Delicates by Brenna Thummler is the second in the series and follows Marjorie as she navigates the social and emotional difficulties of eight grade. After the events of Sheets, Marjorie had made friends with her sometime nemesis Tessi and is now considered one of the cool kids. But she is finding that the price of being cool means having to hide her new ghost friends and take part in activities that make her question the friendships. As the book says, "Humans are delicate, too. The teeniest mistake can ruin them, even if you do everything right. Just because mistakes seem small and insignificant, doesn't mean they are."

That is theme of the story and one that impacts Marjorie, Wendell, their ghost friends and a new girl, Eliza, who is an avid photographer and fascinated with taking ghost photography. But when Marjorie's new popular friends begin making fun of Marjorie and Eliza, things become progressively worse for both until an event could trigger even more sadness for Marjorie.

This story felt like a natural progression from Sheets and an accurate description of fraught middle school life. The struggles are harder and even having a ghost for a best friend, doesn't make them go away. Marjorie is still having to help her family out of the grief of losing their wife and mother, but is working towards being a stronger person and friend. This is a beautifully told story of friendship, grief, and isolation. But there is hope too and that is what makes it powerful.

Content Warning: There are episodes of bullying, depression, and suicidal thoughts.

Note: I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via NetGalley and the publishers.

Delicates is a beautiful, heartfelt sequel to Sheets. We follow Marjorie as she enters 8th grade, and struggles with fitting in at school. Wendell, her ghost bestie, feels excluded as Marjorie does more and more things without him. Eliza, a new character, also struggles to fit in and is bullied by Marjorie's new friends. Middle school can be such a rough time for so many kids, and this graphic novel delves into so many ways we can feel excluded or be bullied. The coloring is just top notch, and might be my favorite part of these graphic novels.

I was surprised by how much I preferred this book when comparing it to Sheets. The illustrations were even more lovely, though continuing the same style, with contemplative pauses in the drawings that allowed for more breathing room. The characters were more dynamic and impactful, and I connected to them much more in this book. While the villain in Sheets felt incredibly cartoonish, the issues explored in Delicates felt real and important. I loved this so much!!

Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this! I think this comic was so good to read. I first didn't know there was a volume 1 however I quickly learned that it can be read on its own. However I'm very curious to read more so I might look into the first part and read that.

I think the story was very good and the style was so pretty! Like the colours were so well done and they all worked in harmony with each other so it was so pleasant to read.

Definitely recommend.

Possible triggers: bullying, depression, suicidal thoughts

"Humans are delicate, too. The teeniest mistake can ruin them, even if you do everything right. Just because mistakes seem small and insignificant, doesn't mean they are."

This sequel to Sheets continues the story of Marjorie Glatt and her ghost friend Wendell. Things are changing and Marjorie and Wendell seem to be drifting apart. Marjorie is hanging out with the cool kids and knows that they won't be as accepting as her ghost friends. Eliza Duncan, is all about photography and capturing a ghost on film. This, of course, isn't socially acceptable and causes her to be an outcast among the other students at her school. When Marjorie and Eliza get to know each other, they learn that maybe the things we can't see are just as important as the things we can see, and being yourself is better than following the crowd.

"How is it that we're people, we all feel the same basic emotions, but somehow we still can't understand each other?"

I highly recommend this book for middle school-aged (5th grade and up) children.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Like Sheets this story has a very sad feel.

It captures the pain and anxiety of being a teenager that doesn't fit in. It explores grief and sadness and not feeling like there's a place for you. It's a simple but such a well done story!

This book dives into much more serious and painful themes than the previous but still has the beautiful art and memorable characters.

Eliza is a ghost photographer, and this fact makes her a target for bullying, especially from the group of popular kids. Marjorie has finally joined the popular kids and if they find out about her ghost friends at her family's laundromat, she'll be called a freak, just like Eliza. And Wendell, Marjorie's ghost friend, feels more and more invisible because Marjorie won't tell her friends about his existence.
Wendell forms a friendship with Eliza, but doesn't let her know he's a ghost. Through Wendell, Marjorie learns that the bullying from the popular kids, and by association, Marjorie, might be pushing Eliza to do something unthinkable.
Brenna Thummler does a wonderful job illustrating the emotions of the characters, as well as showing the subtle behaviors that friends and parents can watch for that might indicate suicidal thoughts, bullying, or depression. I really loved how Marjorie stood up for Eliza, even though it meant risking her place in the popular crowd, she did it anyways. A fabulous follow up to Sheets, and I hope she writes more!

The sequel to Sheets is a much less anxious read, but still profoundly melancholy. Marjorie is now trying to balance the demands of the sheet ghosts who live in the family launderette with her former bullies turned sort-of-schoolfriends, as well as ostracisedghost-obsessed, neurodiverse-coded Eliza. Oh, and neither her dad nor her brother is dealing at all well with her mother's death, so while they're slightly less useless than in the previous book, she's also having to do the emotional lifting for them. It would have been easy to make it another sappy piece of bullshit about rejecting the cool kids to hang out with family and real friends, but while Tessi and co remain cruel in that casual way kids (and indeed humans) are, neither Eliza nor undead Wendell has much respect for boundaries, and the story is very good at showing how all the usual well-meaning advice about 'being yourself' and 'they're probably just jealous' is, in the absence of a lot of further nuance and a fair bit of luck, useless bullshit. So in summary, people are mostly either rude or clueless, and death doesn't improve them - or at least, that's how it goes until the final act, when the sap tide suddenly rises and things take a turn into hugging and learning which really didn't convince me. At least in part this is probably a function of the times; I suppose a YA book is pretty much obliged to trot out the 'it gets better' line, but looking from lockdown, towards climate catastrophe and the rest, one can hardly help sympathising with the kid who just wants to opt out and become a sheet ghost. Still, as with Sheets, the art carries it through, really catching that ideal of small-town America looking gorgeously soft and autumnal circa Hallowe'en.

(Netgalley ARC)

This graphic novel was so good!

This was an excellent follow-up to Sheets, which this is a sequel to. It's been a while since I read Sheets, so I can't compare it that closely but I definitely liked it as much as if not more than the first graphic novel!

I loved the new character Eliza that was introduced in this installment. She was a fully fleshed out character, and I loved the developing friendship between her and Marjorie. Wendell was adorable as usual, and I enjoyed seeing his friendship with Marjorie as well as the realistic difficulties their friendship went through.

I really liked that balance of sweetness and joy with the more serious topics touched on in this. I loved it as an adult reader, and I also thing younger readers will get a lot out of it.

The art style reflects the story well, and I enjoyed every minute I was reading it.

Mind-blowingly good. A deep portrait of what it really is to be an outsider, to be alone—the deepest I’ve seen in a long time. Bullying, peer pressure, casual relentless cruelty, growth, pain—Thummler does all so very well, so delicately. That the bullied girl is Black and genuinely nerdy—geeked out about something no one else seems to care about, no one knows how to react to other than to disavow it—is important. Not only does she not fit in with the whole, she doesn’t fit in with a reductionist idea of “what Black girls are like”. Delicates is one of the best kids’ realistic graphic novels I’ve read to date—second only to Cece Bell’s graphic memoir, El Deafo.

Tender, painful, hopeful, and eventually heartwarming, this sequel to Sheets explores the social difficulties of high school and the idea of being invisible. I felt sad throughout the majority of the book due to the constant bullying and helpless circumstances the characters found themselves in, but the beautiful, pastel-colored illustrations kept me optimistic for a brighter ending. I wish there were a few more moments of happiness throughout, to balance out the moroseness, but overall it was a gorgeous, satisfying read! Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy!

A brilliant graphic novel around the themes of growing up, bullying and school. But with ghosts.

I love the style of the illustrations and the characterisation. Hoping there are more in this series. I would definitely recommend this to my students.

Thank you NetGalley and Oni Press for an ARC!

This was really fantastic. The art is once again beautiful and there is a more interesting and emotional story in this one. I adored Eliza and really related to her being "the wrong kind of weird." Her story is an important one that I think some middle schoolers will see in themselves. I can already think of a couple of my students who would really benefit from reading this one.

I received an e-arc from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I read sheets earlier this month and I enjoyed this sequel even more than that. This was beautiful. The artwork is stunning and the story in this volume is so important. This captures bullying, peer pressure and suicidal thoughts as a result of bullying, which thankfully has a happy ending with the individual getting the support she needs and new, better friendships being formed.



The Story (With Spoilers)

Now that Marjorie’s dad is back to ‘normal’, Marjorie no longer needs to work in the laundromat all the time and has freedom. And friends. She’s been hanging out all summer with Colton and his group of friends including Tessi. She’s confused as to what is going on between her, Colton, and Colton and Tessi. Although Marjorie is now part of the ‘popular’ group she still feels out of place and uncomfortable. And Wendell and the ghosts feel replaced and left out too.

Alongside Marjorie’s newfound friendship group we follow Eliza, Mr Duncan’s daughter. She is re-doing eighth grade and a bit of an outcast. She loves photography (in particular trying to capture ghosts) and everyone thinks she’s a freak because of it. We see Eliza and Marjorie interact a few times throughout the story but Marjorie is never overly friendly (or mean) but when Tessi is around, Marjorie also never stops any of the bullying that Tessi does towards Eliza but doesn’t join in either.

After an event involving a photograph getting spread around the school, Tessi destroys all of Eliza’s work. Marjorie finds out and tries to salvage all the photos - in doing so she discovers notes on the back of the photos that suggest Eliza feels invisible and wants to give up. Marjorie tries to make things right, making changes in student council for the upcoming dance for Eliza’s original suggestion. Marjorie tries to find Eliza to tell her but can’t find her anywhere and her father doesn’t know where she is either. Marjorie enlists the ghosts to help her and they eventually find Eliza in the old lighthouse. Marjorie and Eliza talk about how Eliza feels and Marjorie apologises for how she made Eliza feel. There is a great message here about how standing back and watching or ignoring your friends actions is still bullying and is still unforgivable. Marjorie and the ghosts encourage Eliza to speak to her parents to get help and reassure her that they are all there for her and care about her. From here, a great, healthy friendship begins and the story ends very happily and sweetly.

Brenna Thummler shares a work of beauty in this follow-up to Sheets. We are again carried to a world that is both like and unlike our own, and Thummler explores this visual space with a talent for the art of creating story in words and visuals. I recommend both of these books and will be excited to see where this author’s talent takes us next.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing digital access to a copy of this book for my unbiased review — I can’t wait to get a print copy and share this story with young readers.

I am so honored to have received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

If there’s one thing most people can agree on, it’s the fact that middle school is difficult to navigate. So many people go through those years feeling weird, different, left out, and bullied. I know I did.

Delicates perfectly captures the middle school experience and how devastating it can be, whether you're part of the in crowd or not. I’m generally not a crier, but this had me welling up. This is one of those stories that really touches you. And, as always, the artwork is stunning. This is a top-notch graphic novel!

Another sweet, clever offering from Brenna Thummler in the Sheets series, though a bit disappointing after the exceptional first installment.

This was cute and in some ways felt like the correct natural progression of Marjorie’s story, but it doesn’t quite inspire the same empathy and warm fuzzies in the reader as Sheets did.

There’s a good narrative thread here about Marjorie making friends at school and Wendell feeling left behind, but most of the book focuses on the bullying and exclusion of a girl named Eliza who takes interest in Marjorie and ultimately in Wendell.

Unfortunately Eliza doesn’t jump off the page as a believable, likable character like Marjorie and Wendell do. You feel sorry for her, as one does for anyone who has been ostracized and bullied by their peers, but you just don’t like her all that much. It’s not that you dislike her either, but characters whose primary evocation is pity (rather than likability, relatability or intrigue) don’t make for a very dynamic read.

The issue of the far more likable and intriguing Wendell feeling left out of Marjorie’s life is far more interesting, and I wish it had been the primary focus of the story.

Theoretically the exact same graphic novel could have been written to focus on the above plot line with Wendell without the existence of Eliza’s character at all. Had she been left out entirely and the same storyline for Wendell given center stage, it likely would have made for a much better story.

I had the pleasure of reading Sheets and loving the illustrations and color palette. Delicates has the same warmth and glow that pervaded Sheets. It is beautiful in its pastel-ish glory. This graphic novel deals with issues ranging from fitting in, bullying, suicidal thoughts, loss of a family member and the feeling of being haunted.
Wendell may be my new favorite ghost. He has replaced Casper. He just wants to get out of the laundromat and explore the world he didn't get enough time in. He also looks out for others and risks exposure to save a life. He overcomes his fear of the water to save photographs. It's touching. He is my favorite character in this novel even though he is not the protagonist.
If you're looking for a heart warming graphic novel, look no farther. It's touching and emotional at the end. It contains a powerful message.

I received an e-arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

4/5 stars

Content warning: thoughts of suicide/depression

This is the sequel to Sheets and the beautiful artwork style is the same in this graphic novel as well. As with Sheets, I really enjoyed the color scheme and overall art style in this series. The one downside I had was that there was one side character who looked similar to one of the main characters and in a few frames it took me an extra moment for me to realize that it wasn't the main character talking. On the other hand, I did see some body differences so not everyone was portrayed as skinny but the differences weren't super noticable either and maybe would have enjoyed seeing some frames with more varying body types as well varying skin tones.

The overall plot line in this sequel was much more emotional and I really felt it in this one and even got close to tearing up. Depression and suicide can be a very difficult subject matter and I do wish that there had been a content warning for it but I did feel that it was handled pretty well. One thing to know is that it is not a large percentage of the book but there are mentions of those thoughts. Loneliness is a large part of this story and is shown in all three of the main characters but in the end a friendship group is formed and they understand each other a bit better. Bullying is also portrayed and I love the fact that the book mentions that even if you aren't an active participant in the bullying but know about it and do nothing you are still a part of the bullying.

Between the beautiful art work and the emotional storyline, this sequel is a strong addition to the series. There also seems to be more that could be explored in other books with more characters coming to the forefront of the story.

First of all I liked the colour scheme and art style (except for the noses) quite a lot.
The book also had an important message about bullying, but I didn’t really care for the exact way it was conveyed.
Overall a graphic novel with a nice art style and a mediocre plot.