Peanut by Ayun Halliday and Paul Hoppe

It totally sucks being the new kid in high school. So Sadie comes up with a fool-proof plan to win friends and influence people: pretend she has a peanut allergy. After all, what makes a better lunch time conversation starter than a life-threatening medical condition? The plan goes swimmingly at first. Sadie orders a medic-alert bracelet as visible proof of her peanut-free status and soon has a new circle of concerned friends willing to throw themselves on legumes for her if necessary. But things get complicated fast. She is afraid to invite people over for fear that her mom will accidentally rat her out. Her friends keep snatching stuff out of her hands when she forgets to check the list of ingredients on food packages for peanut oil. Worst of all, the school nurse gets wind of the fact that she has an allergy and wants her to get an Epi-pen–which you can’t get without a prescription. Now it’s just a matter of time before she puts the wrong thing in her mouth and the truth of her fictional affliction comes out. If her lie comes to light, will Sadie’s new friends stick by her? Or will they peel away like dried up peanut butter? This charming little graphic novel about going to extremes when it comes to fitting in will feel very familiar to anyone who’s ever tried to break into a new table in the cafeteria. While I found Paul Hoppe‘s whimsical style a little young looking for a high school audience, I thought Ayun Halliday‘s dialogue and depiction of adolescent relationships was achingly realistic and adored the character of Zoo, Sadie’s techno-phobic new boyfriend. No one could possibly be allergic to this delicious and down to earth Peanut.