This is a raw emotional journey from start to finish. The protagonist's complicated emotions about the moment she was living through was compelling and heart-wrenching. The art suited the tone perfectly, and I really enjoyed the artist's take on this story. The flow of the images was truly lovely. While the limited color palette was gorgeous, it could have been utilized more effectively as a tool to communicate emotion in the story. I liked the bits of representation included in the story as well. Overall, a stunning exploration of the impacts of mental health problems on people around the affected individuals.

A touching and sensitive topic that is beautifully illustrated. Suicide content warning for sure, but it deals with the topic in a very real and emotive way

Overall I think this graphic novel had a lot of promise but fell short for me in its pacing and characterization. The story moves along a little too quickly, and I think most readers will wish they'd gotten to see more flashbacks/memories of Phoebe and Jade's friendship, which is the crux of the story. The magic aspect of the book was a cool and unexpected twist, but there were multiple art-related metaphors (fire, clay and slip, animal v. human, etc) that didn't quite tie together by the end for me.
I enjoyed the art style in this book and thought it suited the story, and enjoyed the contrast between tighter drawings vs the more loosely drawn scenes. I would recommend this to fans of similar graphic novels, but am not sure it would appeal to all readers.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this ARC!

A sweet, but sometimes slightly boring story about using art to recover from trauma. It touches on the meaning of friendship and the guilt we sometimes feel when we suddenly realize we maybe don't know the people we love as much as we think we do.

Slip is a graphic novel by Marika McCoola.
Jade is going to a summer arts program to work on her sculpture skills, but right before she leaves her best friend attempts to commit suicide. Jade doesn't know how she's going to focus on art, but as she gets to know the other students in her program, she starts to avoid her feelings. When her art work starts to come alive, she realizes that she need to deal with her emotions.
This was beautifully drawn and Jade is a very compelling character who I enjoyed reading about.

The two plotlines in this book- Jade's difficulties with her friend committing suicide and her falling for a girl in her art camp felt unconnected and fell flat at times. I liked the symbolism with her art coming to life and the need for Jade to confront her problems. The novel is about art, but the drawings are almost all black and white. I usually wouldn't have a problem with this, but I felt that more color would add to the story immensely.

I received an ARC in exchange for a review from Netgalley.

This was... unexpectedly... flat.

Had all the elements to make a good graphic novel. Interesting setting, queer main character, authentic struggle, bonus art. I never actually connected with the main character, though, and it all felt... flat. I was never quite sure what the author was trying to say through the metaphors, and never really got who the MC was as an individual. Though maybe that was intentional?

Three stars.

Slip is a lovely story about a topic that is often very taboo in middle grades and YA lit. In a time when suicide and suicide ideation is so common among students it is an absolute gift to have a book intended for that age group that addresses those topics in a fresh and meaningful way. This books is a must have addition to middle school and high school libraries. The illustrations and beautifully done and bring some light and cheer to a somewhat dark topic. I will be on the lookout for more from McCoola for myself and my kids. Read this book!

TW: Mentions of Suicide

This will have minor spoilers, so heed here.

A golden opportunity to fine tune the skills one desires only to be outweighed by the heavy burden of a terrible moment. That’s Jade, in Marika McCoola’s newest graphic novel Slip.

Brought into the world of the Art Farm - a prestigious program over the summer camp where the chosen hone their art in hopes for a scholarship for their school of choice, Jade is chosen as one of the ceramists. But just before she leaves she learns that her best friend Phoebe attempted to take her life. It throws Jade into a tailspin that weighs her down, creating an enormous ache within her that throws all of her creativity out the window.

When finally she starts to feel the passion of her work, it comes back to her in a fantastical way; the sculptures come to life! They fight and mirror herself, showing the anger and the hurt and ache she feels. A lot of the imagery was used to effortlessly display Jade’s grief and her own emotions as she felt trapped and feeling unable to exist without her best friend. Being so stuck and bogged down in your thoughts while working in the face of important deadlines, existing when no one knows what you’re going through.

One of the shining moments was also seeing how effortless and gentle the romance between Jade and Mary developed, and while it had its bumps and bruises, it was so warm and sweet. That even in the deepest moments of heartache and worry, that one is allowed to have love and meaningful relationships.

Slip is heart wrenching for me personally, as a youth I attended a camp and learned of a dear friend losing his battle to depression and how it wrecked me. This was hard, but well worth the read to not only see how Jade grew through her struggles and fed it into her art but myself too, how I’ve grown since his passing. Slip is also a needed book right now, still in the height of the current Pandemic, to show us we’re still able to do things, to make things, even when it all feels for naught.

To be able to make art, and feel through that art, may be the biggest step to healing.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Young Readers for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Slip follows Jade's summer at an art camp immediately following her best friend's attempted suicide. While at camp Jade must try to juggle her goal of winning a college scholarship with realising the pain her best friend is experiencing. Taking on such a big topic from an outside characters perspective is a large undertaking and I feel this portrayed that well - sympathetic whilst also not fully comprehending why someone you love feels this way.

The way in which Jade's pain and overwhelm at the situation is conveyed is beautiful and well captured - although I was not expecting the magical realism aspect and don't feel it was fully resolved/explained,

The art is beautiful, but primarily in black-and-white and felt at times like sketches. While this works for the project I also feel this could have worked as a full-colour graphic novel because the whole story revolves around art/an artist/art school.

Slip follows Jade's summer at an art camp immediately following her best friend's attempted suicide, and Jade must try to juggle her goal of winning a college scholarship alongside realizing her best friend is in terrible pain. Through all of this, there's an unexpected romance with another girl at camp, and Jade finds herself understandably overwhelmed with the variety of feelings happening at once.

Unfortunately, while this graphic novel sounded great in theory, almost nothing about it worked for me. The art is beautiful, but primarily in black-and-white, and I agree with a lot of other reviewers that it would have been improved tremendously by being a full-color graphic novel. It's an entire story revolving around art and taking place at an art camp, so choosing not to colorize the book feels like a massive missed opportunity!

While I loved the queer rep, Jade and Mary (and all of the other characters, too) are so flat that I could not possibly bring myself to feel invested in the romance forming between them. There's a bit of back-and-forth "will they, won't they", but it doesn't carry any weight, and when the two of them get into a tiff over miscommunication, it doesn't cast Mary in a good light (multiple panels of her throwing items in Jade's direction out of anger — something we don't need to normalize in arguments, even among teens).

And finally, as far as the representation of Phoebe's suicide attempts and how it affects Jade, I was uncomfortable with a lot of the commentary. Phoebe's suicide attempts only served as a prop for Jade's own pain, and I kept feeling like Jade cared less about how her best friend was doing and more about how it affected her, or how she had "missed the signs". There are a few moments where it felt that Jade was vilifying Phoebe and blaming her, and while there is a side character who makes great points about mental illness, I don't think we ever got to see Jade fully actualize those realizations for herself. Obviously, she's a teenager and I'm not expecting her to be the most emotionally mature character I've ever read, but it's hard to root for her.

All in all, Slip is a classic case of great theory, poor execution. I would have loved to have given this a higher rating, but I was disappointed and uncomfortable with too many elements to justify it.

✨ Representation: Jade and Mary are queer; multiple characters are BIPOC (no specific representation is mentioned for any of them)

✨ Content warnings for: attempted suicide of a side character, mentions of self-harm, brief depictions of self-harm scars

Thank you so much to the publisher for providing me with this review copy in exchange for an honest review!

There were parts of this book that were amazingly heartfelt and raw, and there were other parts that were confusing. I liked that Jade was processing her feelings about her friends unsuccessful suicide and that her emotions were presented in her artwork. This story deals with a subject that most people don't want to talk about and it needs to become more mainstream to be able to recognize the signs and help family/friends find the help they need.

Highly recommend.

I like the story focuses on art. There aren't enough books that my artist students can relate to. This would be for my mature eighth grade students

Absolutely incredible. Slip is one of the best graphic novels I have read in years. Marika McCoola has made a truly exceptional story and work of art with Slip and it will live in my heart forever.

Before I start my review, I would like to put a trigger warning for suicide, self-harm and depression. I did enjoy the book, but I feel as if from the start it was just very quick paced. The book started with the main character's friend being in the hospital due to a suicide attempt. This start was like a jump into the deep end though it wasn't bad perse, just a lot. I feel as if the end felt very rushed. the main characters coping, and journey of self-discovery was the main plot of this graphic novel, with a romance blooming on the side. Though the ending was nice i felt as if the last few pages getting to it was just rushed and bunched together.

An interesting GN about friendship and struggling to understand the reasons behind a friend’s suicide attempts through art and pottery. The artwork was ok, the colors were muted until Jade attempts to create a piece that helps her maneuver through her feelings. I wonder if there will be more colors added when the GN finally publishes. The story came off stilted, which made it hard to understand the story.

Trigger warning for this work: suicide. This book tells a sweet and poignant story of a young artist finding her way at summer art camp directly after learning of her best friend's attempted suicide. During the summer, she struggles to process her feelings around the event all while trying to succeed in her craft. I loved the art; it was stunning and dynamic. The story itself had wonderful themes around finding oneself, tackling difficult emotions through art and how powerful and painful it could be (I especially liked that- it wasn't fluffy, it did not pull its punches here). I only wish we had had more time for the story to unfold. I would have liked to see more of how the romance between the lead and Mary developed, and I would have liked to have spent more time with other characters.

*Special thanks to NetGallery and Algonquin Young Readers for the eARC of this book*

TW: Attempted suicide, depression,

The art was incredible. I loved the choice of changing colours depending on what what going on in the story. The entirety of my critique is on the story alone, the art masterfully handles each turn the story takes.

This was a great graphic novel that could have really hit off the ending and struck an amazing home run, instead it just kind of...ended. The main driving plot-point wasn't quite resolved in a way I felt did justice to the topic it was covering. Jade is processing her friend's attempted suicide, and unable to see or speak with her. The whole book, Jade is expressing her anger at Phoebe. These are reactions that are human and real, but never eventually learned were wrong or called out. Jade even spouts some quite ignorant thoughts on why a person would make that choice, and again, it's not called out.
Phoebe is, instead of having a voice, reduced to a voiceless plot device.

On a personal note: As someone who studied art, I related to a lot of the things the main character went through in regards to the stresses of art production. So often I wanted to flip the book like a table when the teachers kept pestering Jade for her "reasons" behind her art. "She just did what she liked!" I wanted to scream. This was me very much projecting my own feelings from the trauma of my own art classes, ;)

I thought the premise was interesting, heavy but interesting. I found that i couldn't connect with the characters and the story just fell flat for me. i finished it as it was fairly short but i felt as though i could put it down and i wouldnt miss it.

There we're some parts of this graphic novel I really enjoyed. The queer relationship, the detailed explanations of working with clay, and the art style and color of the work.

I was a little iffy with framing the story around the friend of someone who survived a suicide attempt. The language used in this graphic novel was very outdated and could potentially be harmful to some of the readers. (For example, the phrase "committed suicide" has a negative connotation associated to it that treats suicide like it is a sin or crime someone 'committed".)

Additionally, the story felt like there was too many plot lines going on that things ended up being rushed or a bit confusing. I actually got super confused with the relationship in this book because it just kind of happened between one page and the next.

Overall, it was a quick, enjoyable read and I think, most importantly, if some language changes happened before publishing I'd be so happy and willing to recommend it.