The Spy Who Raised Me by Ted Anderson and Gianna Meola was a fun fast paced graphic novel about Josie aka J.B. finding out that not only is her mom a spy, but so is she. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Reccomended for grade 5+ #netgalley #netgalleyreads #bowkerbooks

I need to give a quick word of explanation as to why I am reading this. My 11YO twin daughters, are--how to say this--completely besotted by this series of middle-grade books about dragons that are just God-awful, even by the standards of middle-grade books about dragons. Apparently, there is a new one of these coming out. I had happened to mention that, as a NetGalley reviewer, that I sometimes get access to books before they are published, and good Lord God, you would not <i>believe</i> the amount of whining I got asking me to see if the latest version of these horrible books were available. (They were not.)

So I was looking at the middle-grade books, you understand, and I came across THE SPY WHO RAISED ME, which I picked up for Child A to read - she's a fan of the SPY SCHOOL series, and this looked like more of the same. I scanned through it first, and it looked okay--a little bit sparse in terms of the artwork (the cover is far better than the rest of the book), but a decent story and a lot of action.

I have to report that Child A didn't much like THE SPY WHO RAISED ME. She didn't think the characters were all that well fleshed out (true enough as far as it goes) and that the motivation of the mother didn't make much sense, and that too many improbable things were happening too quickly.

These are fair criticisms, although maybe a little beside the point. THE SPY WHO RAISED ME is really more of an allegory about teenage rebellion, and a tame one if a little creepy here and there. As such, it accomplishes what it wants to, and doesn't have time for much of anything else. Recommended for the promise it shows if nothing else.

I really wanted to like this graphic novel. I’m always on the lookout for new graphic novels with strong female protagonists, and I love the premise. I can’t help but feel this would have be a wonderful full-length novel with more time for exposition, description, and build up to the finale. The graphic novel format didn’t allow for detailed and nuanced storytelling. It moved too quickly through the story.
This would be a good pick for reluctant readers who need a fast-paced story to maintain engagement.

The Spy Who Raised Me is well-written and well-illustrated. It's also fun and enjoyable as a book for younger and older readers. I appreciated this original and clever story, and I loved how the author and artist used the graphic novel medium to tell it.

Ok now this was disappointing! With such an intriguing premise this one just went nowhere and just conveniently ended...

This graphic novel is a super silly and fun story of a girl who's a spy and doesn't know it. It requires a little suspension of disbelief (like any good comic). Fun twists and a loyal best friend. I assume it the first book in a series that I would definitely like to read. Perfect for fans of comics and graphic novels and appropriate for most tweens and older.

I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley in return for my honest opinion.

You think your parents are bad? At least your mom is probably not a spy working for a secret organization that volunteered you for a brainwashing program when you were a baby and turned you into a covert operative who is somehow STILL flunking math! I mean, probably.

an exciting story that wasn't executed that great. The plot twist didn't do it for me, and the art wasn't that pleasing, but I liked how the action was carried. I only hoped the ending wasn't executed that way.

In a world where it's not just children but teens and older that read books for the thrill of thinking themselves something they're not, we get this, of a teenager who is definitely something they're not – or something they would never think they are. Assuming a humdrum suburban life is all Josie has in store, and regretting how sleepy she gets every time she joins her marketer mother on a trip to Europe, Josie is soon to find out a secret about herself. For the mother is no marketer, she's a world-class spy. And Josie? Well, she's better – she's a spy who can be a spy without ever becoming aware of the fact, for she's been programmed, brainwashed, made easily wipeable… But what happens when she gets just one rung up the ladder marked self-awareness as to her secret status?

I really liked the precis of this book, hence my lengthy version of it just then. I think the writing, quickly got through, is good too. Which must mean it was the artwork I had the most issue with, and I certainly did. Josie (and her best friend Zoe) look so androgynously ugly I could hardly tell their gender at first look. The pink sheen over everything marks this out, somehow – and I don't rightly know how – as a teen-only read, when it might have been available for all age ranges. But as to the merits, I think in the end they outweigh any issues I had with it. Often you might find this kind of story, which is rigidly designed to be A. Book. About. A. Young. Person's. Agency. And. Growing. Up. and all that kind off stuff. Getting away from the maternal thumbscrew and being your own person is definitely a topic here, but it doesn't ever read like that is its only purpose – it reads as an entertainment first and foremost, and for that I certainly have to deem it entertaining. It looks like it could be an opener to a series, which would be a most welcome one, but this never reads as if it's struggling to balance world-building with drama, for it's definitely a self-contained story in its own right. Whether there is more to come or not, this is well worth a look.

The main reason for me giving this a 3-star rating is that I really, REALLY didn't like the art. The color palette just doesn't work for me and I felt like my eyes were burning from all this orange.

Apart from that, the story is kinda fun -a girl who was "brainwashed", hypnotized into learning numerous secret agent skills by her Mom, and now finds that out and on a mission to bring the Company down.

It was a quick read and I would even like it if it was longer, the story wasn't the problem for me, it would have been fun to follow the story develop a bit slower and further even. But, again, the art and the colors just didn't work for me in this one.

The art is nice,, but I do have to say that overall the story felt a bit rushed. This story would have done better with a second novel involved to process more details in it. I enjoyed the twists and turns it was giving, but again, it would have been a lot better if it was fleshed out more for the readers.

An interesting little comic with an unusual premise. Much of it felt a bit rushed and I think that was mostly because J.B.'s friend was all in on some pretty dangerous stuff. But overall it was a fun read, the illustrations were nice, and I enjoyed it. I personally would have enjoyed getting to know the characters a bit better.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This was an interesting, fun twist on the typical spy graphic novel. I can't wait to see more of this! The characters were funny, the art was cute, and the story was interesting. It was a bit confusing and hard to follow at points, so that did take away from the story a little. Overall, I think that this was a pretty good book. 4/5 stars from me!

This was an interesting idea for a graphic novel but I'm not sure it all made sense. You definitely need a suspension of disbelief for this to work at all.
I definitely get what Anderson was going for with this story and I really like the idea. The biggest issue was the first part of this novel seemed really blocky and just sort of off. It got better as the novel went on but I definitely had to force myself through the first quarter of this.
The art style was nice but the color pallet did make a few things seem sort of muggy. I would have liked to see more color or maybe more definition in the reds. I liked the style and character design it was really just the color for me.
Overall this was a solid graphic novel it just seems to need a few quirks to be fixed. I would definitely read the next one as I am curious to see where this story goes.

This was definitely a fun and action-packed story with a great main character. the plot twists were good and the story was enjoyable and I ended up reading it in one sitting. but the art, on the other hand, was terrible and so was the color palette, it just was a deal-breaker for me, and its what made me rate this 3 stars.

I don't even know where to begin. The story is literally about the girl's mom being a secret agent for a Coca Colaesque company. The reason that Coca Cola is evil is because they're putting chemicals in their soda to control people(???) and the mother has turned her child into an unwilling spy. I realize that the Coca Cola company thing was an allegory about rich people and capitalism (most likely for children), but I wasn't having it. The second thing I'd like to talk about is the art style. It is so inconsistent and wonky, this style would have been better if it were a short animated film. Lastly, the dialogue fell flat every time. There was no emotion in this book. I really hate ripping things apart like this, but this book just made me so angry.

This is a cute quick read and I loved it! The color scheme was perfect and fit great with the themes of the book. I do think that this is more of a middle grade book than a YA, as it wasn't very hard-hitting and there were some overly cliche elements. But I appreciated the plot and the friendship between J.B. and Zoe and hope to see this become a series.

Interesting concept, that of a school girl being hypnotized into not knowing that she was a super spy by her mother, who is also a spy, traveling the world, breaking into homes and businesses, for something we are never quite clear on.

It isn't until the mom slips up, and forgets to give her the commands that turn her into her spy self, and talks to her about a job, that JB (Josie Black) realizes that she is missing chunks of her life, and wonders why.

So the story is of her trying to track down what has been happening with her mind and body, all this time.

The story is fast paced, and has light humor.

The major sticking point for me was the artwork, however. When you have a graphic novel, you need to have good graphics. I'm not sure if this is because it is an arc, but the artwork seems sloppy here, a bit unfinished. At times it drew me out of the story line, as I looked at a character's face, and thought about how off it seemed. Having bad artwork makes it look amateurish, which is not a good look. Hopefully the artwork will be tightened up for the final version, and there will be more books in this series, as is hinted at the end of the book.


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

This was a really cute concept for a graphic novel, though the execution was flawed in a number of ways.

I loved the idea behind this story. The hypnotism aspect of Josie’s “training” is a little cringey, but acceptable. And the fact that her mother is responsible for her situation could have worked well.

Unfortunately, the severity of her mother’s actions seem set in conflict with the tone. It’s essentially child abuse, but the tone is typical comic book flippancy. It would have been easy to fix this, merely by making the mom more of villainous caricature so that the flip tone matched the fantastical villainy.

There’s some cute humor and clever plot points, and that’s what makes this worth a read. It’s a quick one too, which makes the flawed plot points lower stakes in terms of what one is committing to as a reader.

The art is unfortunately the biggest negative about this graphic novel. The color palette isn’t good, but wasn’t a dealbreaker. The hideously-drawn characters were though. It seems that in the artist’s attempts to make the characters “real” or “relatable,” she made them hideous.

It’s these kind of stories that make me love graphic novels/ comics.

Our story starts with Josie, J.B, a seemingly regular teenager who is struggling through her teenaged life, all until she uncovers that she’s a sleeper agent and her Mum is a part of a huge plot to promote a sofa companies sales and influence political decisions, commit espionage, bank heists and bring down the CIA.

The story was hilarious and both J.B and J.B’s best friend, Zoe, are so relatable. Their reactions and comments are how any sane person would respond to the events and steps throughout the book. I love authors who keep their characters realistic.

The use of a mainly red colour scheme was a super interesting concept. The tones variation really made certain scenes seem so intense and action packed, while others light- hearted. I think Gianna Meola (illustrator) did a fantastic job in this comic.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ted Anderson for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC of The Spy Who Raised Me in the exchange for my honest review.