Sisters by Raina Telgemeier

This is the 2nd book in the autobiographical graphic novel series by Raina Teigenmeier. It details a 3-week family road trip with a family reunion as the main destination.

The storyline goes back and forth from present-day road trip/family reunion to flashbacks from earlier in Raina’s childhood. The focus of the graphic novel is the relationship between Raina and her sister Amara.

The story begins with the dad telling the kids he cannot go on the road trip because he has to work. He’ll be flying there in a week to be at the family reunion. Before the family even leaves the home for the road trip, Amara and Raina are arguing. Amara wants the colored pencils Raina brought, and Raina lies to Amara. This type of interaction continues with the sisters throughout the road trip. They continually argue and fight. The flashbacks continue to show why Raina and Amara have such a tense relationship with each other. Raina often references wishing she never had a sister.

When the family arrives at the family reunion, Raina’s cousins are quite mean to her. They don’t include her in activities, and when they do, they make fun of her. Raina tries to make up with her sister while there, but Amara says she’s only acting this way because she feels sorry for herself. Raina’s mom argues with her siblings throughout the entire family reunion.

When it’s time to head home, the dad heads back to the airport to fly home instead. When they’re in the car, Amara asks her mom why she didn’t kiss their dad at the airport. The mom then shares that they are needing time away from each other this summer.

Shortly after this conversation, the van breaks down on the side of the road in New Mexico. The mom and little brother go in a truck with an unknown man to get a tow truck and leave Raina and Amara on the side of the interstate alone. They are there for 4 hours before the mom comes back. Raina and Amara are scared their mom won’t ever come back. However, they start to bond because the family’s pet snake (that was lost) came slithering out from under the seat. The girls work together to capture the snake.

When the mom comes back, Raina and Amara have a better attitude with their mom, and they continue on their way back home.

Much like the first book in this series, this appears to be written for younger children but the content is for an older audience. Raina and her siblings are continuously disrespectful to their parents and each other-either through violence, using mean words or the pictures show eye-rolling or disrespectful body language.

The adults seem to also always be in conflict in this book. While parents disagreeing and separating is something that happens frequently in our world, the lack of constructive conversations that occur between the adults and children seems problematic to me as a mom. The kids are given small bits of information and then left alone to deal with it independently of an adult.

While I understand this is the author’s own reflection on her childhood experience, I would hesitate to put it in the hands of my own kids. I would like positive sibling and parent relationships to be modeled for my kids when they read books. The level of name-calling and outright disrespect is troubling to me.

Sexual Content
There is only one reference in this category for this novel-the sister says “I see London I see France…” when Raina is going to the bathroom.

Language
There is continuous name-calling between siblings and cousins-stupid, gross, ugly, stinky, moron, nerdy.
During one of the flashbacks, they were discussing their pet fish and it’s poo. Then they said salsa looked like it had poo in it.
Said “what the heck” frequently.
When the adults are arguing, the speech bubbles only contain large characters showing inappropriate words and shouting was occurring.

Questionable Behaviors
Pictures of sisters beating each other up
Holding up a naked baby to prove it’s a girl
A lot of worrying about clothes and how cool it makes her appear
Raina lies to Amara
Amara hits Raina
Mentions 666 and references Satan
Amara pretends to puke when the mom mentions the will of God
Kids continuously whining and complaining about everything
The mom discusses the dad’s flaws with the daughters
During Christmas flashback, it references Santa
References rap music, horror movies and Beverly Hills 90210
Cousins make fun of Raina for sleeping with a teddy bear
Mom and Dad separating
The mom left the girls in the van on the side of the road on the interstate for several hours
Sisters discussing their parents getting a divorce without guidance from an adult

This review was written by Tricia Knutson. To learn more about Tricia, click HERE.

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