Member Reviews
I received this as en eARC via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.
I bawled like a baby. It’s really a perfect graphic novel. I remember loving the first one and I think this one is even more perfect. The colors are beautiful.
Talks about grief, suicide; the emptiness we feel when we lose someone or ourselves.
I wish I had someone to share it with.
This was a beautiful story accompanied by beautiful colors and illustrations. It has loveable characters and a charming story that will definitely have you in your feels. I enjoyed this one even more than Sheets. Please read it!
I enjoyed this even more than the first one, which I did like but didn't completely fall in love with. This story focuses in more on Marjorie and a new character, Eliza. This story is beautifully told, both through the narrative and Brenna Thummler's absolutely beautiful art, and has an incredibly impactful message. I kind of want to reread Sheets now, and I'll definitely be keeping my eyes out for future releases from this author!
Great emotional connection to the characters. Really enjoyed this as did my son who had already read Sheets.
I absolutely loved this graphic novel. I have read the other book by this author, Ghosts, but I’ve heard so many great things. I think this was such a cute and suspenseful story! Absolutely loved it so much.
Delicates is the sequel graphic novel to Sheets. Where Sheets tackled tough issues with lighthearted humor and levity, Delicates is a much darker story that touches on topics of loneliness, depression, bullying, and suicidal ideation. Which I found these topics to be important to handle seriously, I missed the tone the first novel struck. This was much harder to read in my opinion and could have been just a little bit lighter.
I do think you could read this without having read the first book, though I have read both. I think my expectations were that this was going to be similar to the first book, dealing with heavy topics in a lighthearted way, and the very dark tone and constant melancholy of the story caught me super off guard. I still enjoyed it.
3.5 stars
Great follow-up to Sheets - new story, new characters, same great artwork, good story and characters to root for and against. Brings characters' real-life issues to the forefront in a unique way. 5 stars
Thank you to Oni Press and Net Galley for the ARC.
My Thoughts:
This book follows Marjorie in Thummler's very poignant graphic novel Sheets. In my original review of Sheets I say
Marjorie speaks to the teen/tween/child in all of us who wants to disappear, who holds their little family together when the adults are too sad, who longs for something they will not have again, and who finds solace and comfort in unexpected encounters.
For this second book, Marjorie may not be that awkward teen who wants to disappear, and her reliance on her best friend Wendell is starting to fray, but she is finally accepted by the popular kids. What this second book explores is the cost of "fitting" in. Marjorie is still the same person on the inside, but is she willing to wear her own sheet to hide her true self?
When she recognizes a little of her "pre-popular/pre-accepted" self in Eliza Duncan, is she able to share Wendell with someone who also needs him? What part must she play in getting her own humanity back? What does Marjorie want acceptance to really feel like? This is again a memorable story of what true friendship and humanity feels like.
From the Publisher:
Following the events of the bestselling graphic novel, Sheets, Delicates brings Brenna Thummler’s beloved characters, artwork, and charm back to life.
Marjorie Glatt’s life hasn’t been the same ever since she discovered a group of ghosts hiding in her family’s laundromat. Wendell, who died young and now must wander Earth as a ghost with nothing more than a sheet for a body, soon became one of Marjorie’s only friends. But when Marjorie finally gets accepted by the popular kids at school, she begins to worry that if anyone learns about her secret ghost friends, she’ll be labeled as a freak who sees dead people. With Marjorie’s insistence on keeping Wendell’s ghost identity a secret from her new friends, Wendell begins to feel even more invisible than he already is.
Eliza Duncan feels invisible too. She’s an avid photographer, and her zealous interest in finding and photographing ghosts gets her labeled as “different” by all the other kids in school. Constantly feeling on the outside, Eliza begins to feel like a ghost herself. Marjorie must soon come to terms with the price she pays to be accepted by the popular kids. Is it worth losing her friend, Wendell? Is she partially to blame for the bullying Eliza endures?
Delicates tells a powerful story about what it means to fit in, and those left on the outside. It shows what it’s like to feel invisible, and the importance of feeling seen. Above all, it is a story of asking for help when all seems dark, and bringing help and light to those who need it most.
This book is the sequel to sheets which I haven’t read... but now want to. It tells the story of girl who has a laundromat full of sheet ghosts and is trying to fit it at school. Does remind me a little bit of mean girls vibes but deals with a lot darker topics. A new girl comes into their year, i think she was repeating their year and she tried to make friends with the MC. The book follows friendship, photography, kindness and TW: mental health, death and suicide.
I’m not a big graphic novel reader, but I couldn’t put it down. The sheet ghosts and Wendell I found so endearing and the story tackled a lot of hard topics well without a lot of words, but simple subtle illustrations. Yes it was different to anything i have ever read , but I really enjoyed it.
Gorgeous illustrations, stunning emotional connection to the characters, and a lovely continuation from Sheets. I can't wait to share this with our library's teens and my family.
Great follow up to Sheets! Brenna Thummler expands on the narrative, character, and plot. Loved how this was a great expansion of the "Sheets Universe"!
*Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a complimentary eARC for review purposes*
This book is a sequel to Sheets.
This book tackles some harder topics than the first and does a good job with them. The new characters are believable and sympathetic.
I did find that I didn't remember much of the original book which made enjoying this one a little difficult. I also found that I wasn't enjoying the characters very much, most of them were unsympathetic and, frankly, really annoying.
Delicates is a follow-up to the bestselling graphic novel Sheets. This graphic novel introduces a third main character to the beloved cast of Marjorie Glatt and Wendell. Brenna Thummler does a phenomenal job with Delicates both as a follow-up novel and as a standalone novel.
Marjorie Glatt spends most of her time working in her family’s laundromat where her closest friends are a collection of ghosts who have managed to take shape with bedsheets. Her closest friend, Wendell, died young and now lives vicariously through Marjorie. With the start of a new school year, Marjorie worries about being accepted by the other students. Especially since she is hiding an entire family of ghosts.
With her newfound friendships, Marjorie spends less time at the laundromat, which means less time with Wendell. Marjorie wants to keep the existence of the ghosts a secret, she fears she will be labeled as a freak, so Wendell has to stay inside, hidden most of the time. Marjorie is soon befriended by the popular crowd and spends her spare time hanging with friends rather than at the laundromat. Wendell starts to feel left out and left behind; he worries he is more invisible than usual.
Meanwhile, Eliza Duncan, a young photographer who attends school with Marjorie is obsessed with capturing ghosts on film. She spends all her time looking through a lens rather than forming friendships. At first, she isn’t too concerned by this. She knows she is different and, while she wants to feel accepted, she is more interested in photography and proving the existence of ghosts. Over time, though, Eliza begins to feel invisible just like Wendell. Marjorie wants to be accepted by the popular kids, but she dislikes that they bully Eliza. Especially since she actually has a lot in common with her.
Delicates follows two middle graders as they attempt to make their way in middle school, life, and growing up. It shows just how tumultuous and fickle that age can be when it comes to middle school popularity, fitting in, and finding your way. Delicates provides wonderful insight for middle grade readers when it comes to how to handle difficult situations and internal struggles. It shows that we all feel invisible and forgotten sometimes, and that is nothing to be ashamed of. Delicates also shows the consequences of inaction when it comes to bullying, and how the smallest of acts of kindness can make a world of difference to someone.
"Humans are delicate, too. The teensiest mistake can ruin them, even if you do everything else right. Just because mistakes seem small and insignificant, doesn't mean they are." - Eliza Duncan
For a book geared towards middle grade readers, it is exceptionally profound and poignant. Eliza’s character has a knowledge and wisdom far beyond her years, especially when it comes to expressing how people are seen and not seen. This book does a phenomenal job at expressing internal feeling and dialog in a juvenile manner that is easy to understand. This allows for some fairly heavy content to be shown in a softer, gentler manner. This book does all this with a wonderfully witty humor that is lovable and cute.
Delicates has some excellent use of color. It is done in this cutesy almost childish style of drawing and the color pallet is filled with softer pastels that are very kid friendly. Furthermore, studies have shown pastel colors or softer more muted hues to be more effective in teaching children with autism. The hyper-sensitivity of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) means that there is often a sensory overload when it comes to brighter colors, making a more moderately-colored visual more appealing to them. This makes this book more accessible by appealing to both ASD developing and typical developing children.
"People say my family is weird, but for my parents and sisters, they mean it in a good way. I think I'm the wrong kind of weird, which I didn't know you could be. Some people don't like feeling invisible, but I feel way too visible. If I were a ghost, I could choose how and when to be seen, and that sounds like a much better deal." - Eliza Duncan
Unfortunately I couldn't read this book as it is ACSM format and it's not readable on both my phone or computer.
However I will give it 2 stars for the amazing cover.
I will review it again in the future!
This was my first book by this author, It was pretty enjoyable. I would give this book a 4.5 star rating! It was a pretty Quick and easy read!
This selection is the second in the Sheets series by Brenna Thummler and takes place in a town in western Pennsylvania between Pittsburgh and Erie. This intrigued me because that’s where I live. Granted there are a lot of towns between Pittsburgh and Erie, but it gave me a connection to this story.
I read this book in one morning even though it is 317 pages long. I love the colors in this one and the issues that Marjorie faces. She is now going in to 8th grade and has become part of one of those “popular” groups over the summer. She doesn’t go along with some of their ideas, but she also worries they will think she is a freak because her best friend, Wendell, is a ghost, so she keeps that a secret. This makes Wendell feel more invisible than he already is. Marjorie also meets Eliza who has a passion for photographing ghosts and, therefore, is bullied by her “popular” friends. That makes Eliza feel invisible and wish she were a ghost. So many challenges, so many people feeling invisible and being left out. What do you think Marjorie will do?
Title: Delicates (Sheets #2)
Author: Brenna Thummler
Hardcover: 317 pages
Publication: March 16, 2021 by Lion Forge/Caracal
Delicates is an amazing sequel to Sheets.
I truly enjoyed how I could follow the adventures of Marjorie as she enters 8th grade. I think that this is the perfect comic for teenagers, because we all know that school can sometimes be difficult. In fact, I love this book more than the second one
Title: Delicates
Author: Brenna Thummer
Genre: Graphic Novel
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 3/23/2021
Delicates is the sequel to Sheets and focuses on a teenage girl, Marjorie and her ghost friends. Her family runs a laundromat, and the ghosts provide an important ingredient. After being a loner, Marjorie is finally accepted by the popular kids. Delicates also focuses on Eliza, a fellow classmate of Marjorie who is an avid photographer and trying to capture photos of ghosts. The story is a coming of age for both Marjorie and Eliza and tackles big topics like bullying, suicidal ideation, and death of a parent.
I would recommend reading Sheets before you tackle this book. It helps explain the backstory of the ghosts and how they come to be in Marjorie’s life.
If you had told me that a story about a 13-year-old who helps run her family’s laundromat and is friends with a ghost would hit me this hard emotionally, I would have laughed. This odd unique story is so charming and yet hits incredibly hard emotionally. This is really a character driven coming of age story. The characters, even the side characters like Marjorie and Eliza’s fathers, are well developed. The characters feel real as you see them making mistakes and growing from them. For example, Marjorie’s father is a bit of a mess – which makes sense after losing his wife.
The composition of Delicates is stunning. The artwork is easy to see and understand. What I really liked about this graphic novel is that it lets the illustrations speak for themselves instead of being overly reliant on text. The author uses a consistent color palate throughout the graphic novel. There is also a variety of panel sizes allowing different ideas to be expressed.
I would highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys YA fiction. For someone who is new to graphic novels, this series would be a great intro as it is based in this world and has some light fantasy (ghosts!).
ARC provided to me by Oni Press, via Net Galley, in exchange for an honest review.
#Delicates #NetGalley
Marjorie Glatt has moved up in the world. Her short-lived maybe-kinda-sorta romance with cute boy Colton meant she was worthy. They might not have become anything special but her former tormentor, Tessi, has decided that “Marjie May” is friend material. Now she’s part of the cool crowd. Months later, she’s still tentative: “Hearing that they’re my ‘friends’ still feels... wrong? I guess that’s expected when your former nemesis... bought you matching chokers. Maybe she’s trying to strangle me. But I’ll admit, it feels good to fit in somewhere.” Fitting somewhere doesn’t seem to make her too happy, though. It means doing a lot of things she’d rather not, like joining student council, going dress shopping, and Colton going dress shopping with them, ugh! All the time she spends with her new friends leaves Marjorie with less and less time for Wendell and the other ghosts.
Then there’s Eliza. Eliza would like to be friends, but Tessi’s obvious disdain keeps Marjorie distant. It definitely doesn’t help that Eliza is trying to photograph ghosts… and telling everybody that they exist. If people thought Marjorie believed in ghosts like Eliza, she’d be labelled weird too.
While she still has a ways to go, Marjorie has matured a lot from the fragile girl she was in Sheets. As she grows more confident, she even decides it’s worth telling Colton that he’s behaving badly, a very brave act for her. She also learns to see people more clearly as the story progresses. With Wendell’s help, she sees how much Eliza is hurting and she chooses to remain a (real) friend to Tessi in the end too. There’s a lot of honesty and grace within Delicates.
Thanks to Netgalley and Oni Press for sharing Delicates with me for an honest review.
'Delicates' with story and art by Brenna Thummler takes us back to the haunted graphic novel world of 'Sheets' and it's just as wonderful.
Marjorie Glatt has lost her mother, but gained a bunch of ghostly friends who have saved her family laundromat. Now she has made it in to the popular crowd. Eliza Duncan is not part of that crowd, but wants to believe in ghosts. As Marjorie neglects her ghost friend Wendell, he becomes closer to Eliza, he discovers something that will need Marjorie's help.
This series has such a sense of the loneliness of youth. I love the mood of both books and I think this book might be the stronger of the two. Highly recommended.
I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Oni Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.