Angelica and the Bear Prince

Gr 7 Up–In the midst of a sweet slice-of-life comic about some teens working at a local theater company is a heart-wrenching look at how different people cope with grief. Angelica (Jelly) lost her grandmother years ago and kept busy during her mourning. She now finds herself burnt out and unable to connect with the people who care about her. Meanwhile, Jelly’s mother is handling her grief by trying to hold on too tightly. In a separate subplot, the theater owner lost her husband, and she finds that grief takes her by surprise. There are multiple views of loneliness and sorrow, but also many examples of finding joy, which is delightfully mirrored in the art on each page. Jelly finds she can communicate with a fan account of a character in the theater’s play. Her best friend Chrissy finds confidence in portraying a princess. The characters each take their turn working through their daily struggles, big and small. The book’s biggest setback is the pacing, with major problems getting solved quickly, relative to how many chapters it took to set up. Likewise, smaller issues are brushed aside or tidied up too neatly, and the story lacks breathing room in the second half. Jelly is depicted with tan skin and dark hair; Chrissy has pale skin and blond hair.