Cub

by Cynthia L. Copeland

Overview

A laugh-out-loud funny and empowering graphic memoir about growing up and finding your voice.

Twelve-year-old Cindy has just dipped a toe into seventh-grade drama—with its complicated friendships, bullies, and cute boys—when she earns an internship as a cub reporter at a local newspaper in the early 1970s. A (rare) young female reporter takes Cindy under her wing, and Cindy soon learns not only how to write a lede, but also how to respectfully question authority, how to assert herself in a world run by men, and—as the Watergate scandal unfolds—how brave reporting and writing can topple a corrupt world leader. Searching for her own scoops, Cindy doesn’t always get it right, on paper or in real life. But whether she’s writing features about ghost hunters, falling off her bicycle and into her first crush, or navigating shifting friendships, Cindy grows wiser and more confident through every awkward and hilarious mistake.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781616208486
Publisher:	Algonquin Young Readers
Publication date:	01/07/2020
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	340,039
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Cynthia L. Copeland is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 25 books, including Really Important Stuff My Dog Has Taught Me and The Diaper Diaries. Her books have sold more than a million copies in eight languages, and have been featured on Good Morning America, selected for Oprah’s “O List” in O: The Oprah Magazine, and recommended by Ann Landers. Ms. Copeland lives in New Hampshire with her family.

Editorial Reviews

This charming, intelligent, funny book is a sharp look into the middle school ecosystem, its shifting allegiances, its hormonally charged confusions. It follows seventh-grader Cindy as she navigates cliques and crushes and takes on a role as a cub reporter under the wing of an ambitious young woman journalist. Copeland nails the cringy pre-teen humiliations, and the book also serves as a primer on lede-writing and journalistic ethics, as well as showing a person coming into her own and learning how to be the author of her own story.”
—Boston Globe
 
“Copeland's first graphic novel for kids successfully integrates the right balance of coming-of-age issues into those arising from her early-'70s setting; many of the latter are eerily similar to those that the country is still experiencing. This tale of middle-grade angst and self-consciousness is laced with humor and nostalgia.”
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
 
“Deftly juggling Cindy’s school days, internship, and home life, Copeland crafts a multilayered, year-in-the-life story within a complex historical context.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
 
“Raina Telgemeier fans will lap this up, particularly though who need a shot of courage or reassurance heading into the maelstrom of middle school.”
— Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
 
“Engaging and interesting . . . this [book] made me ridiculously happy.”
—YA Books Central
 

From the Publisher

11/01/2019

Gr 4–7—In this wholesome graphic memoir, Copeland recounts the ups and downs of middle school life in the early 1970s. Twelve-year-old aspiring writer Cindy always had trouble fitting in at school, but she cracked the code to the wild kingdom of Litchfield Junior High School: avoid the attention of the mean girl clique (aka the predators) by acting boring and "playing dead." After her teacher Ms. Shultz sets her up with an internship with the Torrington Register, Cindy spent seventh grade shadowing local reporter Leslie Jacobs. As the year unfolded, Cindy developed her skills as a cub reporter and thrived in the face of evolving friendship worries. Eye-catching design elements such as copyedited article rough drafts and comics panels that look like snapshots make Copeland's experiences especially absorbing. Subplots involving bullying and first crushes are blander but still relatable, and the jungle analogies will ring true with readers who are navigating similar middle school drama. While the narrative will empower many readers, dated, cartoonish illustrations that are more appropriate for a picture book limit the emotional impact. VERDICT Hand this to tweens and teens who want a gentle read about growing up. For large graphic novel collections.—Pearl Derlaga, York County Public Library, VA

School Library Journal

★ 10/14/2019

In her debut graphic novel for young readers, Copeland (Middle School Secrets) presents a memoir set in 1972–1973, when the then-12-year-old job-shadowed a local news reporter. If the lingo (“far out!”), heartthrobs (John Denver), and fads (sea monkeys) are dated, the references to Troll dolls, Earth Day, and Watergate have direct, contemporary links. When Cindy’s best friend takes up with “the predators,” three stylish girls whose clique name is inspired by both Jaws and Wild Kingdom, Cindy joins a goofy but loyal circle. Concurrently, the ERA makes headlines, and Cindy’s father talks about careers only with his sons. After Cindy meets Leslie, a lone “female reporter” at a daily paper, she gains confidence by practicing writing and photography. Engaging full-color illustrations include Leslie’s handwritten edits of the cub reporter’s typewritten ledes. Deftly juggling Cindy’s school days, internship, and home life, Copeland crafts a multilayered, year-in-the-life story within a complex historical context: “Our country is in turmoil: chaos in the White House, a senseless war, environmental crises, women having to fight for equal rights.” Ages 8–12. Agent: Daniel Lazar, Writers House. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

★ 2019-08-26
In the fall of 1972, Cindy Copeland sees nature's game of predator versus prey playing out in the halls of Litchfield Junior High School.

Donning long, Amish-like dresses and fitted with braces, she's certain of her destiny as prey, subject to the mean girls that sit at the predators' table. Instead, her favorite English teacher arranges for her to work with a local newspaper journalist as a "cub reporter." Her new mentor is a young, hip reporter who drives a VW Beetle and wears bellbottoms. Meanwhile, Cindy's best friend starts hanging out at the predators' table, leaving the protagonist for the first time without her childhood BFF. As Cindy becomes a more adept reporter, her confidence grows and she develops new friendships; she even acquires her first boyfriend. News assignments are followed by examples of rough drafts with corrections and notes showing the editorial process. As a cub reporter, Cindy is exposed to contemporaneous issues: the 1972 presidential election campaign, Earth Day, and Connecticut's ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment. Copeland's first graphic novel for kids successfully integrates the right balance of coming-of-age issues into those arising from her early-'70s setting; many of the latter are eerily similar to those that the country is still experiencing. Cindy is white; one of her new friends is one of their school's few students of color.

This tale of middle-grade angst and self-consciousness is laced with humor and nostalgia. (Graphic memoir. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews

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