Module 13 - The Plain Janes

Castellucci, C. & Rugg, J. (2007). The plain Janes. New York: DC Comics.

Summary

Jane moves to the safe, quiet suburbs with her parents after a terrorist bomb explodes in the big city.  Not wanting to relocate Jane cuts her blonde hair and colors it dark as a way of rebelling.  New to the school, Jane decides she will not be friends with the popular girls although she knows she would fit right in. At lunch Jane sits with a group of quiet girls who seem to be doing their own thing: reading, homework, listening to music.  When she introduces herself she is surprised to discover each of them is named Jane as well.  Over time Jane begins to break into this odd group of girls and make friends with them as well as connecting with their interests.  In time Jane convinces the girls to make art throughout the city as a way to spark art awareness.  It is here where P.L.A.I.N. is created and various works of art and begin show up throughout the town.  This is a graphic novel where description is left in the eye of the reader show that even those who don't fit in can find their place.

My Impression

I enjoyed this book, but did not like how it left the reader hanging at the end.  I assume it is a series and will be interested to see what else the P.L.A.I.N. Janes have up their sleeves.  Being my first graphic novel to read from beginning to end, I enjoyed the graphics and story line.  It kept me engaged and interested throughout, waiting to see what would happen next.

Review

DC Comics' imprint of graphic novels for girls, Minx, starts off with a bang with this elegant story of art in the suburbs. As Jane walks past a sidewalk café in Metro City, a terrorist's bomb goes off. Her parents, over-taken by fear, move the family to the small town of Kent Waters. The popular girls at Buzz Aldrin High court her, but Jane wants to be an outsider. She finds three other girls named Jane, all of them unpopular in different ways--one is "Brain Jane," one an aspiring actress and one an athlete--and together the four of them make "art attacks" on the city, leaving the name P.L.A.I.N. (People Loving Art In Neighborhoods) wherever they go. They build pyramids on the site of a planned strip mall ("The pyramids lasted for thousands of years. Do you think this strip mall will?") and populate the police department's lawn with gnomes. But to a community consumed with elevated threat levels, the attacks seem more ominous than generous, and P.L.A.I.N. becomes an outlaw group. All the while,Jane continues to write letters to John Doe, the unidentified man whose life she saved during the bombing--and who sits in a hospital, comatose, his sketchbook serving as her muse. Castellucci (Boy Proof) and Rugg (co-creator of Street Angel) nimbly make their larger point--that fear is an indulgence we must give ourselves permission to overcome--without ever preaching, and without neglecting the dynamics of a page-turning coming-of-age story. 

N.A. (2007). [Review of The Plain Janes]. Publisher Weekly, 245(15). 56.


Suggestions for Library Use
I would use this book as a way to rope in a reluctant reader.  A quick read and interesting visuals would keep many interested in figuring out how it ends.  This book could also by used in a display to discuss taking action in the community and what to be cautious about.