I just finished reading my first graphic novel (book 2 of 20 in my challenge)! I read kimmie66 by Aaron Alexovich. I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to commit to reading a graphic novel. I’ve flipped through them many times, but they just haven’t grabbed me before. I knew that a graphic novel would have to be one of my first YA books in my challenge because they’ve become so popular. I browsed through the library’s collection and selected this one because it was a stand-alone novel and it wasn’t too terribly long. It took me a while to get into the groove of reading, with the boxes and bubbles and pictures all over the place. It’s quite the transition from reading straight words across a page. Once I got the hang of it, though, I really did enjoy it.

kimmie66 tells the story of a 23rd century girl named Telly who is searching for the truth about her virtual world friend that sent her a suicide note. It was an interesting story line and definitely grabbed me. I can also say that I now see the appeal of graphic novels: they give our ADD generation of kids an opportunity to read a novel quickly, while keeping them entertained with the pictures and ever-changing format. I’m quite proud of myself for getting over my aversion to graphic novels. While I don’t think I’ll devour them in droves, I’ll definitely be reading more in the future.