The art, from beginning-to-end, is constantly shifting, mirroring the emotional somersaults that take place in the mind of a typical teenager. What is remarkable about this book though, is the way the authors are able to use their particular combination of art and text to build a connection with the title character to the point that you experience her world through her eyes. If you’ve been to high school, you’ve experienced a lot of what these girls and Skim go through. She goes through the typical crucible of being a teenaged girl – sexuality, shifting friendships, social status, and growing up. She is a student at an all-girls high school and is a rather unremarkable average “goth” kid. Mariko and Jillian Tamaki’s Skim, set in 1993, tells the story of Kimberly Cameron (aka Skim). There was an outcry in the comics community over the exclusion because of the collaborative approach taken with this genre (funny enough though, not a peep was made when Jillian herself won the illustration GG for This One Summer last year). This book was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature, but only one of the two “creators” were credited in the nomination – Mariko Tamaki her cousin, Jillian Tamaki, the illustrator of the book, was omitted. No other GG category seems to stir up as much trouble as the Children’s Lit award does (although there was also a snafu in the poetry category this year). It is a young adult graphic novel that is held in high regard in the literary community and was an interesting magnet for some controversy in 2008.

That number may grow though, I’m going to be starting to collect the winners of the Governor-General’s Award for Children’s Illustration in the near future now that I’ve gathered all of the fiction, poetry, and drama winners. The number of graphic novels in my CanLit collection has grown slightly – I’m up to a whole 5 titles now.

As I said then, I see graphic novels as not a literary form per se, more of a blend of art and literature – a genre in its own right without parallel.

In 2011, when a graphic novel, Essex County by Jeff Lemire, was chosen for Canada Reads, I wasn’t exactly thrilled. Also on this blog, I’ve also talked about how the graphic novel isn’t a genre I’m especially familiar with. I’ve talked on this blog before about how young adult lit isn’t really my thing, unless it is a particularly important or well-known piece. Shortlisted for the 2008 Governor General’s Award for Children’s Literature Winner of the 2009 Doug Wright Award for Best Book Winner of the 2008 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel

Skim tamaki