WORDS APART

Olive and Mattie Spitz are sisters and best friends who couldn’t be more different, but they face problems big and small together.

Eleven-year-old Olive loves words—she loves them so much that she constantly defines vocabulary, coins neologisms, and solves crossword puzzles. Thirteen-year-old Mattie loves art and drawing and can often be found doodling; reading is a challenge for her, and she was held back in school, so the girls are both in sixth grade despite their age difference. Olive calls them “sororal twins,” a term she invented to express their strong bond. Yet, their closeness is put to the test when they encounter difficulties with bullies, grades, friends, a crush, and their parents. Their linguist father has been spending the week at his new job in North Carolina, a few hours away from their home in Richmond, Virginia. When he begins acting suspiciously, it puts the whole family on edge. Can the girls’ special relationship withstand these tests? The sisters’ narratives unfold in comics (Mattie) and verse (Olive). The poem titles resemble dictionary entries, with parts of speech and pronunciation guides, and several crossword puzzles that readers can solve are interspersed. The graphic art is expressive and evocative, clearly showing Mattie’s feelings; her learning challenges form a thoughtfully handled throughline in the story. The Spitz family appear white, and in the black-and-white illustrations, the boy Olive likes has darker skin.

A feast for lovers of words and comics alike that tackles real-life challenges.