Graphic Novel Review - 'Mismatched' by Anne Camlin (Writer), Isadora Zeferino (Artist), Jess Lome (Colourist)

For once I regret borrowing a library book, because I want my own copy of 'Mismatched' right now!

I am very surprised by how much I ended up liking 'Mismatched'. I've read it described widely as "chaotic", and the reviewers are not wrong. It is a messy and chaotic teen romance comedy drama, with too many players - there are so many characters that I had to keep track of some names, especially of those who are more minor than others, and sometimes I got confused by similar character designs and could not tell who was who - and too much relationship drama to keep up with, and not everyone is always likeable, most notably the protag, Evan Horowitz.

All of this should have been my kryptonite, and at the beginning, it almost was.

BUT...

Somehow, 'Mismatched' grew on me the more I read. It grew and grew, and developed into one of the most charming, endearing, adorable, precious, colourful, and positive queer YA graphic novels I have ever happily devoured in one sitting.

Its chaos and its flaws - its characters' flaws - end up becoming it - becoming part of its charms. One of its biggest positives and triumphs is that it IS queer AF. It is massively, unapologetically, wholeheartedly queer. Practically every character is queer. There is a Pride Parade scene, and it is beautiful.

I think it works well as a contemporary retelling of Jane Austen's 'Emma', and I could tell Anne Camlin must be a fan of another loose 'Emma' adaptation, 'Clueless'; among other inspired similarities, 'Mismatched''s Emma character even shares Cher Horowitz's last name.

Which brings me to Evan, our modern day Emma Woodhouse. Evan is a gay teen boy, a popular Instagram makeup model, a ballet dancer, the president of his high school's Gender & Sexualities Alliance club, and a self-styled-and-professed queen in every respect. Sure, he is not particularly likeable - he is an arrogant, selfish, judgemental snob who tends to look down on or ignore anyone who doesn't match his tastes and perceived values, he is a hypocrite, and a very poor judge of character - at first. He learns and grows into a better person as the graphic novel progresses. He sees the error of his ways. He goes through something called character development, like Emma Woodhouse herself and her consecutive incarnations.

It turns out Evan Horowitz is not a narcissist, but a young person just learning more about the world and the people around him, and who is accepting and liking those whose personalities are different to his. He does genuinely care for his friends and family, and has a good, supportive heart.

And heaven forbid a queer person be unlikeable and flawed and human.

To paraphrase a famous Jane Austen quote from another and more, *ahem*, obscure novel of hers: 'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that "minorities" deviating from the cishet white male default and demographic, must be in want of "likeability", never straying, never allowing to be flawed and messy members of the human species.'

Well, fuck that.

Let's move on.

Other notes:



• Sadie, the only Black person in an otherwise good diversity pool of characters, is unfortunately given the least page time and least to do in the teen cast. She is a Black "butch-ish" lesbian, and Evan doesn't like her for stupid reasons. It's a shame to see a gay white male character dislike and ignore his only POC lesbian "friend", just saying.

• The only trans rep in the cast is Aryan, who is nonbinary. They're cool, sensitive, complicated and secretly depressed, and they're said to go to counselling.

• Through all the LBGTQ+ rep, there is no asexual or aroace portrayal in this teen romcom cacophony comic. Typical.

• I think Anika, Natalia and Davi are my favourite characters. They are adorable sweethearts, and deserve better than being associated with immature, judgey and crap starter Evan.

• 'Mismatched' makes it clear that kissing someone without their consent is never okay. For a "silly" and "fluffy" graphic novel, it knows when it should take certain, heavy topics seriously.

• It was hard to keep track of Evan's family at first. I kept forgetting he has two older sisters - one, Leah, is married to Davi's brother, Cadu, and has a cute daughter, Lily, and the other, Tamar, who actually has a presence and adequate page time, is dating Ben, the brother of Evan's first crush, Luca. The family members are very minor, and they look too similar to each other and other characters, and their names escaped me regularly as I read.

• Spoiler - though it shouldn't be if you know anything about 'Emma' - I came to like neighbours and "best friends" Evan and Davi as a couple. Opposites attract, and they're sweet.



Yeah, 'Mismatched' is far from perfect, but who cares? I like it. It's like a new guilty pleasure comic. A really sweet, cute, heartwarming and funny guilty pleasure.

It's like if 'Heartstopper' was American, and 'Clueless' was 70% more gay and diverse.

Between this, 'Clueless', and the 2020 film adaptation, I've come to realise I like 'Emma' adaptations more than the 'Emma' novel.

'Mismatched' - sometimes imperfection is the point, ya know? Especially when it's queer.

Final Score: 3.5/5

Non-Fiction Book Review - 'She Made a Monster: How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein' by Lynn Fulton (Writer), Felicita Sala (Illustrator)

I finally got around to reading this.

I reread another Mary Shelley biographical picture book, 'Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein', in preparation for reviewing 'She Made a Monster: How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein'. Incidentally, both were published in 2018, in celebration of the original 'Frankenstein' novel's 200th anniversary.

All I have to say is that they are very similar conceptually, and have differing art styles, but I think both of them are good, and effective in achieving their goals of telling Mary's story, showcasing her personality as an aspiring writer and dreamer - and a feminist, her mother's daughter - and using art to create a gothic and grotesque atmosphere; linking her to her inspiration and creation of her monster novel, 'Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'.

'She Made a Monster' is more ghostly, gloomy, and crafted like a haunted house story than 'Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein'. There are actual pages that are like jump scares - and they work, especially if you happen to be reading at night!

'She Made a Monster' is Mary's horror night at the big house on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland - the darkness, the thunder and lightning, the candles, the ghosts, the ravens, the monster in her dreams - and you are living it with her.

Ghoulish, ethereal, entertaining, and as informative as can be, 'She Made a Monster: How Mary Shelley Created Frankenstein' retells a frightening yet inspiring and life-changing night in Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's life. Read it and 'Mary Who Wrote Frankenstein' if you are a fan of 'Frankenstein', gothic horror, and women writers in history.

Keep writing stories, everyone. You never know if they will change the world.

Favourite quotes:



'When she was older, she read everything her mother had written: stirring words of democracy and the rights of women, words that sparked courage and inspiration in many, but anger and outrage in many others.'


'She wanted to prove that her mother was right! A woman's writing could be just as important as a man's.'


'"[...] what would happen to that 'lifeless matter' once someone had given it life?" The men did not seem to care. They only asked if something could be done--never if it should.'


'There was no monster.
There was only her imagination.
Her heart pounded, but she was happy.

She had found her story.'



Happy Late Halloween.

Final Score: 4/5

Book Review - 'My Shadow is Pink' by Scott Stuart

A triumphant, brilliant children's picture book about being yourself, defying outdated, antiquated and harmful gender roles, unconditional family love, and acceptance. There are parts that especially remind me of the graphic novel, 'The Prince and the Dressmaker'.

It's not quite perfect, but then, nothing is; no one is, and no family is. But as long as they love and accept their own children for who they are, and not by the masks they wear out of fear and for "safety", then society can be better yet.

Love is bravery. To love openly is to be brave, but it shouldn't have to be. And gender should not be a prison.

No one should be afraid of queer people existing anymore. No one should be afraid of boys and men wearing dresses and skirts. How childish--no, that's not the right word: children have more sense than fearmongers, censors and book banners. They're ignorant and idiotic, that's what they are.

Cishets need to get over themselves already, and realise and accept that not everything is about them, and that's speaking as a cishet woman, who loves pink, dresses and skirts, and loves to see other people wear those garbs, frills, petticoats, tutus, the lot.

I just don't believe it's right for a family to stop loving their own children for who they are. Family and home are where you are loved, for being you. I don't think this is a controversial statement.

There is no "normal", and there never has been. What is socially considered "normal" is subjective and relative, and changes all the time, and that's a good thing.

'My Shadow is Pink' - recommended to all the children (and adults) of the world.

The illustrations are darling and charming and adorable, too(tu).

Beautiful.

Final Score: 4/5

Book Review - 'I Love You Just the Same' by Keira Knightley

Normally I wouldn't be curious, much less buy anything by a celebrity's name alone, especially of a children's book around Christmas time. But this intrigued me enough on a book shopping trip, and as it turns out, it is quite charming, creative, and touching.

'I Love You Just the Same', written and illustrated by Keira Knightley, based around her own daughters, is a bedtime fable for siblings that is like 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Labyrinth', with amazing experimental and avant-garde drawings. These don't always match what is written - when they are supposedly done by the same person - but the picture and poetry book is nevertheless a sweet children's tale of little sisters and family. And cats. And pigeons. And a mysterious, symbolic red ball.

'I Love You Just the Same' - a loving, creative effort and effect. A mother's love shines all through it. I will be giving it to my nieces as a Christmas gift.

Final Score: 4/5

Book Review - 'Anne of Green Gables' by L.M. Montgomery

If sunshine, honey blossoms, and smiles could be a book, it would be 'Anne of Green Gables' by L.M. Montgomery.

Honestly, I don't know what else to add that could possibly do 'Anne of Green Gables' justice. What else could I say that millions of other readers since 1908 have not? Except that I had been missing out astoundingly, inexcusably, for all my life.

I had first read the Canadian children's classic novel when I was much younger, and I inexplicably forgot about the majority of it, or I wasn't impressed by its "lack of plot and point". I don't know why I was such an idiot towards it, but I'm happy to remedy my mistake now, in late 2025, when I needed it most and didn't realise it.

'Anne of Green Gables' is the kind of book that makes you glad books and reading exist. It makes you glad to be alive. I would be hard-pressed by and distrustful of anyone who says they've read it and it didn't make them happy and grateful of the world we live in, at least a little.

It contains some of the best and most beautiful and colourful descriptions of the countryside, trees, firs, flowers, foliage, ponds, creeks, rivers, banks, and nature ever written by human hand and heart. No doubt, the writing is gorgeous, and giddy, sweet, and as bountiful as fields, woods, hills, valleys, avenues, and stars in twilight. (What willows and wisteria there are, too!). L.M. Montgomery achieved the goal of writing Green Gables, Avonlea, and Prince Edward Island in general as marvellous, splendid, pleasurable, idyllic places to live.

The written word is as blithe, genial, vivacious, sunny, and unique and unforgettable as Anne herself.

Anne Shirley is one of the most delightful, charming, enchanting, precious, adorable, adoring, bonny, special and golden heroines ever. It is she who makes the book the timeless classic it is. A wisp and sprite of a girl with a huge heart and a mouth to match it. She holds nothing back in her extreme natter and chatter - she has no filter whatsoever - and no one would want her any other way.

Anne joins Heidi, Pollyanna, and Sara Crewe on lists of classic children's novel orphan heroines who change the lives of the people around them through their undefeatable optimism and imagination (Dorothy Gale might also count). But unlike those, she is no perfect, angelic, saintly Mary Sue type. Anne has flaws, such as a bad temper, a dramatic disposition, flightiness, over-daydreaming, over-imagining, stubbornness, impulsiveness, capriciousness, restlessness, recklessness, and not thinking before saying and doing things, and these are acknowledged in the text, as are the mistakes and mishaps she makes in each chapter and episode in her life at Green Gables and Avonlea. These make her more grounded and relatable than most heroines written around the time of 'Anne of Green Gable''s publication, and they no less make her a staunch optimist and dreamer, determined to love life and everything it has to offer, and be happy. In that respect, Green Gables is the perfect home for her.

It is nigh impossible not to find Anne's positive attitude and outlook on life infectious.

L.M. Montgomery injected so much personality into her that one can't help but love her.

She is the very idol to look on on why girls and women should have unrestricted freedom of speech, exploration and education. They make for happier and more interesting and lovable people.

I think we should all try to be like dear, darling Anne Shirley, and appreciate and love the simple and pleasant things in life, and never be afraid to speak our minds, wholeheartedly and honestly.

She is a blessed, miraculous gift of a character.

One character flaw to highlight: Anne is obsessed with pretty things, and her idea of femininity is challenged by the other characters: it is always better to be smart than attractive, and it is wrong and stupid to be vain. Is Anne's fixation on narcissi symbolic?! (Though wanting pretty, fashionable dresses is a forgivable vice.) She is doubly, triply obsessed with what is "romantic", and having "kindred spirits", and what provides the "scope for imagination", and who possesses it.

It is also possible she has ADHD and is on the autism spectrum, and could be an icon for the neurodivergent.

I love that, as part of the book's narrative and framing device, many major events that happen are told in passing and through Anne telling Marilla Cuthbert about them after the fact - I have a feeling, an inkling, that this was done because the author knew that nothing and no one but her main chatty child character could divulge the information as effectively, playfully, and beautifully, with her stunning, unchecked imagination, fervour and humour, and proverbs that hold kernels of truth to them. Anne is a storyteller and poet, and she has got to start somewhere.

I could go on and on forever about why Anne is a fantastic heroine, not least of which - slight spoiler - when she grows into an older teenager she is a little reserved and less prone to talking for pages on end, but she still strives for further education and enlightenment for herself - with ambitions like writing poetry, and singing - no matter what occurs in life; whatever strikes as well as sparks. She remains wonderful and different, with extra selflessness, appreciation and compassion for her loved ones. How's that for coming-of-age development!

She doesn't conform to traditional gender roles!

...yet.

Yeah, I've read the premises, synopses and reviews of the sequels, and it is tragic. Tragical! I feel betrayed. Betrayed for the fearless, free-spirited Anne Shirley. It makes me ill to think how she ends up and how she's treated by the author in adulthood. To think she was a product of her time after all, emphasis on product; a discarded, neglected, dreamless tool of conservatism and the patriarchy, who loses her spark and independence. A hollowed out husk of who she was and everything she represented. 'Anne' suffers the same fate as 'Little Women'.

I will keep 'Anne of Green Gables' and pretend it's a standalone; that Anne stays a feminist icon. I will not be reading the rest of the series, if no one minds.

In reading 'Anne', I was also surprised by how funny, witty and clever it is, and how vast its vocabulary is, like a treasure of words on its many wondrous pages.

I will list my other thoughts on the book in scatterbrained bullet points. Again, I had no well planned out review in mind, to do Anne, Green Gables, and her episodes and scrapes any justice, so here's the best a dunce like me has got to offer:



• I'd notice there are a few typos in the beginning of my copy of 'Anne of Green Gables' (one of the newer 2024 editions). I looked into other editions - online and physical, in shops - and some have the same typos, while others don't. I am baffled. Could somebody explain to me how this is? How it's possible? I'd decided to do something I'd never done before and got a pen to correct the errors in my copy - for a classic! I noticed no other typos further along in my reading, however.

• Marilla Cuthbert can be a little mean, nasty, condescending and sarcastic, but it is part of her charm. How she develops, and how Anne ends up warming her hard heart, is beautifully written. Her brother, Matthew Cuthbert, is her exact opposite. He is a quiet, humble, gentle old soul who gets on with things, and is afraid of the female of the species, though he would let them do all the talking for him. One thing he is not afraid of is showing his affection for Anne when he is able, unlike his sister. I love these two surprise parental figures for Anne, who make up her foster family, even though they are still products of their time and are strictly and rigidly conservative Christians.

• In fact, pretty much all the characters are lovable in spite of their flaws and contradictions. They are flawed, real people, which makes them successfully endearing and enduring.

• Speaking of: Mrs Rachel Lynde, the nosy neighbour, Avonlea gossip, and "voice of reason, authority, and experience". What a cow, and like all conservatives she is so brainwashed by societal backwards thinking, and so out of touch, narrowminded and wrongheaded, and so chockfull of contradictions and hypocrisies when it comes to various aspects in life, that it's a wonder how she functions as an extroverted person who never shuts up about her opinions on everything. I hate to criticise a woman for being "outspoken", and especially if she should be too-easily referred to as a "nag" - an archaic, sexist term used by the patriarchy to dismiss women's reasonable and rational concerns - but outspokenness should not be a front for thoughtlessness and lack of sympathy and empathy in making her voice heard. She is a political nightmare. Rachel Lynde is the kind of person - who would be called a "karen" nowadays - who makes me want to say to her, "However did you make it to adulthood without realising the entire universe doesn't revolve around you and what you want it to be? And that other people don't exist to just serve your needs and whims - to do what you want them, to make your life comfortable and convenient? And you know it's okay to acknowledge that some of your views are outdated and harmful, right? And it is entirely possible you are wrong, and that's fine?" And yet, Rachel is endearing and amusing because we all know, or have known, people like her in real life. Rude, prying hypocrite that she is, she has her quirks that make her tolerable, and she is willing to concede her faults. She isn't heartless, or she doesn't mean to be. I don't think she is very "good" or "harmless", though. In addition, she one of the book's targets for the author's unfortunate fatphobia, but compared to other books, even modern ones, it is hardly vitriolic, nor pervasive.

• 'Anne of Green Gables' gets surprisingly political in a few spots, but it isn't too preachy or pious in comparison to other children's books of its cloth and era (*cough*LittleWomen*cough*). In depicting the real world, it is as fearless as Anne is.

• The slice-of-life, coming-of-age novel is fast-paced and there are time skips. It takes place in the span of four years, and it seemingly goes by in the blink of a starlight twinkle, but I don't mind. It's refreshing and readable, and never boring.

• I always looked forward to picking up 'Anne of Green Gables' whenever I could, which is a sure sign I was reading a good book.

• Gilbert Blythe appears sporadically throughout the whole novel, for all he is Anne's one true love of the series. It is just the right amount of page time for him when it is Anne's story. When he does show up, he is more amusing and noble than an annoying distraction. He isn't such a bully and nuisance at this stage of development - in fact, if anything he is too good for a boy his age. Though his last line to Anne in the final pages is a bit creepy, demanding and possessive.

• I laughed out loud at the scene where Anne breaks her slate over Gilbert's head at school. Imagine Heidi, Pollyanna, or heck, even Jo March doing anything like that! Another surprise from 'Anne': for its preaching and moralising in most chapters, violent and potentially dangerous acts such as these are shrugged off as no big deal - no real harm done! Even Gilbert easily forgives Anne, and he immediately knows and accepts he provoked her in his teasing. This leads me to:

• The chapter where Anne is dared to walk a ridge-pole on a roof, and she falls and breaks her ankle. She recovers completely after several weeks, and it is barely mentioned again. A serious injury like that is not something that can be moved on from and forgotten about! There are no lasting effects or PTSD from the incident! Later on, Anne doesn't even list it as one of the foolish mistakes she'd made since coming to Green Gables, and what morals she learned from them; what "cured" her of her shortcomings. Why doesn't she bring up the time she accidently got Diana drunk?!

• Oh, how did it take me this long to talk about Diana Barry, Anne's "bosom friend" and one of her "kindred spirits". Theirs is a wonderful, sweet friendship. There is definite queer (and not the old-fashioned meaning of the word) subtext that isn't subtext in their devotion, affection, and words of love for one another. It was inevitable that there would be modern retellings, such as the graphic novel 'Anne: An Adaptation of Anne of Green Gables (Sort Of)', that would stop dillydallying and let them be the romantic, sapphic pair they were always meant to be.

• Diana's little sister Minnie May is hardly a presence, an existence, anywhere, despite playing an integral part in one chapter where Anne literally saves her life and thus wins over Diana's mother after the drunk-Diana incident.

• Childhood girl-friends aside, Anne has a great many adult female role models and "kindred spirits", such as her teacher, Miss Stacy, Mrs Allan the minister's wife, and Diana's great-aunt Josephine Barry. What nice women, even "scary", cranky, spoiled old Josephine.

• The teacher Mr Phillips flirting with a sixteen-year-old student, Prissy Andrews, and sending her love notes, is creepy and inappropriate no matter the time period. Why was that included? Granted, Mr Phillips isn't portrayed in a positive light to begin with, but this crime is treated lightly, if pathetically. Do not approve.

• Another negative criticism: In the chapter where Anne dyes her hair, with disastrous results, and she confesses how it happened to Marilla, the latter accuses her of letting an Italian (read: foreigner) into their house...then Anne says the peddler/possible con merchant who sold her the hair dye was actually a German Jew. So the vagabond and deceitful conman of a child was a foreigner and a Jew. Greeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. This unfortunately tracks with the xenophobia, specifically against Germans, that I've read about concerning L.M. Montgomery's 'Rilla of Ingleside', the final book of the 'Anne' series, and the outright racism in her short story set in Avonlea, 'Tannis of the Flats'. To her, anyone who isn't Canadian and white is dirt to be scorned and scraped off. Antisemitic stereotypes are alive and strong in her work, too. Montgomery was a product of her time (I keep having to say that as a defence--no, excuse, don't I? I'm not proud of it), despite her progressive thinking in other areas. Well, if I can forgive the racism in 'Jane Eyre', which is like an adult 'Anne', due to its phenomenal, raw, atmospheric and unforgettable writing, characters and feminist ideas, then I can do 'Anne of Green Gables' a similar courtesy. Although it is marketed towards children...

• On the subject of Anne's hair, I never got fictional characters hating their red hair with a passion, like she does. Redheads are awesome! Anne Shirley is one of the examples of this, out of multitudes! I'd love to have red tresses. I may be auburn in a certain light, inherited from my naturally redhaired mother.

• "Progressive, feminist thinking", such as in women's education, yet there remain other outdated sexist notions in the children's classic. There is no reason why Anne couldn't help Matthew out on the farm, as was originally planned had the Cuthberts adopted a boy instead. What about when Anne has grown older?

• Jerry Boute. Remember him? Matthew's hired hand at the farm? He is not a character; he is never actually present in the book, only in passing, and dialogue spoken by others. It's not clear if he and Anne ever even meet. Strangely, we never know what she thinks of the boy, and she talks about everyone.



There is lots to talk about 'Anne of Green Gables', a deceptively simple children's book!

I did not intend to make my review of it this long, trust me. It is suddenly 3am as I write and edit my ramblings!

Once again, I am happy to have given 'Anne of Green Gables' another chance, as an adult nearing my mid thirties. I needed something like it.

We all need it.

In my opinion, it is better than 'Little Women'. It is less saccharine, preachy and moralistic than that children's lit with "romantic" female main characters. To date it is my favourite orphan girl storybook next to 'A Little Princess', and Anne Shirley (as a child and teenager, at least) is one of my favourite literary heroines, and redhaired heroines!

I can't help falling in love with it. It is a glorious delight in book form, and a lyrical ode to nature, optimism and the human spirit, in all its faulty, tricky but unbreakable goodness, no matter the ups and downs of life.

Indeed, I dare say life would be incomplete for anyone who has not read 'Anne of Green Gables' once--no, multiple times.

What a beautiful, soulful, cheerful gem.

I won't be reading the sequels, but it certainly won't be my last L.M. Montgomery book.

Final Score: 4/5

Happy World Kindness Day 2025

Happy World Kindness Day to absolutely everyone.

But it should be every day.

Remember to be kind, always.

Read 'Words on Kindness' by Helen Exley (Editor).

Except, correction: being kind is the best thing you can be in your life and in the lives of others, and kindness does lead to compassion, wisdom, enlightenment and human appreciation and connection and survival.

Kindness, empathy, and love are the most important philosophies you can live by. They are the keys to happiness.

Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.

Never take anything and anyone for granted.

Kindness, empathy, and love can never die. They are strong, and they will survive in us, always.

Scribble #144

Anti-fascism always.

Anti-authoritarian always.

Anti-capitalism always.

Anti-censorship always.

Anti-ignorance always.

Anti-hate always.

Anti-fearmongering always.

Anti-bigotry always.

Anti-racism always.

Anti-queerphobia always.

Pro-education and science always.

Pro-truth always.

Pro-human rights always.

Pro-human always.

Pro-diversity always.

Pro-choice always.

Pro-environmentalism always.

Pro-freedom always.

Pro-empathy always.

Pro-love always.

Protest and stand up for human rights always.

Take a stand together.

Keep fighting for a just, fair world. Kindness and compassion are natural and human, and are worth fighting for.

We are stronger together than divided, always.

You are not powerless.

Love and care cannot be killed. Someone loves and cares for you and others, always. Remember this.