei, Taiwan.

Title: Sisters
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2014
Writer: Raina Telgemeier
Artist: Raina Telgemeier
Colorist: Braden Lamb
Letterer: John Green
Editor: Cassandra Pelham

Raina Telgemeier returns to autobiographical material with this story of her relationship with her younger sister. She embarks on a road trip with her mom and her younger brother and sister: a week of driving and camping from San Francisco to Colorado, then a week of family reunion with cousins, followed by another week of driving and camping on the way home.

All of this takes place during the timeframe around the end of the companion book, Smile (my review is here), but the two books stand alone nicely, and there is not much overlap aside from the characters themselves.

Interspersed with the road trip adventures and family drama are flashbacks that reveal the sometimes contentious relationship between the Raina and her sister Amara over the years. There is also a fair amount of other family drama, lots of terrible luck with pets, some 80s and 90s nostalgia, and plenty of humor.

The story encapsulates a lot of Raina's frustrations as a teenager, and does a nice job of showing how the road trip brings conflicts to a boil, but also brings a bit of understanding. I thought that Smile had a tighter narrative, but this book provided a lot of good backstory.

Rating: 7/10