Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge By Grace Ellis

Maya

I love Lois Lane so I was really looking forward to this book. Not only am I not in the demographic my children are no longer in the demographic. So take my review with that disclosure in mind.

The art is lovely but even that wasn't enough to save this. Lois in this story is annoying, selfish and mean. Sometimes in the Silver Age comics she’d be characterized this way.

“Men have had every advantage of us in telling their own story. Education has been theirs in so much higher a degree; the pen has been in their hands. I will not allow books to prove anything.” Jane Austen, Persuasion

When people point to the 1950s Lois Lane as examples of whatever negative impressions they might have, I think of that quote. I think of the Golden Age during the time when strong women in the movies were celebrated and how she was turned in to a caricature to fit the 1950s sensibility. She recovered in the Bronze age post women’s liberation but still there is the whisper of what was done to her in the Silver Age which clings to the character.

This is how I felt reading this story, that the author only knew her from the stereotypes and wrote a regressive version of who she is. Lois in this story is mean, obnoxious and rude. She hurts people around her without thought. I’ve raised children to adulthood, there is no magic character switch, young teens don’t need to learn lessons to realize they are behaving badly, that does them a huge disservice.

An example is when Lois bullies the new girl because she is suspicious, there was no need for this, she could have been guarded but not nasty.

The dialogue was forced. When my son “graduated” middle school (he’s going to graduate from college soon) his principal kept saying “hashtag” back when it was relatively new. The 8th graders were smirking. Kids don’t talk like this.

There is a prose Lois Lane young adult three novel series by Gwenda Bond that is available with Lois Lane as a 16 year old girl. Those books captures the core of Lois Lane with her tenacity *and* her compassion and empathy, yet also manages to capture the insecurity and coltish nature before one comes into oneself. It also captures the reason she is a journalist which is to discover the truth not for glory but for justice and exposing corruption.

Lois Lane and The Friendship Challenge does none of this. Perhaps if this was written about a generic character, not a beloved well known one it would have worked. However it was very hard to see how this person would grow up to be Lois Lane.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc

Darla

What made Lois Lane become a reporter? This new middle grade graphic novel gives us a scenario where Lois discovers the value of investigative reporting. She and her best friend both want the best summer ever, but find their priorities are clashing. Lois is determined to when a social media challenge, but Kristen is looking for support in preparing for sleep-away camp. The graphic panels are colorful and filled with diverse characters. Unfortunately, Lois herself is abrasive and comes across as very immature. The cover is appealing, but the story inside is a bit lacking.

Thank you to NetGalley and DC Comics for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Allie

This rating/review is based on an ARC from Netgalley and DC Comics.

I had high hopes going into this because I like what DC has done with Wonder Woman middle grade comic. This is bad though! Lois Lane is a terrible friend, a bully, and just an overall turd! She steamrolls everyone in her life and treats people who care about her like crap. It was honestly really hard to read!

I give the writing one star, but I can’t rate the book overall that low because I really like the illustrations by Brittney Williams. The characters are really expressive and fun, and literally ever scene with people in the background looks like a real community and not just some cut and paste (white) faces. I love how she drew Henri, especially her fashion. The character wears a blue and black polka dot jumpsuit at the end which is absolutely *chef’s kiss* incredible. I honestly felt really bad for most of the characters because they have to put up with such a horrible (fictional) person.

I definitely will not be recommending this to the kids at my library. I don’t want anyone to think that this is an ok way to treat people!

Widget

I have very mixed feelings about this book. From a purely commercial standpoint I think this book will do well. As a bookseller I would still recommend it to readers who liked Shannon Hale's "Real Friends", "The Babysitters Club" series etc. It has a weak mystery element but enough that kids in that demographic will enjoy it.

From a personal standpoint I found myself really disliking the Lois Lane character. While I understand some elements of her selfish characterization are supposed to be a foil for a later "aha" moment of self realization, she never really showed much growth as a character nor did she end up doing much actual sluthing. The illustrations had some great visual comedic elements and probably gave me the most enjoyment out of the whole book. I'm sure Lois's rediculous, over-the-top overreactions to things were supposed to be funny, but it just really made her more unlikable.

This book is a meh at best for me. There are many better DC character reimaginings out there than this one.

Cass Moskowitz

I enjoy a lot of these stories coming out about the heroes a lot of us grew up with, but with a new take. This one was so so. The art was truly vibrant and captured the energy of the book, but the story itself wasn’t really there. I thought the author pushed the “twist” of Lois not wanting to be a journalist a bit too hard. While the friendship struggles were relatable, the resolution was a bit of a disappointment. Not a bad story, but not special.

Jason Carpenter

Very fun book to read. Great for kids (or adults) of pretty much any age. As much as we'd like to sometimes pretend otherwise, friendships can be difficult at times, especially when we're young and dont exactly know how to be a good friend. Lois has to learn some valuable lessons about what it takes to be a good friend, and it's a great lesson for any of us to remember.

Cadee

"I liked how Lois Lane and her friend Kristin got back together after they had a friend fight. They also made a new friend named Izzy and the three of them solved a mystery. It was planned as something fun for Lois to do as Kristin was supposed to go to summer camp." -Cadee, age 8

Lost in Book Land

Hello, hi, I hope everyone is doing well!

It has been an extremely busy week already. I have done a lot of reading, a lot of catching up on my Youtube watch list, and a lot of random adult stuff. In the midst of all of that I picked up a new to me graphic novel to read! I have been reading a lot of the DC graphic novels and I remembered that this one came out a while ago, I honestly did not know much about it before going in but I was still excited to give it a try! So I hoped over to Hoopla and used one of my borrows for the month to grab this graphic novel and give it a try.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Lois and her best friend are planning to have the best summer and that includes completing the #friendshipchallenge and becoming Vidme stars. The first step in this plan is to sign up for the town bike race together but when they get to the local bike shop, the owner is talking about the fireworks being missing. The two friends only have a limited amount of time to solve the missing fireworks mystery, win the bike race, complete their friendship challenge, and become Vidme stars before one of them heads to summer camp. Will they be up to the task or will things quickly fall apart?

This was a really cute graphic novel. The illustrations were all fun and bright! I particularly loved the inserts between the chapters, they were cute, colorful, and fun. Additionally, I loved Lois’ pet cat (who was definitely one of my favorite characters of this graphic novel). Overall, this was just a really fun middle-grade graphic novel read and I look forward to seeing what might come next from a middle school-aged Lois Lane!

Goodreads Rating: 5 Stars

Bailey Shrewsbury

Absolutely no growth for Lois or repercussions for her extremely selfish actions across the book.

Panda Incognito

In this juvenile graphic novel, Lois Lane is a toxic, abusive friend who yells at, lies to, interrupts, steamrolls over, and sabotages the people around her. She wants to win a social media Friendship Challenge, but her obsession with her world's version of YouTube just alienates her friends, and she refuses to listen or care. She is also petty, jealous, and vindictive. This is not the Lois Lane that anyone knows or loves, but is a child who could easily warrant a psychiatric intervention.

The mystery is extremely shallow and light, and the book mostly revolves around unresolved friend drama. Lois is absolutely horrible, and her friends should not accept her behavior. Kristen, her supposed best friend, takes the brunt of everything, to the point where Lois deliberately sabotages This book had already completely lost me, but that was the final straw.

Kristen needs help. Someone needs to help her get out of this toxic relationship. The way that Lois treats her is completely unacceptable, and the fact that Kristen feels a need to change her own emotions and abruptly change her mind about a strong personal desire in order to satisfy her abuser is a gigantic red flag. If this part of the story had led Lois to recognize her grave faults, as I had anticipated, this could have been different. However, Lois still gets what she wants at her friend's expense, and never faces a reckoning with what a horrible person she is.

The only semblance of conflict resolution that this book offers is images of Lois and Kristen hugging each other and exclaiming, "I LOVE YOU!" more than once. Unfortunately, declarations of love do not resolve abusive relationships. Lois never takes responsibility for her behavior, and the friendship is completely dependent on Kristen's choice to be long-suffering and put up with the interruptions, the demands, the sabotage, the yelling, the jealousy, the exploitative emphasis on social media, and the complete disregard for her feelings.

The only possible use I can see for this book is as an example of bullying and toxic friendships. Adults and children could read this together to discuss the problematic dynamics and what the girls could have done differently, but this is not a book that I would ever recommend to any demographic. Readers could recognize the book's flaws and be discerning, but there isn't much story apart from them to make it worthwhile, and some children may see abusive dynamics from their own lives reflected here without any positive message or example of how to handle a friend or family member who behaves like Lois does. I would also hate for a child to read this and thereby justify their horrible behavior to someone else, thinking that their friend should just be as understanding as Kristen is.

I honestly do not understand how this book ever got published. It is full of gigantic red flags and awful messages, and even though the art is cute, absolutely nothing can make up for what a controlling, abusive jerk this version of Lois Lane is. People who are interested in reading about the character in a modern setting are much better off pursuing Gwenda Bond's fabulous YA series, which begins with the book
Fallout. Bond portrays a teenage Lois Lane in an interesting, authentic, relatable way, and the books are so clean that they are appropriate for middle grade readers as well. The YA series also focuses on the journalistic elements of Lois Lane's story, whereas this book only includes a journalistic angle by incorporating a side character with an internship. Please check out Gwenda Bond's series, and don't waste your time with this book.

Maggie Carr

An element of mystery hidden in a friendship that is being tested. Jealousy over new friends, struggling with evolving change and growing up, and a summer apart drove Lois to accuse others where the blame was misconceived. For long time Lois Lane/Superman fans finding Izzy Kent inside was a nice surprise and eludes to the bigger storyline while not being obvious to readers getting their first taste of the characters. A well done plot focusing on relevant friendship obstacles experienced by every duo, trio, or in group dynamics.

Laura

Lois Lane, to me, is the hero for little girls to look up to. A strong, independent journalist, with strong skills in sleuthing. And, I suppose she had to start somewhere, but this story, of where she started being interested in journalism just felt off to me. There was nothing of the future Lois here, nothing at all. Yes, she was forceful, but in a very, very annoying way. This took me a while to read it, I kept starting and stopping, because I didn't like this version of Lois as a young girl, and I was bored with it, frankly.

The basic story is the Lois wants to win a contest, and her best friend just want to hang out with her, and solve mysteries. There are also a few other people thrown in for good measure, but Lois misunderstands everything, and is super annoying.

When the writers wrote about young Wonder Woman, that was a growing story, and she was generally good at heart, and you could see the woman she would grow up into. In this, I didn't. Added to this, that Lois was annoying, did I mention how annoying she was, and I didn't want to finish reading this, even to figure out who the villain, so to speak was.

So, unless you are a completeist, on this young versions of future comic characters, I would pass on this one.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Ryan

What in the Hades did this author do to Lois Lane. This is Lois Lane as a middle grade student. I hate her. She's whiny, she's obnoxious, and she's a terrible friend. I know all kids grow up to be different people. There's lots of canon of Lois Lane and her adventures with Superman but this as a start off tale sucks. Lois Lane is way too involved in her phone. She has a vidme channel which is like YouTube, and she's so concerned about winning this online contest and how many hits she gets Etc. I find it disgusting. The artwork is well done which is the only thing that makes the story likable but Lord knows if you want to continue the series get a different author. Lois Lane has never been my favorite character but this just eweeee. I would not suggest this book for anybody. We have enough brats in our current society; we don't need our kids to read about them.

n

KENT

Oneirosophos

Painfully unreadable. Incredibly "childish" and not.

Kailey (Luminous Libro)

Lois and her best friend, Kristen, are entering the neighborhood bike race, but the fireworks for the big event have been stolen. Lois only wants to record the event for her online channel where she hopes to create a viral video. She's so focused on her own project that she doesn't understand how anxious Kristen is feeling about leaving for camp the day after the race. Can their friendship survive when Lois is so determined to be an internet star?

I loved the artwork and the cute designs! The story is vibrant and the plot is interesting. I really liked how Lois learns about the moral differences between journalism and detective work. "Journalism isn't about justice. Journalism is about the truth."

However, I didn't really understand the characters in this book. Lois is up and down all the time. One minute, she doesn't want to be a detective because she says that's for "babies", and then she throws herself into the detective work with all the enthusiasm in the world. The story doesn't explain what happened to change her mind. I guess she realized that she could use her detective work to make a viral video? It's never really clear. She insists that she doesn't want to join the bike race, and then it becomes her main goal to win the bike race. I can't figure out why she suddenly cared about the bike race when she spent half the book telling everyone that she didn't want to race.

Her whole personality changes in fits and starts through the story without any clear reason. She's annoying and she's always bragging about herself. She doesn't do any actual detective work. She just runs around randomly accusing people and making trouble for innocent bystanders.

Lois has a mean attitude. She doesn't take anyone else's feelings into consideration. Through the whole story she is assuming the worst of everyone. She argues with her best friend, accuses innocent people, and bullies a little girl.

I understand that the story was trying to create character development as Lois learns not to be so selfish, but she didn't really develop that much. It was a very unsatisfactory character arc. I think the author was trying to show Lois' tenacity and intensity, but it only came across as an obnoxious and harsh personality.

There is one supporting character who is extremely shy and who literally runs away when she sees Lois and Kristen on the street, but later in the story, she is suddenly un-shy and talkative and ready to join in their adventures. It's a sudden personality shift that felt jarring and strange.

The friendship between Lois and Kristen is way too dramatic. They fight and make up several times through the story, and I got tired of it. How are they still friends if there is that much conflict in their relationship?

Overall, I am disappointed in the characters, but the design of the book is lovely and the basic plot is good.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts and are not influenced by anyone.

Hira Chaudhary

This was not a good book. It was supposed to be a story about friendship, but instead Lois spends the entire book pushing away her best friend, targeting someone for no reason, being a bit of a bully, and acting rudely with nearly everyone she interacts with. She's not someone to look to for young people. And I honestly don't really know what the point of this story was between the bike race and the friendship challenge. This was just a weird and unnecessary story.

Vince

I really wanted to love this, it's extremely my thing with a creative team I love... and yet... Lois is just an obnoxious character in this. Her growth feels unearned, it feels flat, maybe kids would enjoy this but for me... this was a miss.

Pochodnia fandomu

It was... Okay

cadence

3.5
I think it was a good book, it just was not the kind of book that I usually enjoy.
But other than that, it was a very good book!

imthedoctorbasicallyfunreads

I’ll be honest, I know next to nothing about Lois Lane, but I love Grace Ellis’ other work so I was happy to get my hands on an ARC of this one.

To start with, the art serves the story well. The style is a neat synthesis of manga and a more western comics look that gives it a different feel.

As for the story, there’s nothing in this book to indicate that superpowers exist in the world. It felt more like something Raina Tegelmeier might write. The way Lois interacted with social media was believable, which isn’t always the case in media, so props for that.

My one problem with this book is the way Lois treats the people around her. She constantly steamrolled over their thoughts and feelings, and I don’t think Lois had absorbed that that’s not okay by the end. It also confused me as to why Henri, as a college student, would pay any attention to a 13 year old who spends half their conversations being a jerk to her.

Buy, Borrow, or Miss: Borrow

*This review is based on the print ARC. I received no compensation for this review.

Mariel

Soy una admiradora de Lois Lane y normalmente perdono cualquier adaptación de ella; sin embargo, estoy de acuerdo con la mayoría: sí, las novelas/cómics infantil y juvenil no deben caer en los didactismos... sin embargo, ningún personaje tiene algún desarrollo. Sí, Lois Lane es UN DOLOR DE CABEZA pero es empática, no es un monstruo egoísta. Habría estado súper interesante que manejaran el que Lois se cambiaba a cada rato de ciudad (algo que podría hacer sentir identificado hasta a los más grandes). En fin.

¿Y QUÉ ONDA CON EL FINAL? ¿ALGUIEN ME EXPLICA? (eso explicaría porque Izzie iba súper veloz, fan de Batman y estaba embobada con Lois. ¿una versión de GB de Clark Kent, un guiño o simplemente quisieron meter algo canon en algún sitio?).

Melanie Dulaney

Bold, eye-catching graphics, but the story of a bike race, stolen fireworks and a friendship that is having a few hiccups is rambling and main character Lois Lane is so flighty and bounces from activity to activity so fast that I could barely make it to the end. Resolution was complete and not 100% predictable so coupled with the great artwork and the fact that graphic novels fly off most school library shelves, this one would find readership. Content is free of any red flags. Thanks for the dARC, NetGalley.

Danielle

You can see here how Lois becomes the woman we know and love, but this is definitely aimed at younger readers with shorter attention spans. She's kind of obnoxious and really mean at points, just to drive the plot. Some parts of the story I found cute, but there's a lot to overlook.

Kay TF

I expected the wrong things from Grace Ellis and Brittney Williams' Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge. I wanted a story about a young Lois, a loyal and determined friend who was dedicated to getting to the heart of any story. I wanted to understand better who the grown-up Lois Lane (who I’m currently adoring in the Lois Lane: Enemy of the People series by Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins) was as a kid. I wanted to see Brittney Williams’ clean, powerful, expressive art, and how her bright, warm style would inform the character I love so much. What I got, however, was something very different. That’s not entirely the book’s fault; those expectations were born of an understanding and love of a character who this book showed in a very different light.

Before this starts sounding like I'm about to write an an entire article bashing this comic, here's the truth: if this were a book about Goldie Vance at 13 years old. If it had been “Character Name Here” and the Friendship Challenge, I would have loved it. But by putting Lois Lane’s name on the cover of the book, my expectations were set for a very specific kind of story.

Instead of a Lois who was deeply involved in getting to the truth of any story, no matter how painful it might be, I got a Lois who was obsessed with becoming famous on VidMe (lawyer-friendly YouTube) through a video contest. Instead of a Lois who was sharply aware of everything around her (except for the resemblance between Clark Kent and Superman, but that’s a whole other thing, and before anyone makes a glasses joke, just take a look at Orphan Black to see why the disguise works), I got a Lois who was completely unaware of how her jealousy was wrecking her relationship with her best friend. And instead of a cool mystery that Lois was going to solve, I got a story about a girl who was nervous about her best friend going away to camp (and Ellis and Williams together do a fantastic job of conveying how terrified Lois is).

There are some stolen fireworks and a side story about how the local bike race is going to be “fixed” in favor of one of two warring bike shops that eventually figure into the story, but they felt almost tertiary to the plot: Kristen was going away for camp, and Lois was panicked over it. Even Lois’ desire to figure out who stole the fireworks isn’t about understanding what happened, it’s about proving that Izzy, the new girl in town, is up to no good and therefore Kristen, Lois’ best friend, shouldn’t spend time with her. The eventual revelation that the mystery was set up specifically for Lois to solve feels strange; but there’s nothing that indicated to me that Lois would want to solve a mystery.

Separately, there was almost nothing in this book that set the story in the DC Universe. There were no superheroes, no supervillains, no wild antics, no Jimmy Olsen turning into a turtle. One of the bike shops has a weird level of high tech bike improvement capabilities, but that’s it. Superhero worlds are based on having big stakes and big risks; Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge doesn’t have either one. Even winning the Friendship Challenge just makes one Internet-famous.

DC has been creating a more robust series of middle grade and young adult titles over the past several years. DC Super Hero Girls, both the series by Shea Fontana and the one by Lauren Faust, have been popular and exciting, combining superhero elements with kid-friendly stories that focus on laughter, friendship, and appropriate-level stakes. Novels like Diana and the Island of No Return have offered images of superheroes before they were superpowered. Young Adult graphic novels like Teen Titans: Raven, The Oracle Code, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass, and the upcoming Teen Titans: Beast Boy all offer fascinating examples of kid-friendly superhero stories without requiring a background in the DC Universe. Up until the huge round of layoffs that DC announced, I would have said (and have said) that if DC wanted to create a new generation of fans for their universe, this was exactly how they needed to do it - by showcasing the characters they have been developing for over 80 years in a way which can be read and understood by a general audience.

But Lois Lane offers none of that.

Check out the rest of my review at
Flap Your Hands

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

Merged review:

I expected the wrong things from Grace Ellis and Brittney Williams' Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge. I wanted a story about a young Lois, a loyal and determined friend who was dedicated to getting to the heart of any story. I wanted to understand better who the grown-up Lois Lane (who I’m currently adoring in the Lois Lane: Enemy of the People series by Greg Rucka and Mike Perkins) was as a kid. I wanted to see Brittney Williams’ clean, powerful, expressive art, and how her bright, warm style would inform the character I love so much. What I got, however, was something very different. That’s not entirely the book’s fault; those expectations were born of an understanding and love of a character who this book showed in a very different light.

Before this starts sounding like I'm about to write an an entire article bashing this comic, here's the truth: if this were a book about Goldie Vance at 13 years old. If it had been “Character Name Here” and the Friendship Challenge, I would have loved it. But by putting Lois Lane’s name on the cover of the book, my expectations were set for a very specific kind of story.

Instead of a Lois who was deeply involved in getting to the truth of any story, no matter how painful it might be, I got a Lois who was obsessed with becoming famous on VidMe (lawyer-friendly YouTube) through a video contest. Instead of a Lois who was sharply aware of everything around her (except for the resemblance between Clark Kent and Superman, but that’s a whole other thing, and before anyone makes a glasses joke, just take a look at Orphan Black to see why the disguise works), I got a Lois who was completely unaware of how her jealousy was wrecking her relationship with her best friend. And instead of a cool mystery that Lois was going to solve, I got a story about a girl who was nervous about her best friend going away to camp (and Ellis and Williams together do a fantastic job of conveying how terrified Lois is).

There are some stolen fireworks and a side story about how the local bike race is going to be “fixed” in favor of one of two warring bike shops that eventually figure into the story, but they felt almost tertiary to the plot: Kristen was going away for camp, and Lois was panicked over it. Even Lois’ desire to figure out who stole the fireworks isn’t about understanding what happened, it’s about proving that Izzy, the new girl in town, is up to no good and therefore Kristen, Lois’ best friend, shouldn’t spend time with her. The eventual revelation that the mystery was set up specifically for Lois to solve feels strange; but there’s nothing that indicated to me that Lois would want to solve a mystery.

Separately, there was almost nothing in this book that set the story in the DC Universe. There were no superheroes, no supervillains, no wild antics, no Jimmy Olsen turning into a turtle. One of the bike shops has a weird level of high tech bike improvement capabilities, but that’s it. Superhero worlds are based on having big stakes and big risks; Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge doesn’t have either one. Even winning the Friendship Challenge just makes one Internet-famous.

DC has been creating a more robust series of middle grade and young adult titles over the past several years. DC Super Hero Girls, both the series by Shea Fontana and the one by Lauren Faust, have been popular and exciting, combining superhero elements with kid-friendly stories that focus on laughter, friendship, and appropriate-level stakes. Novels like Diana and the Island of No Return have offered images of superheroes before they were superpowered. Young Adult graphic novels like Teen Titans: Raven, The Oracle Code, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass, and the upcoming Teen Titans: Beast Boy all offer fascinating examples of kid-friendly superhero stories without requiring a background in the DC Universe. Up until the huge round of layoffs that DC announced, I would have said (and have said) that if DC wanted to create a new generation of fans for their universe, this was exactly how they needed to do it - by showcasing the characters they have been developing for over 80 years in a way which can be read and understood by a general audience.

But Lois Lane offers none of that.

Check out the rest of my review at
Flap Your Hands

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

Hannah Bray

I was provided with an advanced copy of this graphic novel for the purpose of review from NetGalley.

I’ll start off with the positives. This book has a very cute and colorful art style that I really enjoyed. You can always count on DC to have talented artists, that’s a given. I think the art style fit well with the story and the age of the characters/audience because it was bright and bubbly. Also, I think this book teaches a valuable lesson about the importance of finding facts before you reach a conclusion rather than trying to confirm your own biases. That’s a theme I haven’t seen explored much in children’s media, but it’s a very good one to teach. Lois Lane as a character is also a good vehicle to deliver this message because of who she grows up to be.

There are also some negatives to this book. This’ll not be something that bothers everyone, but in my opinion I found Lois Lane to be very unlikeable in this. On a positive note I actually do think she’s behaving her age in this, which is kind of rare in media. However this means that she’s pretty selfish, inconsiderate, and mean to her friend. I think that you could have taught the lesson of “gather facts and do research before you reach a conclusion” without making Lois a jerk. She doesn’t have to bully a new girl in her town because she’s suspicious, she could have just suspected her and spoken with Ed and Henri about it. She would have still learned her lesson, but she would have been more of a sympathetic character to follow. It’s necessary for a main character to have flaws to teach a lesson and/or improve the story, but I think they could have achieved this differently. Parts of this book’s dialogue definitely felt like it was written by adults trying to interpret what 13 year olds. No child in 2020 says hashtag that much, even when hashtags were new and more popular. They also said the name of the off-brand YouTube platform “VidMe” a bit too much. This kind of plays into the idea that kids talk using social media lingo all the time, which is just not the case (source: I’m a teen). To nitpick even further on a technical issue, I read this using a digital copy and the text on page 90/138 had white lettering on light yellow bubbles and I could barely read it. It should have been black ink. The thief being Ed was also very predictable about halfway through the story, but that’s just being overly picky of a children’s book.

Overall, I still enjoyed this and I think it’s a cute book/story. I just have some problems with it that keep me from absolutely loving it.

Mac

Story- 3 stars

"Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge" is a cute middle grade story that focuses on Lois trying to solve the mystery of who stole the jamboree's fireworks. Or maybe it's about Lois wanting to become internet famous. Or her struggling with her friend (Kristian) going off to camp.

Overall it was a very unfocused story. In the end none of the stories felt developed. Because of that the pacing felt rushed, which is to be expected from a middle grade story. However it was particularly bad in this story.

As a character Lois' development was both rushed and stagnate somehow. The Lois at the start of the story is the same Lois at the end, just now she wants to be a journalist.

There were so many spots where the story asked you suspend disbelief beyond what is reasonable, but the part that boggles the mind is Lois' fake PSA. In an attempt to keep Kristian from going to camp Lois makes a video, in disguise, saying the camp has "fish flu". This works. Kristian's parents see the video and keep her from going to camp. Ignoring for a second only Lois' mother and another character named Izzy watch her channel, Kristian's parents saw a video of a 13 year old girl pretending to be an old man, physically holding a fake mustache to her face, and went "I believe this". I'm willing to believe a lot in stories, especially a DC comics story, especially one for children, but this is a bridge too far.

Adaptation- 1 star

There was nothing about this story that made me think the main character was Lois Lane outside of her name. This could have been any young girl character at all. It didn't help that she's the only non-original character in this story. We didn't get General Lane, or Lucy, or Lois' mom. What we did get was the girls talking about Batman? Which further complicates this world due to Lois being 13.

The art

I don't have much to say about the art. It was cute. Everyone having a gap in their teeth was a little distracting but it was fine. Like the rest of the story it wasn't anything to write home about but also was decent enough.

Last Thoughts

This could have been so much more than what it was. Lois is supposed to be a military kid, why wasn't that used? If the plot of the story is about friendship, why not make it about Lois not wanting Kristian to go to camp because in her experience when people leave they stop being friends? How many kids could really use a story like that? Instead we got a jumbled story about a Lois in name only.

Kate Waggoner

@KidLitExchange

Thank you to @dckids for sharing an advance copy of Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge by @graceellis with the #KidLitExchange network. This book is set to be published on August 11, 2020. All opinions are my own.

It's the start of summer in Liberty View, and a young Lois Lane is determined to make the best #friendshipchallenge video ever with her best friend, Kristen. When Lois has her mind set on something that's all that she can think about. The two girls then learn that the town's fireworks for the jamboree have gone missing and they decide to solve the case. At the same time, a mysterious new girl arrives in town. The new girl enjoys riding bikes and seems pretty fast which makes Lois believe she is the ringer brought in to win the bike race and that she is also behind stealing the fireworks. Lois gets tunnel vision and starts to ignore Kristen. Things start to snowball and Lois learns that she may have to face her challenges in real life.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I think that this is a cute graphic novel, and I love the illustrations. I found the book to be very quick to read. It is definitely targeted at the younger side of middle grade. It had some moments that made me laugh, but I really struggled with the plot. I wasn't sure what the primary conflict was and I didn't like that Lois didn't show much character development. She's not the most likable protagonist and I thought that would change by the end of the book, but it didn't. I was also disappointed with the mystery or the lack thereof. I do think that my middle school students will find this graphic novel intriguing and that it will be checked out frequently. It just wasn't what I was expecting.

Christina Getrost

This is a cute friendship story that also serves up a possible way that the intrepid reporter Lois Lane might have been inspired to go into journalism, at age 13. Lois as seen here is very very energetic and impulsive, but her interest is in becoming a popular "MeVid" (like YouTube, haha, get it) star. right before her best friend Kristen is going to go away to camp, they stumble upon a mystery: who stole the fireworks for the town's annual fireworks display, that is always one of the girls' friendship rituals? There's also a citywide bike race that they both end up signing up for, though Lois somewhat reluctantly. (A funny gag is that she is always huffing and puffing and slowly riding her bike around, with her cat in a basket on it, so there's no way she would want to RACE a bike.) As shenanigans ensue, you see that Kristen just wants to spend time with Lois, but Lois gets too wrapped up in the mystery and then gets jealous when Kristen befriends a new girl, Izzy. Their older friend, maybe high school or college age?, Henri, works for the local paper and it's through her that the spark is lit in Lois to switch from "detecting" to investigative journalism. It's a little bit farfetched, and I thought Lois acted pretty immaturely for a 13 year old, but, what do I know really about 13 year olds. ;-) It's a cute small-town story of friendship and jealousy. I read this via a digital edition from NetGalley.com

Title	:	Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge
Author	:	Grace Ellis
Rating	:
ISBN	:	1401296378
ISBN-10	:	9781401296377
Format Type	:	Paperback
Number of Pages	:	160
Publication	:	First published August 11, 2020

Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge by Grace Ellis

Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge Reviews

Lois Lane and the Friendship Challenge Reviews

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