| Title | : | Stepping Stones |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle , Hardcover , Paperback , Audiobook & More |
| Number of Pages | : | 224 |
| Publication | : | First published May 5, 2020 |
| Awards | : | Kentucky Bluegrass Award 3-5 (2022) |
Jen did not want to leave the city. She did not want to move to a farm with her mom and her mom's new boyfriend, Walter. She did not want to leave her friends and her dad.
Most of all, Jen did not want to get new "sisters," Andy and Reese.
If learning new chores on Peapod Farm wasn't hard enough, then having to deal with perfect-at-everything Andy might be the last straw for Jen. Besides cleaning the chicken coop, trying to keep up with the customers at the local farmers' market, and missing her old life, Jen has to deal with her own insecurities about this new family . . . and where she fits in.
Stepping Stones Reviews
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This was, at times, incredibly painful to read. Walter was borderline, if not straight out, emotionally abusive toward Jen and everyone made excuses for him. There was a lot of "Oh, that's just how he is. You just need to deal with it." And he never changed, never grew. Everyone just accommodated him and let him go on with his belittling and dismissing of Jen—and everyone else for that matter. In a graphic memoir/novel for adults, this behavior could be offered without anyone changing because most adults have the tools to understand that this is not okay. In a graphic novel for middle schoolers, the normalizing of Walter's behavior and punishment of Jen for speaking up for herself can be harmful. It sends a message that the adult—especially the male adult— is always right and that the women and girls just need to suck it up. I don't think this was the message that Ms. Knisley intended to convey, but it is the one that came through most clearly to me.
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What did this author, Lucy Knisley, do. . . break into my childhood home, rummage through the attic, and then read my 9th grade diary??
How did she know exactly how much I hated my mother's boyfriend after my parents divorced?
(Did she know about the voodoo doll, too??)
I gotta tell you. . . this middle grades graphic novel hit almost too close to home for me. Poor Jen (who mom's new boyfriend, Walter, calls “Jenny” no matter how many times she corrects him) gets dragged into mom's new romance and mom's new passion: farming.
I rolled my eyes a lot while reading this, thinking of how my mother tried to enlist us in her new romance and her new passion, back when we were traumatized, too, and all we wanted were our former lives and our father back.
For every adult who has ever said to me: My kids just want me to be happy! I can only ever roll my eyes dramatically, every time.
The hell they do.
But, luckily, kids are also flexible and they're young and they'll eventually get over most of the unwanted changes.
They might just first need to make a really lifelike voodoo doll of Walter and poke it with long needles and cut off one of the cloth arms and then cover his cloth body with dark lipstick stains that somehow really translate, miraculously, to painful and incredibly itchy rashes all over Walter's real body.
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Knisley's first autobiography graphic novel is one I find myself enjoying but also don't, thanks to Walter for pissing me off most of the times I'm reading the book. That is to say, it encompasses the complex, sometimes unpleasant realities that characterise children's daily experiences.
Stepping Stones addresses Jen's difficulties on adjusting to new circumstances, while also working on taking things one step at a time. I enjoyed everything about the graphics; the illustration, the colour hues, even the fonts which I find pleasant to read. However, I agreed with
Billie's review about it may appearing harmful since this is promoted as a children book, hence might unintentionally normalizing Walter's behaviour as bog-standard despite him being abusive and condescending towards Jen and his children.
Nevertheless, since this is only the first book from the series and the author did mention her own Walter still being beloved, I am interested to see what's in store for the next book in the series. -
A realistic take on the changes and stress brought about by divorce and a big move.
The illustrations are amazing and the characters were engaging.
There is one issue I really hope will be handled in the next book in the trilogy-- Jen's Mom's boyfriend, Walter. While I think it is realistic that at that age the girls would just deal with his behavior, I hope it's addressed in more detail. -
I really, really loved a lot about this book, especially the depiction of life as a farm kid and navigating relationships with (step)siblings. That said, the stepfather character felt really unhealthy to me and, in my opinion, needed to apologize for his behavior towards the main character (and possibly demonstrate more personal growth). I do believe the main character and supporting characters are modeled after the author's own experience, and she does mention her real stepfather favorably in the author's note, but I do find the lack of acknowledgement of his ill-treatment of his step-daughter worrisome. Except for this troubling characterization, this middle grade novels has all the makings of a best-seller, so I'm curious to see how it will be received.
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Though there's nothing ground-breaking here, I enjoyed this simple story of a young girl struggling to adapt to both a new step-family, AND life on a small farm.
The characters may not all be likable, but it's interesting to observe how they learn to get along. I see that this is book one in a series; I'll be happy to continue following Jen's rural adventures. -
A departure for the memoir comics storyteller Lucy Knisley, a semi-autobiographical (she talks about it in the afterword) middle grades graphic novel about a girl, Jen, who through divorce has to leave the city to live on a farm and learn to relate to her mom's new overbearing boyfriend and his bossy daughter (and a younger girl who is easier to get along with). So it's still memoirish, in a way, but I also imagined the project in some ways has to do with the fact that Knisley has become a mom. You know, you see picture books everywhere, she made a picture book, she imagines her kid growing up, she makes a book for young girls. Oh, and it works, I think!
This is one of my favorite Knisley books, with her sweetly intimate drawing and warm colors by Whitney Cogar. And it's not sickly sweet as some children's books can be, doesn't wrap things up completely in a bow, while revealing some progress on most of the problem fronts. The farm not surprisingly gets to reveal its charms for Jen, as do the step-sisters. I recommend it and hope she does more of this work. -
Stepping Stones is the completely adorable story of Jen, a girl who, after her parents' divorce, is obliged to move with her mother and her mother's boyfriend from NYC to an upstate farm. Two stepsisters, who come to stay on weekends, are part of this new living arrangement. If you've read Knisley's earlier book Relish, the images of the farm and the farmer's market will feel familiar to you, and the book also contains some really cute pencil artwork ostensibly done by Jen (who is a thinly veiled portrayal of Lucy Knisley herself at that age). As a middle-grade read, Stepping Stones effectively and movingly portrays the hardships and rewards of "step" relationships, and I thought the whole thing was delightful. I didn't want to stop reading! I'm looking forward to passing this book along to my 10-year-old niece—I'm sure she's going to love it even more than I did.
I won this ARC via a Shelf Awareness giveaway; thank you to the publisher. My opinions, as always, are my own. -
Walter was impossible. It was too hard for me to see Jen (who is actually the author, Lucy) treated the way she was. My heart hurts for her.
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On one hand, I sort of enjoyed this middle-grade graphic novel, which revolves around city girl Jen being uprooted from New York City to live on a farm with her mom and her mom’s boyfriend, Walter. Every weekend, Walter's two daughters come to stay with them as well, which causes further frustration for Jen. She eventually bonds with them, but continues to bash heads with Walter.
On the other hand, being a city girl who doesn't enjoy long bouts of nature, I found this concept horrifying: a child being forced to move to a farm against her will, ooof. No friends, loads of work, being made to man the farmer's market stand without adult help (seriously though, why did neither adult seem to consistently work at the market with them?) I was also confused by the character of Walter, who regularly served to diminish Jen's self-esteem and I began to actually see as hateful. He kept dismissing her concerns and calling her a drama queen, and I was surprised that he was never held accountable for these behaviors. I'm guessing that this is because the story is inspired by Knisley's real life, and an afterword tells readers that "her Walter" was "annoying and beloved" by her. While that might be the case, the book's Walter was not shown in any way that endeared him to me as a reader, and I hoped the story would end with his being told off and/or dumped. His treatment of Jen throughout the novel was condescending, unsympathetic, and cruel. Even his older daughter acknowledged his behavior at one point, yet nothing came of it properly.
Overall, this is a good book but the character of Walter filled me with feminist rage and reading with that lens kept it from being an actually enjoyable experience. -
I mostly really enjoyed this story of Jen’s (involuntary) move to the country and struggles with farm chores and stepsisters. I had a version of this myself when I turned 10 and as someone who also wanted to stay inside and read all the time I related hard. The only part I didn’t like was her stepfather’s ceaseless petty meanness and total disregard of Jen’s feelings (and everyone just...letting him get away with it). In a memoir that would be one thing - annoying adult men usually don’t change (they definitely didn’t in my childhood). In a middle grades style fiction comic like this though it would have been really nice to read about an example of personal growth on his part as well as the main character and her stepsisters. Those parts were really hurtful to read - lots of flashbacks of being a powerless ten year old girl whose opinions and feelings don’t seem to matter at all.
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Lucy Knisley takes a swerve from her usual memoirs for grown-ups into Raina Telgemeier juvenile territory with this fictionalized account of her childhood. Jen's mom has divorced her father and dragged her out of New York City to start a small farm upstate that they will be sharing with Mom's boyfriend and -- every weekend -- the daughters from his previous marriage. Adjusting to country life and two unofficial stepsisters is predictably troublesome for Jen, but the story is deftly told by Knisley.
I'm happy that Goodreads thinks this is the first book in a trilogy, because I welcome future installments, especially to wrap up the dangling plot with Mom's obnoxious boyfriend. -
জেনি মনে-প্রাণে শহুরে বালিকা। বাবা-মায়ের ছাড়াছাড়ি হবার পর মা তাকে ইচ্ছার বিরুদ্ধে গ্রামের এক খামারবাড়িতে নিয়ে যায়, মনে মনে অত্যন্ত ক্ষুব্ধ হয় সে। খামারবাড়িতে সারাদিনের অবিশ্রান্ত পরিশ্রম, ফার্ম মার্কেটে গিয়ে জিনিস-পত্র বিক্রি করা কিছুই তার ভালো লাগে না। সারাক্ষণ মনে পড়ে বাবার কথা। তার উপরে যখন শুনতে পেলো তার সৎবাবার দু'টি মেয়ে প্রতি সপ্তাহান্তে থাকতে আসবে তাদের সাথে, তখন আরো চিন্তিত হয়ে পড়লো সে। তার নিজের ভাই-বোন নেই, অন্য কারো সঙ্গে মানিয়ে নিতে সময় লাগে।
তবে তার সৎবোনেরা আসার পর অল্প অল্প করে বদলাতে থাকলো খামারবাড়ির জীবন। হয়তো এখানে খাপ খাইয়ে নিতে পারবে সে শেষমেশ।
পাঠ-প্রতিক্রিয়াঃ
কয়েকদিন যাবত গ্রাফিক নভেল পড়ার জন্য মনটা আনচান করছিলো। গতো বছর প্রকাশিত হওয়া "Stepping Stones" এর প্লট আর কভার দু'টোই বেশ ভালো লাগায় পড়ে ফেললাম।
ফার্মহাউস পটভূমির গল্পগুলোর প্রতি কেন যেন বেশ ভালো লাগা কাজ করে আমার। আর্টওয়ার্কগুলো দেখে মনে হচ্ছিল বইয়ের ভেতর ঢুকে যাই। লুসি নিজলি-র নিজের ছোটবেলার চিত্র উঠে এসেছে এই গ্রাফিক নভেলে। তার যখন এগারো বছর বয়স, তার বাবা-মায়ের ছাড়াছাড়ি হয়ে যায় এবং গল্পের জেনির মতো জোর করে খামারবাড়িতে থাকতে নিয়ে যাওয়া হয় কারণ তার মায়ের অনেক ইচ্ছে ছিল খামার করার।
অল্পবয়সে নিজের মত সবসময় প্রকাশ করার স্বাধীনতা থাকে না, বা প্রকাশ করলেও বয়স কম বলে পরিবারের বড়রা কানে তুলতে চান না। ছোটদের মন-মানসিকতার উপর এটি খারাপ প্রভাব ফেলে। পরিবারের সবার মধ্যে healthy relationship ব্যাপারটা খুব প্রয়োজন।
ভেবেছিলাম বইয়ের কন্টেন্ট নিতান্ত বাচ্চাদের জন্য হবে, কিন্তু ম্যাচিউর লেখা। রেকমেন্ডেড রইলো💜 -
City girl gets stuck on a farm taking care of chickens and then the boyfriend's daughters show up! This was an entertaining read with bright and engaging illustrations. We got glimpses of Jen's sketches during and between chapters. It was well balanced. The story will be a window for some and a door for others. Many kids have never taken care of chickens or helped run a farm stand. Likewise there are also lots of kids experiencing the growing pains of a blended family or that annoying new boyfriend that their mom has introduced into their life like Jen. I loved her little refuge up in the hay mow of the barn. I have fond memories of playing in the barn on our farm with my siblings when we were growing up on the farm. I really liked this and will be sharing with fans of Lucy Knisley's adult graphics and with kids who love graphic novels by Raina Telgemeier.
Thank you to Random House Graphic for sending me a paperback ARC so I could review it in advance of publication. -
I just love her books.
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I know. I'm disappointed too. I was so excited to see what Lucy Knisley did with this departure from her adult travelogues and memoirs and was prepared to love it - but ultimately found it rather lackluster and honestly pretty troubling at times. There might be a few spoilers ahead, so keep reading at your own risk!
Our main character is Jen, an 11 year old who has recently moved to the country with her mom after her parents' divorce. Cleaning the chicken coop and running the farmer's market stand is a huge change after her childhood in the big city, and she's struggling to adjust. The worst part? They're also living with her mom's boyfriend full time, and with his daughters when they visit on weekends.
Here's what I loved: Knisley nails that feeling of the utter unfairness that comes from being a kid, completely subject to the decisions of adults. That feeling is so visceral in her story that it's almost hard to read at times! I also loved the way Jen became friends with her step-sisters: the children in this story were able to empathize and come to an understanding, despite their differences. It's a great story arc about coming to terms with hard things and learning to enjoy where you are.
The biggest reason for such a low rating was the adults. They are not patient, or kind. They do not help her through her struggles adapting to a whole new life. Her mom's boyfriend is so awful (he calls her 'Jenny,' which she hates; he calls her a drama queen every time she's justifiably upset or feels anything) and that behavior isn't addressed. In fact, she's repeatedly told that that's just how he is and she just needs to get over it. I think he's supposed to be obnoxious-yet-ultimately-loveable, but he really just came off toxic. He never apologizes or changes, and sure that’s true about real people sometimes, but I think a middle grade book should at the very least say “this isn’t okay.”
I see what Lucy Knisley was trying to do here, but I think she really missed the mark. -
Another great book at first I was little annoyed at first with the stepdad but then I was okay... Whatever
Great story all over the place -
Although it had a rough start, this is one more exemplary GN by Lucy!
Lucy YOU ROCK GIRL!!!
One of the best of the year!!!!!!! -
So often, the baby chicks or the hens are eaten to teach the children a lesson. I am so glad that this didn't happen in this novel of a blended family.
I loved this book. Other reviewers are bitching about how rotten Jen's stepdad is, but since this is the first of a trilogy, I'm hoping that things will get better. What I liked about this is that the step-sisters got better, and that they weren't all black and white, and that Jen did learn to like them, despite them being bossy.
The author said this is based heavily on her life, and she liked writing this for other children of divorce, and how there were no stories like this when she was a kid. And it is important to see yourself in books, so you know you aren't the only one out there.
Very quick read. I look forward to the next books in the series, where I'm hoping things get better for Jen. -
Another one that I am reading with the kids. I generally love Lucy Knisley books so I am hopeful that this is a good one. :)
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This... may be one of my favorites from Lucy Knisley. (Although I'm holding out and have high hopes for a Linney/cat-themed book!) The characters are very relatable (which they should be, since they are so very autobiographical), and since I've always loved farms and farmers markets, etc, that was a nice environment to find myself in within this book.
Also welcome was that while I kind of (really) didn't like the way her mom's boyfriend talked to her or how dismissive the adults were of her unhappiness, it felt very real. At first I was like, "Your mom needs to ditch this dbag and appreciate that you didn't ask to live on a farm." But... that's not what happens in real life. In most middle grade books like this, there's a "Oh wow, I didn't realize I was hurting your feelings, young one- I'm just learning and trying my best and we're going to be great friends now" sort of moment. Which is so unrealistic. This book frames it more like, "Yeah, he's annoying. You're not imagining it." Which is very validating for a kid.
Adults are sometimes snarky and annoying but your mom is dating them. It sucks. And your mom's dream of being a farmer may end up being great and fulfilling (which I believe it was) or she could fizzle out and you move back to the city in a couple of years. But you really do not have control over those things. The validation of her emotions came from her peers- and sometimes that's what happens. The adults don't listen or appreciate the feelings of young people, and you have to find support from others your age. I think that's an important lesson for kids. She writes in the afterword, "One of the worst things about being a kid is finding yourself in these situations where you have no control over the decisions the adults are making that affect you." And I think that's so true- and why kids need books where they can see other kids doing well despite that. -
Oh, I am SO HAPPY that Lucy Knisley is doing middle grade fiction with her amazing drawing and storytelling.
In Stepping Stones, Jen’s coming of age story is told in the aftermath of her parents divorce, moving to the country from the big city, and gaining new family members she certainly did not ask for. It is heavily based on the author’s own experiences, and the emotions of Jen’s highs and lows are certainly on-point and easily identifiable. I couldn’t help but root for her, and her new family by the end.
My daughter and I gobbled up our (signed!!) copy, and we are eagerly awaiting the next installment in this TRILOGY. My love for this author knows no bounds, and I highly recommend all of her books, reviews can be found in the tab above 'by author' and my favorites are definitely Kid Gloves and Something New.
For more reviews and bookish musings, visit
http://www.bornandreadinchicago.com/ -
Oh hey. Walter is an asshole, and Jen's mom is an enabler for allowing him to treat her daughter that way.
This book is well-written, adorably illustrated, and I can forgive and understand all of the characters except for that douchecanoe Walter. It's not that Knisley doesn't write a good book. It's that she writes a realistic book that I'm afraid her audience will not recognize the abuse in because it is excused away at every turn.
Walter is an abuser. He's not like the girls in the story who need to learn and grown and adapt. He's a grown-ass man on a power-trip. -
Feeling good after reading this.
But don't want to write the review now. -
Read it in one sitting! This graphic novel is kinda a fictional story based on the author/illustrator Lucy Knisley’s own childhood experience of moving with her mom from the city to a farm in the country after her parents got divorced. The main character Jen stays with her mom and her mom’s new boyfriend, whose two daughters visit and help out at the farm and farmers’ market every weekend. It’s interesting to take a peek at life on a farm in the US, and Jen’s struggle to adapt to the new environment and her potential new family felt very real. The most heartwarming part to me is the development of sisterly bonds and friendship between Jen and the guy’s two daughters. It’s very sweet! I’m glad the author didn’t take the predictable and cringey route of making the girls unreasonably mean to each other; they had some bumps in getting along but ultimately there’s a lot of empathy in each of them, something that children’s books should portray. The last few pages made me tear up :”)
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Short and sweet. Jen is a city kid, used to the noise and bustle of New York. When her parents divorce, Jen is pulled a long with her mom's dream to live on a small farm upstate. Jen is saddled with feeding chickens, yard work, and helping run the booth at the weekly farmer's market. Also, every weekend her mom's boyfriend's two daughters arrive to share Jen's bedroom. It's hard to get used to all of these changes! But the tensions are all resolved fairly quickly. I really enjoyed the very charming illustrations of chicks, farm cats, frogs, snakes and owls.
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Loved the illustrations and story. The struggle of Jen was portrayed so well. Her mom was so detached and enabled Walter the whole time. I was expecting a better ending though.
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A library newsletter alerted me to this, a graphic memoir that reads like a novel, much like
Sisters and other books in that series. Mom and her new boyfriend want to be farmers, and Jen is told she'll like it too. She's also told she'll like weekends when Walter's daughters visit, and told that the chickens and the stand at the farmer's market are her responsibility, and she ought to be pleased about it.
Fortunately her stepsisters are not evil, and in fact know that their dad is kinda a jerk, and know how to deal with him. I couldn't. If I were Jen's mom, I wouldn't... nobody is allowed to talk to my kids that way. But then, Mom's blinded by the dirt on her hands & by her relief to be out of the city. And, I suppose, by Walter's ability to give her security and freedom to become a farmer, an enterprise very likely to fail without enough resources to invest.
Almost a four star book, especially because of wonderful author's notes at the end. But the bonds of sisterhood came too readily to the girls, and Walter is too much of a jerk... I just cannot 'really like' a book that shows affection to a person who is so hurtful. -
I LOVE THIS BOOK OKAY!!
This book is set in about Jen who grew up in a city but has recently shifted to an almost rural area (like me)
Her parents start farming (like me)
They also start growing chickens (like me)
Jen is having a hard time adjusting in the new place (like me)
And she is also finding it hard to adjust with her new step sisters.
🌿 As you can see already, this book was incredibly related to me. I connected to Jen on so many levels and this made the book feel very personal to me.
🌿 The artwork is absolutely breathtaking.
🌿 This is an very heartwarming story that will mend your broken heart to some degree.
🌿 Jen's relationship with her step sisters is incredibly adorable! 😭
🌿 This book is semi autobiographical which makes the book even better!
Overall, I absolutely fell in love with this book. I'd HIGHLY RECOMMEND this one!
