Overview

Set in the author's own teenage years, Raised By Ghosts begins in 1991 with semi autobiographical Briana in middle school. Classes are a bummer, but lunches are worse; either spent alone, or being teased. Traditionally a good student, Briana is not doing well in her academics, but keeps it a secret. Her parents (divorced) are a mess, and largely absent. She spends a lot of time by herself. By high school, she makes friends, and those connections are her only source of happiness as they help each other navigate adolescence. But life at home with each parent remains fraught. When her relationships at school begin to falter, she has no one to turn to, forcing Briana to grapple with her sense of self-worth, her longing for belonging, and her desire for authenticity in her relationships. Raised By Ghosts is a powerful, affecting graphic novel for young adult readers. The story is told by shifting between Briana's first-person class notes and diary entries. In her understated yet masterful approach to comics storytelling, Loewinsohn eschews dramatic confrontations and overt sentimentality, preferring instead to underscore the idea that sometimes acceptance and love can be communicated through quiet, everyday moments and close family bonds.

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Reviews

Lovely and atmospheric, Raised by Ghosts is a potent trip back to the 1990s. I could feel myself unfolding one of Loewinsohn's handwritten notes.--Rainbow Rowell, NYT bestselling author of Eleanor & Park

Loewinsohn's graphic memoir is an ode to handwritten notes.-- ""San Francisco Chronicle"" This understated semiautobiographical story mixes in abundant and creatively rendered journal-entry excerpts that encourage the reader to slow down and inhabit Briana's world, where friends matter more than anything else. Quietly emotional, reflective, and hopeful.-- ""Booklist"" One of the most intriguing aspects of the book is the way that the storytelling changes as young Briana starts developing her artistic voice, shifting away from the traditional structure and realistic imagery into more expressionistic territory. It emphasizes the way that art helps her process and work through her challenges at school and at home, finding comfort in the endless possibilities that exist on the blank page.-- ""AV Club"" Slightly-grungy Wes Anderson.-- ""Comics Beat"" Decades-old notes stitch together a wistful search for connection and acceptance in this aching semi-autobiographical comic by Loewinsohn.-- ""Publishers Weekly Starred Review"" While there is an inevitable adult sensibility in the insights Briana has, this is more comforting than precocious, as it demonstrates that there is good on the other side of adolescence, and that one can even gain some wisdom having survived it.-- ""The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books"" A quiet, heartfelt memoir about the joys and sorrows of being a teenager. Poetic and beautifully rendered.--Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese Both sweet and melancholy, Raised by Ghosts is a love letter from Loewinsohn to her younger self, and also to lost souls, who are waiting to be seen.-- ""Broken Frontier"" There is a mix of nostalgia and timelessness to Raised by Ghosts that makes it a real treat of a read.-- ""The Newest Rant"" Raised by Ghosts is so beautiful and melancholy and sweet and devastating. Briana captures the sanctity of friendship and art, and the all-consuming sadness of being a teenager, in a way I've never seen on paper before. If parental neglect leads to brilliant cartoonists like Briana, maybe we should all neglect our kids a little more. This is a book that might have saved me as a teen, but it came out too late. At least I got to thoroughly enjoy it as an adult.--Julia Wertz, author of Impossible People Lovely and atmospheric, Raised by Ghosts is a potent trip back to the 1990s. I could feel myself unfolding one of Loewinsohn's handwritten notes.--Rainbow Rowell, NYT bestselling author of Eleanor & Park

Author Information

Briana Loewinsohn is a cartoonist living in Oakland, CA. These days she teaches high school art and draws comic books. If she doesn't text you back, she is probably gardening.

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