Phoebe's Diary

Starred review from August 7, 2023
In her emotionally vulnerable YA debut, Wahl (Little Witch Hazel) revisits her high school diaries to deliver a fictional adaptation of her adolescence. In 2006 Bellingham, Wash., 15-year-old Wahl begins working on her new journal. While it’s not the first diary she’s started (and forgotten about), she’s determined to keep up with this one, “since it would be nice to follow through for once.” Each entry, marked with chapter headers signifying the date and time, is rendered in candid, first-person narration that feels immersive as its author delves into critical events in her life. Descriptions of her experiences performing in school plays, making new friends, and enduring awkward family vacations give way to complex musings about art, crushes, and her identity as a fat Jewish girl. Accompanying illustrations in fluid, inky line and grayscale tones highlight significant people, outfits, moments, and items for her teenage self. Pacing mimics the inconsistencies of young adulthood, varying with each entry based on the teen’s emotional investment in individual topics, skillfully presenting a raw, unfiltered story about growing up and taking risks that will surely resonate. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary.

Starred review from July 15, 2023
In this work adapted from the popular artist's own high school diaries, lonely Phoebe joins a play and finds friendship and first love. It is 2006 in Bellingham, Washington, and 15-year-old Phoebe is in love with three different boys. She is chubby with an "elfin pig nose," obsessed with vintage fashion and indie rock, and desperately wants skinny jeans and a boyfriend. After spending freshman year on the sidelines (she's a home-schooler taking "only the fun classes" at her local high school), Phoebe works up the courage to audition for the summer play. From there, her life opens up. There is a rainy ride home with Owen, rehearsals with David, and kisses on the cheek from unattainable Lukas (part of the script but still thrilling). As summer wanes, her crushes fade. There's always another production, though, and when Phoebe makes the cast of the fall play, she finds herself dreaming about smart, serious "sex god" Sam and his chiseled jaw. Phoebe's crushes dominate the narrative, but watching her friendships develop during gossipy sleepovers, cozy snowy days, and rowdy Passover seders is no less meaningful. The story, illustrated throughout, captures the anguish of wanting to belong, to feel at home in your body, and to give and receive pleasure. Wahl's distinctive, instantly recognizable art adds humor and heart to each page. Most characters appear white; Phoebe and Sam are Jewish. An earnest, relatable, and affecting celebration of teenage yearning. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-adult)

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September 8, 2023
Grades 9-12 Fictionalized from the diaries Wahl kept from 2006-7, this illustrated, epistolary coming-of-age story follows Phoebe, a rising sophomore who enjoys theater and loves her older sister, Roxie, as well as vintage clothes, antique stores, drawing, and more. She thinks a lot about whom she might be in love with, detailing their best attributes in drawings in her journal. Will it be Owen, David, or Lukas? Or someone else? When school begins, Owen fizzles, so she starts to go out with Sam, another theater friend, and wonders how far the relationship will go. Her diary entries are introspective and confessional, digging deep into her personal questions about the world around her, her growing interest in sex, her insecurity about her body and her art, friction with her parents, and her shifting friendships. Filled with sprawling, detailed drawings and comics panels and replete with references to early aughts indie culture, this vividly captures the voice of a teen curious about herself and her future, all in an intimate tone, as if talking to a friend unabashed about what's on her mind.

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