The Plain Janes (Paperback) by Cecil Castellucci - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

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2		9%
1		1%

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Dec 14, 2007

Jackie "the Librarian" rated it:

bookshelves: graphicnovels, youngadult

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: arty girls

Take back your world! Jane survives a bomb attack, and her freaked out parents move the family to the "safer" suburbs. But Jane takes the spirit of the city with her - she has a plan, she just needs to put together a team to carry it out. Then she spots the other Janes in the lunchroom, and soon convinces them to join her in her guerilla art projects. I love the active role these girls take, and the humor and positiveness of what they do. And I love that these are real girls portrayed...more

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Jun 26, 2007

Jennifer rated it:

bookshelves: fiction, graphicnovels

Read in February, 2007

When I first read this book, it was a preview galley, and I thought that pages must be missing from the end. But this was not the case. While the book has an interesting premise and very nice art by Jim Rugg (his Street Angel work is far more dynamic and full of detail, however--I say that as the editor of SA, mind you), it falls flat in execution. Characters are not fleshed out sufficiently; believability is a problem (where do 16-year-old girls get hundreds of garden gnomes?); and, the worst o...more

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Aug 25, 2008

Sylvia rated it:

bookshelves: comic--manga--graphic-novel

Read in August, 2008

Di suatu hari yang terlihat biasa-biasa saja, sebuah bom meledak dekat Jane, dan mengenai seorang pria. Jane, meskipun terkejut, membawa pria tersebut ke rumah sakit. Dan sejak itu dia tak pernah berhenti mengunjunginya. Pria yang tak dikenalnya itu menjadi tempat curhatnya.

Ketika keluarganya memutuskan untuk pindah ke pinggiran kota, Jane merasa hidupnya berakhir. Tak ada lagi teman-temannya, hangout bareng. Semua berubah.

Tapi ketika di sekolah barunya dia menemukan me...more

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Oct 08, 2007

LFPL Teen Services rated it:

bookshelves: girl-power, graphicnovels

Read in October, 2007

What is art? Think of a piece of art that you are familiar with. Do you think that art is something that can be created under the cover of night with flashlights and black ski masks while trying desperately to elude the police?
The secret gang called P.L.A.I.N. (People Loving Art is Neighborhoods) are on a mission – to transform their sleepy suburban town into a living and breathing work of art that goes beyond just enjoying artwork from afar. They have made the town and streets par...more

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May 15, 2007

Jamil Thomas rated it:

bookshelves: comics

Read in May, 2007

this book is the first release from Minx, which is the dc comics graphic novel imprint aimed at teenage girl readers. so, yeah, i'm kinda outside the demographic for that -- and judging by the previews for future titles in the back, probably will remain so. (the only other one which holds any interest for me is "Good as Lily" by Derek Kirk Kim & Jesse Hamm).

anyway, this wasn't bad. and it's actually not too heavy handed in it's exploration of things like terror(ism...more

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Mar 19, 2009

monica rated it:

Read in March, 2009

This was my first encounter with Cecil Castellucci, Jim Rugg, and Minx books (the DC comics division developed specifically for teenage girls) so I can honestly say I went into "The Plain Janes" not knowing what to expect. What I found was a comic book that I would have LOVED had I been 15, with absolutely no insight into how high-school really worked.

"The Plain Janes" is about a young girl named Jane (the main Jane), who moves out to the suburbs with her parents...more

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Oct 17, 2009

The Loft rated it:

Jane’s parents freaked after a terrorist attack and moved from Metro City to the suburbs, and so did Jane. But what’s in the suburbs for Jane? She is not a suburban girl. At her new school, the popular girls invite her over . . . should she go sit with them?

When the terrorist attack happened, Jane saved a man’s journal. He was really hurt, and he is in the hospital now, and Jane visits him. He didn’t have a wallet, so they call him John Doe. But for Jane, his journal ke...more

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Aug 29, 2009

Vicki rated it:

bookshelves: graphic-novels, young-adult-books

Read in August, 2009

Jane survives a bombing in Metro City and after she recovers, her parents decide to move to a faraway suburban area, hoping it will make them feel safer. Jane, of course, already knows that no place is actually safe. Take the town where they're now living -- everybody seems asleep to Jane. But she finds a table full of rejects, all of them named Jane, and she decides that they are her people. Eventually, the Janes form a group dedicated to performing acts of art -- bringing art to a somewhat...more

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Jul 23, 2009

Mercedes Hubbard rated it:

Jane’s parents freaked after a terrorist attack and moved from Metro City to the suburbs, and so did Jane. But what’s in the suburbs for Jane? She is not a suburban girl. At her new school, the popular girls invite her over . . . should she go sit with them?

When the terrorist attack happened, Jane saved a man’s journal. He was really hurt, and he is in the hospital now, and Jane visits him. He didn’t have a wallet, so they call him John Doe. But for Jane, his journal ke...more

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Jun 15, 2009

Christina rated it:

bookshelves: 2009-reads, graphic-novel, library-book, young-adult

Read in June, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

The four girls – Jane, Jane, Jayne, and Polly Jane – all refer to themselves at the P.L.A.I.N Janes; P.L.A.I.N stands for People Loving Art in Neighborhoods. They complete “art attacks,” placing dozens of gnomes on the police department lawn and hanging messages in bottles hung from a tree instructing people to sing, but their antics are viewed as vandalism by the town authorities and, especially, one of the Jane’s moms.

While I really liked the main Jane, who moves to the s...more

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May 21, 2009

Anna rated it:

I loved, loved, loved this graphic novel and had no idea how much I would enjoy a novel in comic book format. The Plain Janes opens with Jane just shortly after 9/11 type of attack on Metro City which causes her parents to move from a city on high security alert to the blander but safer suburbs. However, their move is more complex than Jane’s adjustment to a less hip and less interesting environment: she finds meaning in a dandelion that doesn’t get stepped on during the attack and in a d...more

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May 14, 2009

Kate rated it:

The story is of a "Metro City" (fictional NYC) teen-ager Jane who is walking down the street one day when a bomb goes off right next to her. Her parents whisk the fam out to the suburbs, where things are safer, and, unfortunately for Jane, much more bland. She's arty and interesting and likes "culture."

The man next to her on the sidewalk that day, an artist, went into a coma after the explosion. Jane keeps his sketchbook. She writes him letters on the blank pages an...more The story is of a "Metro City" (fictional NYC) teen-ager Jane who is walking down the street one day when a bomb goes off right next to her. Her parents whisk the fam out to the suburbs, where things are safer, and, unfortunately for Jane, much more bland. She's arty and interesting and likes "culture."

The man next to her on the sidewalk that day, an artist, went into a coma after the explosion. Jane keeps his sketchbook. She writes him letters on the blank pages and sends them to him in the hospital after she has moved away. His life in suspension very much parallels her own, as does her need for him to wake up, to live.

In her new school, Jane befriends a motley clique of three more "Janes," the theater-y, brainy, jock-y non cheerleaders. Jane comes up with an idea: P.L.A.I.N.: People Loving Art In Neighborhoods. The Janes start putting up public art all over the town, which the authorities soon classify as "attacks" and retaliate. Soon curfews are imposed on teen-agers, and the police try to get students to snitch on who these secret public artists are...

For our main Jane, the real question is, can art save her? Because after the bomb explosion, her move to the suburbs, her mother's hysteria over her safety, her crush letting her down, Jane needs to be saved. She needs to know she will always be able to find the world beautiful, and welcoming.

There's a lot of heart and integrity in this graphic novel. The drawings are good but didn't blow my mind.

Finally, I wonder if this is one of those books that adults write about teen-agers, ostensibly FOR teen-agers, hoping to give them a more soulful, nourishing alternative to Gossip Girl, but... the people who actually read it are all like me, well out of adolescence, appreciating this complex, three-dimensional main character and the fact that her issues go beyond boys, malicious gossip, really nice clothes, and catty popularity wars.

A really commendable project. I gave it three stars, not four, because it didn't really teach me anything, or show me anything, exactly, but I really want to get behind this book and others like it.
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Feb 28, 2009

Joe rated it:

bookshelves: 60626-ya

Read in March, 2009

I think there is a lot about The Plain Janes that appeals to teens. First, there is the feeling of being alone that we all feel at times. To go with this, the way Jane seeks those special people to have in her life is very familiar to many of us, especially when we are teens. There is also the humor in the book. Amidst all of the serious topics, such as the bombing, the humor kept the book from being all serious. Next, the book had a bit of rebellion in it, which most teens would enjoy. Th...more

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Dec 11, 2009

Kateri Arnaud rated it:

I picked this one up in class because I wanted to read another Graphic Novel, but I was kind of disappointed with this one. It's about a girl named Jane who lived in Metro City and one day, while walking home from school, a bomb goes off right by her. She sees others die and saves the life of a young man near her. Jane feels guilty because she's alive and well while the young man is in a coma. Obviously this scars her, and her parents decide it best to move to a smaller town. She hates it here b...more

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Aug 15, 2009

Sabrina Robinson rated it:

bookshelves: library-borrowed

Read in August, 2009

Loved the idea of communicating with a comatose stranger, bonded to her only because he was also hurt in the same terrorist attack as she was. The public art attacks are a lot of fun, though I have to admit that I did twinge over the bubbles in the fountain - I've been wanting to to do that for a long time, but had heard that it can destroy the plumbing/pump. While I agree that the other Janes were rather "stock" characters (I saw part of that as their individual attempts to fit in a...more

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Jan 20, 2008

Jenny rated it:

bookshelves: graphic-novels, yafiction

Castellucci's (of Boy Proof fame-- totally good) first graphic novel. From the hip new Minx imprint. Nice mix of homeland security style paranoia and exuberant teenage art loving. The title Janes are actually a group of girls all named Jane, total social rejects, who start a top secret guerrilla art group. And the graphics are really nice too.

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Dec 16, 2008

Melissa rated it:

bookshelves: young-adult-lit

I read this for my junior highers' graphic novel unit. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Castellucci manages to work in discussions of terrorism, conformity, friendship, art, rebellion, and people generally seeking for connection in this easy-to-read graphic novel. Five very different Janes get together and form a secret art-as-rebellion club, and the school and town react in surprising (or is it predictable) ways to their larger-than-life art displays all around the neighborhoods. The 7th graders who re...more

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Mar 15, 2009

Pat rated it:

bookshelves: graphic-novel, young-adult

I do not usually read graphic novels but since they are so popular with YA readers I decided to read this one recommended to me by a friend. At first I was kind of "Oh its ok, but I really don't get the flow." But I kept with it and finished it and actually did like it. It had a very good story about realizing how hard it is today being a young person trying to figure out who they are and yet fit in, . . . about adults allowing them the freedom to express themselves in creative way...more

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Oct 13, 2009

Laura Rumohr rated it:

bookshelves: graphic-novels

Summary-
This graphic novel appeals to female readers in junior high and high school. One girl, Jane, lived in Metro City and was at a place that was bombed. At this time she saved an unknown boy from being killed. Because of the bombing Jane's parents decided to leave Metro City to be in a safer place. When Jane moved she wanted to start a whole new life. With her she brought an art journal that was the boy's that she saved in the bombing who was now in a coma. Jane was inspired by h...more

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Feb 23, 2009

Jenna rated it:

Read in June, 2007

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I’m not sure why I didn’t order this title with my monthly comics when it was advance-solicited in Previews, but I finally picked it up at Barnes & Noble yesterday, and am I glad I did!

I could not put it down. I had to, though, because my errand-running ran late, and I had to rush to meet my friend for dinner (”one more page… okay, ONE more page… AIGH! LATE!”)

Lately, I’ve been in a bit of a doldrums as far as reading is concerned. I haven’t found too ma...more I’m not sure why I didn’t order this title with my monthly comics when it was advance-solicited in Previews, but I finally picked it up at Barnes & Noble yesterday, and am I glad I did!

I could not put it down. I had to, though, because my errand-running ran late, and I had to rush to meet my friend for dinner (”one more page… okay, ONE more page… AIGH! LATE!”)

Lately, I’ve been in a bit of a doldrums as far as reading is concerned. I haven’t found too many books that capture my attention enough for me to just want to sit and read them. I get distracted and go off and do other things, but THIS book not only held my attention, it riveted it. I’m sitting here typing this and thinking about just rereading it, because it was that good.

The Plain Janes tells the story of Jane, a high school freshman from the big city who, after a very traumatic incident, decides to become someone different, someone stronger and able to face up to anything. Her also-traumatized parents take her and flee the city for the “safety” of a very distant suburban setting.

But this is not an angsy, typical girl-against-world story. This is the much more subversive and moving story of a girl who wants to change the world and herself by making those around her happy.

On her first day at her suburban-boring school, she’s invited to join the cool-girl table–shades of Buffy and any number of other teen-girl stories where the potentially cool girl is offered her entree into the Popular Crowd. Jane rejects this, but that isn’t the story. This isn’t the story of Jane and her new uncool friends versus the popular crowd. Like Buffy, this story is much too good for that. Jane herself is much too good for that. Jane wants her life to be more interesting and meaningful and artistic. Jane also does not find new friends; she literally makes them by the force of her great personality, determination, and the charm and beauty of her ideas.

I can’t really do justice to this title. It is such a fantastic story starring such appealing characters, especially Jane herself, and coupled with simple, clean, consistent artwork that never overwhelms nor detracts from the story, that you’ll just have to read it. It is surprising, moving, funny, and never over-done.

If every Minx title is even half as good as Plain Janes, DC Comics has a great thing on their hands. But even if this were the only title they ever published under the Minx imprint (it isn’t; I’m just making a slightly hyperbolic declaration here), it should be considered a success for having brought this delightful story to the world.

Buy it. Read it. Give it to every YA-aged person you know. And hope that every YA-aged person you know is lucky enough to either be or know someone like Jane.(less)

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