Mendes, Melissa – Freddy Stories

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Freddy Stories

Is it OK to admit that I don’t really like kids? That’s a blanket statement, sure, but I mostly don’t care for the ones that I’ve met (as an adult, obviously). That being said, if all kids were like Freddy in this comic, I’d probably be surrounded by a gaggle of the little critters as we speak. Well, technically if they were like Freddy then they’d be off entertaining themselves and I’d still be doing exactly the same thing that I am now, which sounds fine to me. This graphic novel tells the story of Freddy, her uncle, her mother, her neighbor upstairs, her neighborhood friend and her dog. While there are doubts with some “all ages” comics on whether or not it would be appropriate for little kids, make no mistake: this comic would be be PERFECT for little kids. The world of grown-ups is told from a decidedly child-like perspective (and that’s actually a huge compliment, as it’s not an easy place for most adults to access creatively) and everything pretty much works out for Freddy in each individual story. Oh, and those stories include an average night with her uncle, her being a kid around a group of old men who are sitting outside and smoking (maybe my favorite piece of the book, as I loved how that entire group was unwilling to break that stony masculine silence to acknowledge her insanity), a day at the beach (where she never removed her hoodie, even in the water), the simple logic involved in seeing a series of dug holes and offering to help dig more (without having the slightest idea of or interest in what they were for), finding a star in one of the holes and trying to get it back into the sky, sneaking into her uncle’s apartment to borrow some flour while he’s sleeping (only to wake up startled when she slams the door to leave), and I’m in danger of just telling you all of the stories here, when really you should be discovering them for yourself. If your general opinion of kids is similar to mine, you might not enjoy these stories. You probably will, but I’m well aware of the fact that there are depths of cynicism to which I still haven’t sunk. I’m pretty damned cynical, but these stories were just so sweet and heartfelt that I may have to go read some political blogs for a few hours to get some of that cynicism back. For people with kids, this is an excellent “gateway comic” to try and get them interested in the genre so that you can someday show them the more adult comics. She has a ton of mini comics available too, but give this one a try. It’s a hard book not to love. $10