cover image The Isobel Journal

The Isobel Journal

Isobel Harrop. Capstone/Switch Press, $16.95 (208p) ISBN 978-1-63079-003-5

Harrop, a teenage blogger from northern England, presents a stream-of-consciousness journal/scrapbook. In pages filled with her own drawings (both sketches and collages with photos and postcards) and ephemera (such as a ticket from a miniature railway), she muses on friendships and boys ("I've invented a phrase which I hope all teen girls will latch on to: boy high. Noun: OMG we texted all day, I'm on a total boy-high!"), thinks about role models ("I wish I had half the sass of Debbie Harry"), and offers tips on daily life ("When riding your bike in a skirt, my top tip is to wear old exercise shorts underneath to confuse passersby"). Younger YA readers will probably find this to be a fascinating, sweetly funny, and relatively unscary introduction to teenage life; older readers may lose patience with Harrop's manic pixie girl persona and wonder why she has little to say about the world beyond cute animals and boys. Her one attempt at bigger issues is the headline: "Feminism: Why Not?" and a drawing of hairy legs. Ages 14%E2%80%93up. (Aug.)