The Spy Who Raised Me

About the Author\nTed Anderson is a librarian, educator, and comics writer from Minnesota. He has written licensed and creator-owned comics for multiple publishers, including BOOM! Studios, IDW Publishing, and Aftershock Comics. He lives in Minneapolis with several plants and zero regrets. To the best of his knowledge, he is not an internationally renowned spy.\nGianna Meola is a freelance illustrator and cartoonist from New York, currently living in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in the anthologies Comics for Choice and Group Chat. She also draws storyboards and makes prints. In her spare time, she likes to volunteer with animals. Her website is GiannaMeola.com.\nSome parents want their children to turn out just like them. Only a few secretly turn their kids into elite special operatives.
Josie Black can infiltrate any building, speak a dozen languages, and fight like a martial arts master. But no one told her that. After J.B. detects gaps in her memory, her mom reveals the truth: she works for a covert agency, and she's given J.B. the skills of a super spy. After J.B. freaks out, runs off, and tries to escape the weird world of espionage, she'll have to decide who she wants to be.\nFrom School Library Journal\nGr 7 Up-A teen discovers a secret identity and tries to forge her own path. Josie is always exhausted-she travels with her mom on business trips but usually ends up sleeping through the whole adventure. Sometimes she loses track of time, and there are gaps in her memory. Josie's parents tell her these experiences are normal for a teen, and though Josie knows that's not true, she can't figure out what's going on. Finally, her mom reveals that Josie is a spy. Her mother works for the Company, a spy agency that has secretly programmed Josie to fight and speak a dozen languages-all without Josie realizing it. Her mom tried to stop it, but, as she tells Josie, "You don't say no to the Company." Josie doesn't want to be controlled any longer, and she'll do anything to find out the whole truth. Despite a thrilling premise, this graphic novel fails to build excitement. Anderson's attempts to fold in a message about defining one's own destiny fall flat due to poor plotting and character development. Sketchy, red-tinged art lacks definition and often makes the narrative hard to follow. Josie and her family are white; her friend Zoe appears to be brown-skinned. VERDICT This story of a girl secretly turned spy wrestles with an intriguing plot but fails to deliver.-Traci Glass, Lincoln City Libraries, NEα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.