
Marjorie Glatt’s life hasn’t been the same ever since she discovered a group of ghosts hiding in her family’s laundromat. Wendell, who died young and now must wander Earth as a ghost with nothing more than a sheet for a body, soon became one of Marjorie’s only friends. But when Marjorie finally gets accepted by the popular kids at school, she begins to worry that if anyone learns about her secret ghost friends, she’ll be labeled as a freak who sees dead people. With Marjorie’s insistence on keeping Wendell’s ghost identity a secret from her new friends, Wendell begins to feel even more invisible than he already is.
Eliza Duncan feels invisible too. She’s an avid photographer, and her zealous interest in finding and photographing ghosts gets her labeled as “different” by all the other kids in school. Constantly feeling on the outside, Eliza begins to feel like a ghost herself. Marjorie must soon come to terms with the price she pays to be accepted by the popular kids. Is it worth losing her friend, Wendell? Is she partially to blame for the bullying Eliza endures?
Delicates tells a powerful story about what it means to fit in, and those left on the outside. It shows what it’s like to feel invisible, and the importance of feeling seen. Above all, it is a story of asking for help when all seems dark, and bringing help and light to those who need it most.
Having read and enjoyed Sheets I was excited when I saw it was getting a sequel and I have to say I enjoyed this one even more than I enjoyed Sheets. I think in this one we saw a lot of growth in Marjorie, as well as her learning who are really friends and who are not. Definite trigger warnings for bullying, suicidal thoughts and some of the behavior that is way too common in young teens. This one really tackled those difficulties head on and Marjorie gets kindof stuck in the middle having to decide if she will take sides or stay silent. There are a bunch of important lessons in here and I thought they were handled really well!
Happy reading!
Brilliant post!! I love how you talk about how delicates deals with deep topics for a younger audience- I also got an arc copy and thought it was dealt with really well. I haven’t read sheets and actually started on delicates but your review is kind of making me want to read it! I’d also love to see how Wendell and Marjorie’s relationship started. Here is my review of delicates 🙂 https://hundredsandthousandsofbooks.blog/2021/01/31/2-amazing-arc-graphic-novels/
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