Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me

Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me  

Bibliographic Information: 

• Title: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me 
• Author: Mariko Tamaki    
• ISBN: 978-1-250-31284-6  
• Publisher: First Second Books  
• Copyright Date: 2019  

Genre: Graphic Novel, LGBTQ, Teen, Romance  

Awards or Honors: Michael Printz Award Finalist, 2020 Walter Dean Myers Award  

Reading Level: Teenager  

Plot Summary: The graphic novel follows Freddy Riley, a 17-year-old girl in love with her high school classmate Laura Dean. Set in Berkeley, the novel opens with Freddy being heart-broken after Laura breaks up with her at a dance. She tries to move on as she deals with school, classes, and family. She goes to a seer, and the seer gives her advice to break up with Laura to get over her. Throughout the novel, scenes flashback to Freddy and Laura’s relationship and how they fell in love. Freddy eventually gets back together with Laura, although Laura does not seem to take the relationship seriously. Freddy’s friend Doodle is also hinted to have a crush on Freddy. Laura invites Freddy to a party, although Freddy feels uncomfortable and awkward at it. Her relationship with Laura causes her skip hanging out with her friends, causing friction. After tough conversations with her friends, she eventually builds up the courage to break up with Laura and focus on herself and the people who truly care for her.  

Author Background: Mariko Tamaki is an award-winning author, playwright and director from Canada. Her books include Saving Montgomery Sole, This One Summer, and Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me. In addition to her young adult novels, she has also written for BOOM! Studios, Marvel and DC Comics writing about She-Hulk and Supergirl (Mariko Tamaki, 2020).  

Tamaki began her career writing and performing plays for Buddies in Bad Times Theater in Toronto. She also has a master’s degree in Women’s Studies and has also studied Linguistic Anthropology. She has also done interview’s with Comics Alliance and Publisher’s Weekly (Mariko Tamaki, 2020).  

Critical Evaluation for Book: The book is a graphic novel, and mostly follows an American style graphic novel. The book is in black and white, and there is not any color in the scenes. There is not as much dialog in the book as there would be in non-graphic novel. The reader will often be left to interpret a page or scene, as there might be a character showing emotion but without any words. This gives the reader a chance for more imagination thinking instead of being told what is always happening. Readers will often scan the images for clues, as they are sometimes more important than the text. The art is excellent and detailed and gives the reader the chance to savor all that is going on in in the scene. There are often 3 to 4 images a page, with each page telling a mini story. The art is in an American chronological style, so there is no confusion as there might be with Japanese manga. This graphic novel will be popular with teenagers who appreciate graphic novels and reading with a more drawing-focused approach.  

Creative Use for a Library Program: I would form a graphic novel book club program that allows teens into graphic novels to read them and meet other people interested in them. This could be one of many graphic novel books read and discussed throughout a summer or school year. Graphic novels are a growing genre that are popular with kids and deserve the same attention as fiction, romance, and other types of genres.  

Speed-Round Book Talk: Freddy Riley is a 17-year-old high school student in Berkeley, CA, with a normal teen life and a great group of friends. Her biggest problem is her on-again off-again girlfriend in Laura Dean. Freddy can’t seem to move on from Laura, no matter how hard she tries. Throughout the school year, she keeps running into Laura and can’t seem to help how she feels and acts around her. Will she ever get over Laura? 

Potential Challenge Issues: Potential challenges will be for depiction and description of gay characters and lives. Queerness and its depiction throughout the novel is accepted and a theme of the story. Many books in libraries are challenged for LGBTQ content, and it is possible a group or person would challenge. I would defend it as freedom of speech and because it is important for young LGBTQ people to see themselves represented.  

Reason for Inclusion: I included this book because I wanted to have graphic novels available for teens that like this style. It was also nominated for a teen award and has amazing illustrations and a good plot. Graphic novels are a growing genre with a dedicated fanbase. This graphic novel can be a good introduction for teens to graphic novels and open a whole new genre for dedicated readers or those who prefer learning and reading through illustrations. 

Mariko Tamaki. (2020). Macmillan Speakers. Retrieved on October 16, 2020, from  https://www.macmillanspeakers.com/marikotamaki

Tamaki, M. (2019). Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me. First Second Books.