Sheets

I'm one of those people marketing folks dream about. I walk through the aisles grazing over the variety of color and inventive packaging, getting drawn in immediately by anything that stands out from the pack. Relating this to books, the front cover is my big, shiny doorway into the world behind it

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and I saw the cover for Brenna Thummler's 'Sheets' a number of times, each one implanting that simple and haunting image deeper and deeper in my brain. When I finally read it, my only regret was it took me so long to get around to it.

'Sheets' revolves around a young girl who is forced to grow up too fast due to the loss of her mother, a family business in decline, and a father stuck in the fog of depression. That's the real world, but in the world of ghosts, a young boy who recently died finds himself unable to make friends or fit in. These two lost souls (one embodied, the other not,) find their paths tied together in a simple and heartfelt effort to help each other, even after things inevitably goes sideways.

'Sheets' is one of those hidden treasures where the innocence of the artwork masks the complexity and depth of the underlying story. Depression for young people who find themselves overwhelmed by responsibilities above and beyond their life experience is not a battle, but a concession already lying in wait. Giving people, especially young people, a story that helps reflect those struggles without the shoulder-crushing weight that normally comes along is a gift.

'Sheets' is one of the first graphic novels I've read in a long time and I'm so glad I did because it reminded me how enjoyable and powerful the medium can be.

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This was a quick and charming read. Intended for middle schoolers, this graphic novel will have a wide appeal with lots of ages, especially teens and adults. Sheets deals with depression, the loss of a family member, dealing with bullies, and self esteem. It's poignant and funny, and not something

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readers will soon forget. Marjorie Glatt is just trying to survive middle school and to top it off she has to run her family's laundry mat while her dad deals with a deep depression after the sudden death of her mother last year. It's a lot of pressure on a young girl, who just wants to keep the family business alive. To make matters worse she has a feeling that there is a ghost who keeps coming in at night, trying to sabotage her business. Will this poor girl ever get a break?

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Casper the Friendly Ghost for the 21st century. Wendell, the little dead boy in this graphic novel, haunts a teenage girl whose family is falling apart following the death of her mother. As if trying to keep her family business out of the clutches of an obvious (living) villain weren't enough, she

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has to deal with a ghost who isn't very good at being a ghost. It's a fairly sweet story despite all the death and mourning, though the ending is a bit abrupt and pat.

The oddly pale color palette actually works well with the quirky line work of the art.

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This book is beautiful. The illustrations are great, and the color pallet sets the tone. It’s a depressed color palette in cool greens and blues. It fits the story as Marj is depressed. She’s a teenage taking care of her brother, father, and the family laundromat after her mother's passing. And

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an conniving neighbor is doing his best to put her out of business. Thrown into this story are ghosts. Ghosts in sheets. It’s the only way they can have a form. But they are rarely seen in the real world, until now. I found this book sad and lonely to begin with, but you make the trip with the characters to finding a happier tomorrow. It works, and deserves the advanced praise it is receiving.

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I really liked it. Touching, moving, quirky, eerily lowkey ominous, heartwarming story. I liked the art style a lot too. Recommend!

Sheets by Brenna Thummler is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary.
I found the first part of the book a bit slow but it did pick up when there was more interaction with the ghost. I felt for the girl and the ghost but I wasn't too invested in them. I found the flirting

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scene near the end out of place. It was an okay read.
I really loved the art work! Very nice! Wonderful colors and could almost tell the story without words!

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It was a good book. The illustrations were okay but what notched it up to a 3 was the Wendell and the ghosts. I absolutely loved all of them and their story more than the mopey sad girl one. I mean 95% of the book she is sad, mopey and not happy. Sigh. Ending was great, made up for the beginning of

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the book.

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4.25

I love the art style. This is also such a sweet story. It punched me in the feels. Great for middle-grade students, but adults can enjoy this one, too.

A fun story about a girl who is mourning her mother while watching over her younger brother and managing the family's laundry business at the same time. Her father is of no help to her while the nosy and awful neighbor comes trying to buy their business for his "five-star yoga resort" and causes

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problems for Marjorie that causes her customers to want to take their clothes elsewhere. She meets a ghost who offers help. Their friendship helps both of them find closure.

The graphics are beautiful and this book would be great for students trying to navigate mourning and guilt. The ghosts are fun and add a new dimension to the story.

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I really liked this. Moreso the first half, if I'm being completely honest. I was already feeling sorta melancholy before I started reading, and the sadness of the main character (and the rest of their family) really seeps out of the pages. It's depressing, yes, but so are the issues being

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presented.

I realize this is a graphic novel aimed at (probably) young adults, (or possibly even younger), but I'll review it (perhaps overly critically) from my own perspective.

Despite dealing with issues that are really complex and have no simple solution, the book does end positively, and I think it sorta suffers for that. Similarly, it felt cheapened by the relationship subplot, which just paled in importance next to the rest of the heavy topics at work here.

I do want to re-emphasize that I did enjoy the book overall.

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My students love graphic novels, so I am determined to expose myself to more, as this is not a style I gravitate towards. I enjoyed the story being told and visualized throughout the pages. Sheets is a wonderful story of dealing with loss, depression, and finding each other.

Brenna Thummler's Sheets attempts to examine many things at once; grief, loss, alienation, forgiveness, and friendship are all addressed in this story, but perhaps not always to the best results.

Marjorie, a young girl who feels out of place in her world, runs the family laundromat after the death

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of her mother. Her father has more or less abandoned life, lost in his grief. Marjorie tries very hard to hold her family together, but she's realistically too young to carry this responsibility. Wendell, a young ghost, is trying to navigate his afterlife and decide whether his place is there or back among the living. Finding solace among the sheets in the laundromat, Wendell attempts to befriend Marjorie and help her with her job, to more often than not disastrous results. In the end, Marjorie and Wendell find a way to work together to face their fears and save the laundromat.

The first portion of the book, dealing with Marjorie, is a little slow but I feel that it was intentional as it sets her feeling of loneliness and abandonment fairly early in the story. I found this portion of the book moving, how she was dealing with the loss of both of her parents, one by death, the other by grief. However, the abrupt switch to Wendell's introduction left me confused as I actual thought I had missed some pages somehow; one page we're reading about Marjorie, the next we're dropped right in the middle of Wendell's story without the same buildup that Marjorie receives. It's a little jarring. The rest of the book moves along fairly quickly, almost to its detriment in some ways. Marjorie coming to terms with who Wendell is (after the briefest of connections is made earlier in the book; I actually had to flip back to figure out how she made this link), Wendell first accidentally interfering in Marjorie's attempt to save the family business then his coming to the rescue, the final resolution to everyone's problems, it all seemed to happen almost too quickly after such a sparse and spaced beginning to the book. There are solid lessons to be learned here but they seem either heavy handed or too easily glossed over; there is some definite inconsistencies to the storytelling throughout.

Thummler's sparse illustrations and muted pastel palette lend themselves easily to both the tone and seaside setting of the story. There is not much detail per panel, yet her character's emotions are easily read. I feel this is truly where Thummler's strength is, in her art.

I think the problem with Sheets is it tries too hard to be more than that, ultimately being inconsistent in how it deals with the kid's emotions and how they deal with those emotions. At the end of the day, I enjoyed Sheets for what it is: a book about a lost girl and a ghost boy, and how they help each other find their way.

I received a digital ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair & honest review.

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I love "Sheets" so much and promptly gave it to my friend to read! This is a wonderful graphic novel with beautiful illustrations that have me yearning for autumn.

This is a book that I think children, adults and reluctant readers will especially enjoy. Are there sad parts? There are. The children

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and families in the story have experienced deep tragedy. But we don't know excessive details (i.e. If you're a sensitive soul, I don't believe the details will trigger excessive anxiety, sadness, etc. They didn't in my experience, but gave me a poignant pause to reflect at the appropriate moment.)

I loved seeing "Anne of Green Gables" on one of the library shelf illustrations. Brenna Thummler did the illustrations for Mariah Marsden's "Anne of Green Gables: A Graphic Novel," and seeing the nod to that was nice. I still want to read Marsden's "Anne," but haven't yet. Big Anne fan here! :)

This book will stay with you after you close it. It's one I know I'll read and re-read.

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A graphic novel about a teenaged girl trying to keep her family's laundromat business afloat after the death of her mother and admist her father's depression. The ghosts help. I never could quite settle into what the tone here was supposed to be. It sometimes felt depressingly dark and other times

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almost whimsical, but the the shift from one to the other didn't quite feel controlled.

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The art's decent, and I really like how effective the double page spreads are for the emotional side of the story. The main character isn't amazingly unique or exceptionally interesting, but her interaction with the ghost world makes the personal drama more complex and fun.

This was just OK. I was bored through most of it and found it implausible enough (even taking away the ghost aspect and the fact it was meant to be ridiculous) to not feel invested. The ghosts were the only saving grace.

middlegrade/teen graphic novel (friendship, ghosts, 13 y.o. girl running a household and a business after her mom dies and her dad gets depressed).
Loved this! I loved the characters, the artwork, the world-building. More, please!

Very cute. Definitely a good read for maybe a younger person dealing with or processing loss or grief. Loved the ending.

I'm not sure what to make of this one -- it's beautifully drawn, and the quirky story is engaging. However 1: aside from the interior blurb on the cover, it's really hard to tell how old the main character is (apparently 13) -- I couldn't figure out if she was in high school or elementary at times.

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2: most of the adults are either indifferent or genuinely awful 3: the plot is very odd -- I don't understand how a 13 year old can be expected to "make deals" involving property without her parent's involvement, or really, at all. I also don't get the almost childlike harassment from Mr. Saubertuck -- how does he think that his yoga kingdom will come into being? Even if he bullies Marjorie's family out of their laundromat, how does that translate into a real business? I dunno, it just didn't quite work for me.

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Enjoyable graphic novel - great artwork, good story and characters to root for and against. The themes and representations around grief can be appreciated by all reading levels and have a defining role throughout. This was my first Brenna Thummler and will be reading more.
4 stars

2.5 stars
This was just too depressing for me.
Marjorie deserves better. Everyone excedpt her and the ghosts, are trash.
I was hoping for a fun, quirky read but it was just so glum.

Wendell, the ghost, can't seem to find a way to fit in with the other ghosts in The Land of Ghosts, so he goes into the human world looking for a friend. Marjorie's mother has died and she is trying to keep her family and their business afloat, but her younger brother and grieving father aren't any

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help. When Nigel Saubertuck tries to take their property away, Marjorie must find a way to to hang on, but Wendell's presence isn't helping.

Sheets expertly tackles heavy themes such as, grief and belonging using the setting of a laundromat and characters that include ghosts. We feel for Marjorie as she tries to deal with the loss of her mother and a father who can't handle his heartbreak. The characters in this story are well developed and the plot is skillfully paced. Overall Sheets effectively handles difficult subjects in an entertaining way.

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Thanks to Caroline’s recent review of the third and final book in this series, I was inspired to reread this book and then read the other two books. I read this book over 5 years ago and gave it only 3 stars. I think that it was too hard for me to suspend disbelief about the ghost story and that

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I felt traumatized by the villain to enjoy the book any more than I did. I didn’t write a review at the time.

This time I experienced the humor and the pathos and the warmth and the sadness. I thoroughly enjoyed the pictures that tell so much of the story. Marjorie is relatable and so is Wendell, and so are Marjorie’s brother and father, and many of the characters (adult and children) from Marjorie’s school.

Last time I read this was on 10/26/18.

I don’t have a lot of say about this book but I’m going to be reading the second book as my next book.

I’m glad that I gave this book and this series another chance! This one is probably 3-1/2 stars rounded up but last time it got barely 3 stars so it’s a huge improvement.

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Excellent art work but completely faulty plot!