My students love Spinning! Tillie's story has heart and her struggles are genuine and appeal to the difficulties teenagers face in dealing with conflicts between their athletic goals and their other priorities.

This is a stunning story about figuring out who you want to be and how your personal life will always have an impact on the work you do. With a simple and stunning art style, Walden shares the story of her becoming and adult and all that that entails

There is so much relatable content in this graphic novel -- sports, coming out, getting bullied. I attended a performing arts high school where I had to audition, and by the end of high school I knew I didn't want to continue with violin even though I had felt so passionate about it at the start of high school. I feel like Walden is able to show this to the readers, and I am sure teens with identify with it.

What I did and didn't like about this book are basically the same thing: it feels real. On the good side, the emotional reality, the world built and the lack of answers and structure all felt very real and taken straight from life. On the bad side, basically the same: a lack of answers, a messy structure and odd pacing felt unsatisfying as a story. I do like Tillie Walden's artwork and worlds, but I get frustrated at the flimsiness of her stories.

Don't let the bright pink and purple fool you: This book is not all sunshine and rainbows. It's raw, but in an accessible way that gives the reader insight. I initially chose this book because I love figure skating and feel that it doesn't appear in fiction often, but by the end, I realized that it was about so much more than skating. It's about finding oneself, about friendships and relationships that sometimes don't have clear definitions. It's about your most favorite thing becoming the main thing that brings you down. The graphic nature of the novel makes this story so real. There's a stillness on some of the pages, a breath here, a skate there, that slows the pace and signifies the protagonist's loneliness. And yet there's a light, enough to take you through to the end and leave you feeling like you've made a new best friend. There are teens out there that need this book. I hope that school and local libraries will add this to their collection. I'd recommend it for the high school level.

I can't wait to pass this on to my co-workers. The artistic style is simple, but emotionally provocative. This is a graphic novel memoir that is more about how Tillie feels at each venture in her life rather than just a memoir about growing up as an ice skater in middle school and high school. I flipped the pages quickly! This is appropriate for mature middle readers as well high schoolers, and perfect for fans of This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki. I'll be keeping my eye out for anything by Tillie Walden.

Tillie Walden has amazing art skills, but the book left me feeling remote. So many pages and so little insight -- perhaps the length is there to capture the wearying numbness Walden portrays as someone who devoted so much time to figure skating without being sure she wanted to, but I found it a struggle to finish. Her youth makes the achievement impressive but it also leaves this reader with the question of whether enough time has passed for her to really present it to others as a memoir instead of a series of incidents.

This was an okay GN, but not one of my favorites. The story was too scattered and didn't really have a good enough focus

"Spinning" is gorgeously drawn. As a reader, I tend to pay more attention to text than pictures, but Walden's use of space and palette make this as much a work of art as a memoir. Gorgeous.

Spinning is a quiet, contemplative graphic memoir about competitive ice skating, growing up, and coming out. Walden offers a candid examination of her experiences in figure skating from her passion for the sport and the embarrassments to experiences that marked pivotal moments in her adolescence, and how she eventually came out to family and friends as a young teen.
Like the subtle text of the graphic novel, the art does not have any bells and whistles. It is very simple and mostly chromatic with a small color collection: indigo, white, and occasional splashes of yellow. The cold tone is reflective of the cold ice skating ring that Walden attended each morning before the sunrises as well as the teenage angst of a young woman trying to find her own place. Instead of focusing on the seedier side of figure skating, Walden focuses her own relationship with the sport and how she fell in and out of love with it. Various relationships are discussed though mostly are held at an arm's length particularly that of her strained relationship with her mother and her first romantic relationship which is both sweet and heartbreaking. Written when she is only 21 years old, Walden has lots of talent and I hope to read more from her.

The concept of this book was really engaging and the artwork was lovely. However, the book itself was too fragmented. It was hard to follow the narrative and the story stayed surface level, making it hard to connect with Tillie. There was a lot of telling instead of showing that made this just okay for me.

I think I first heard this book through a booktuber that is what had drawn me to this book. Plus its a graphic novel so I figured what the heck and decided to pick this book up. Thing is as much as I keep hearing people talk about it I didn't find myself enjoying the book. So what I didn't realize was that this book was a memoir and I'm not into books like that. If I would've known I would'nt had picked this book up. Overall it was okay, maybe two stars for me, I just doing think that this book was for me.

unfortunately as much as I wanted to read this book, I was unable to open it due to the format that it was in. I tried to open it on different devices/apps with no success.

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Scott

Spinning is a memoir, a deeply haunting look through the eyes of a young girl, shot through the lens of figure skating. Tillie appears as herself, having the knowledge of 12 years of competitive skating. The story thus rightly begins at the first time toe touched ice, to her abandonment of the sport in search of her more creative side (for instance drawing a graphic novel). It’s a period from grade school to pre-collage, and although a lot happens in a youth’s life over that time, Walden infuses the narrative based around a skating figure, and it somehow all falls into place.

The characterization mostly focuses around Walden’s views as an adult looking back on her childhood. She, for the most part, bares all and this gives a depth of character to her young self, whether pining over a loved one or the thrill of being on the ice in her element. With competitive figure skating, there is character momentum, a movement of sorts that drives the character in what appears to be the pivotal moments of her life, with all the fears, thrills, ups and downs in a teenagers life. Walden’s cast of characters, friends, teachers, enemies, and lovers is realistically glossed over. The supporting cast is dreamlike and surreal, with the spotlight aimed at only key characters that are almost crystal clear, the type of character that you could easily recognize from real life.

The writing is in depth and personal, so it takes a autobiographical tone, sometimes in the past tense, sometimes giving new light on Spinning’s creator. Tied together, as mentioned previously, with figure skating moves as chapter headings (and more directly, the names correspond to life situations). This provides the 12 year framework upon which the graphic novel is hung. The moves become a routine and you can almost hear the adult life coach of modern day Tillie, looking back at her younger self and pushing her from figure to figure. Being autobiographical also allows the narrative to flip between a more experienced version of the character, Tillie, who becomes fictionalized. The story in and of itself is rewarding to a patient reader (and from another reader, if you understand figure skating) and kudos must be given to Walden for an engrossing tale.

Spinning by Tillie Walden is a heartwarming tale about the ropes and rinks of life. It conveys a deeply personal message that is bound to touch the heart and warm the soul. With solid writing and a passion for the subject material, Tillie Walden serves a course that all can devour. Be you interested in figure skating, are dealing with high-school trials and tribulations or just in want of a good read, this is a prime example of what can be done within the graphic novel format.

While one might think this will be a book about skating, it's more about stasis and obligation. Really, the focus is more on redefining yourself and rejecting societal norms than it is about skating. Its harsh at times, dark and sexual.

I love to ice skate! My friend recommended it to me because she thought it was perfect for me, and she was right. I immediately put it on hold and searched for an e-galley. When I finally got it, I read it as soon as possible and enjoyed it. I wish that I was better at skating, but I just got new skates that are WAY better. So hopefully someday I’ll be as good as Tillie. I am glad she shared her story, because there aren’t many figure skating books out there. It also made me happy that I wasn’t a part of that world as a young person and that it’s something I can do for fun as an adult.

Ms Walden's memoir shines a contradictory light on the isolation and loneliness in the claustrophobic, competitive world of synchronised skating. For ten years,this world was her haven from the stresses of school , bullying and family life. Despite being, I thought, slightly melancholic, as the years pass, Ms Walden, makes friends, develops her interest in art, comes out and begins to find her way in the world. A powerful memoir, well worth reading.

Spinning is an interesting exploration of power, self-determination, and control as Tillie moves through her teenage years with joyless compulsion. Ice skating is far from lauded in Spinning, there is absolutely no inspiration to found from Tillie's portrayal of the sport; Tillie's memories of ice-skating are melancholy and the narrative often lapses into complaining. Spinning documents Tillie's journey through a chaotic world as she desperately seeks some shred of control in her life, which she slowly slowly discovers she won't find in ice skating, but by walking away from it. The narrative doesn't delve far into Tillie's many problems, but touches on them the same way Tillie seems to, as somewhat disconnected and withdrawn, but these events that in retrospect had a powerful impact on her.

It's no shock that this moody introverted teenager turns to art as a means to express herself, she has complete control of her creations. And the artwork is lovely, the muted palette reminds me a lot of This One Summer (which I loved), the colors lend themselves to the moody tone of the narrator and the deceptively simple illustrations tangibly evoke Tillie's emotional state as she struggles.

The art of this book reminded me of This One Summer, which is how I first decided to get my hands on it. This story was incredible relatable, and the main characters struggle to figure out who she is and what she wants in her life was sad, but poignant, and beautiful all at the same time.

It's not often that there are books about ice skating, and I think this will definitely be a big draw for teens.

a charming and lovely graphic novel on the meaning to be a ballerina.