Ready or Not, a teen-graphic novel that’s build just for them

Ready or Not is a graphic novel that isn’t quite what you think it will be. The cover shows a group of four upper-teenage friends on the roof discussing and looking like the typical teens who might have just graduated from high school. One of them is even wearing a beanie in early August, which is a fashion statement for the only 17-year-olds or those who can’t discern when their body temperature is uncomfortably hot and if only there were something simple that they could do like remove a wool cap. Now get off of my lawn. Ready or Not is an example of the graphic novel as a communication device for high school readers who need to see that people are just like them. Other teens, even ones that are shown in a graphic novel, but are in their same generation, will empathize with the characters and hopefully apply those lessons to themselves.

It’s the modern equivalent of a detention-free The Breakfast Club. It’s that friend group that can only exist in high school with each stereotype of a personality being embodied in one of the kids. Inevitably, one of the kids has all of their stuff planned out, one of them is as directionless as a rudder-less boat and the others vary by some degree between the two extremes. These are more eclectic groups of friends that adults don’t tend to have because they tend to homologize due to our work or where we live. As adults, that’s why it’s helpful to escape our work or geographic bubbles so that we don’t become ensconced in a circular firing squad of stupidity or an inability to think independently, but, back to Ready or Not.

This graphic novel is chicken soup for the upper teen soul who thinks that nothing has ever been this difficult and that parents just don’t understand. Cassie and Nico are two close friends who are stuck in the friend zone. Marcy is the friend who is too sarcastic but doesn’t realize it, and Aaron is the athletic friend whose dad is a little too controlling and unaware that his son is a homosexual. The four close friends are drifting apart from one another after high school graduation and come up with a plan that will tighten up their bonds and deliver some fun before they go their separate ways.

It’s a game of truth-or-dare, where each one of them writes down a dare, places it in a bowl, and then draws them one-by-one. This allows them to interact with one another, explore their childhood fears, have things that they perceive as being ‘adult’ and they just might get out of the friend zone.

There isn’t anything graphic or gratuitous in Ready or Not, but the graphic novel has too much questionable content for middle school audiences. The language in the book features dozens and dozens of curse words, which isn’t incorrect in the fact that those ages speak like that when they’re with their peers, but it’ll stop the book from getting in middle school libraries. There’s also a burgeoning gay romance and a dare where one of the teens gets their septum pierced. It’s worth noting that I’m so hopelessly out of it I had to follow the graphic novel along to see exactly where the septum is. And since I’m in no danger of joining the Jim Rose Circus it’s safe to say that my septum is not pierced. Those seemingly outsider things, as well as, the fact that the quartet has just graduated from high school, will make the book attractive to middle schoolers, but it’s one that they’ll sneak a peek or read from their older sibling.

For those slightly older audiences, it hits the nail on the head and is a great, casual graphic novel. Even those younger audiences, whose parents and schools certainly don’t want them using the language used in the book, much less acting like the characters, will enjoy it and learn from them (when they sneak away and read the book).  It’s worth noting that the book’s cover doesn’t do it any favors by slightly implying to some audiences something that it isn’t. We thought it was an obese-centric, coming-out lesbian book, but it’s not. The first couple of pages in the graphic novel and their not-so-subtle use of colors imply that it’s going to be My Big Fat Gay Coming Out Party. However, in its place is a book that will scratch the itch for teens, mainly girls, aged 14 and up.

Ready or Not is by Andi Porretta and is available on Atheneum Books for  Young Readers, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

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