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Feb 04, 2012

Jo rated it:

This review is probably going to be shorter than others because of risk of spoilers. Just take my word for it and read this book.

"You may look normal like everyone else, but you're not. Not on the inside."

Initial Final Page Thoughts.
Aww. I wish all books were graphic novels.

High Points.
Just the fact that this book is a YA graphic novel makes my heart soar with joy. I can’t get enough of them and I don’t trust people who don’t like them. More...

4 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 18, 2011

Catie rated it:

4 1/2 stars

It’s been a while since I’ve read a real graphic novel that’s not just text with illustrations. So it may be partly because I’ve been missing the format, but I was completely blown away by this book. It made me remember everything that’s possible in a graphic novel, but impossible when the story is confined to mere words. Beyond that, I think that it takes an incredible amount of talent to convey so efficiently and precisely the story, characters, emotions, and just eve More...

13 comments like (15 people liked it)

Feb 12, 2012

Kereesa rated it:

***A big thank you to the Goodreads First Reads program and the publishers for sending me a copy!***

Anya's Ghost was definitely a fun read. Full of snark, one bad ass heroine, and humour, the graphic novel is a delight both art-wise and story-wise. While I do have to admit there was an aspect of predictability in the story, I still really enjoyed Anya's Ghost.

So the graphic novel is about this girl, Anya, who's family immigrated from Russia to the West, and struggles with More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 28, 2011

Andrew Shuping rated it:

I first started hearing about this graphic novel a couple of months ago and it immediately caught my attention. How often does Neil Gaiman lend his praise to a work? And then I started seeing the sample pages that First Second released and I was captivated by the illustrations. So needless to say I was really looking forward to reading this book (I kept trying to find someone that would let me read it an ARC because I was so excited about it.) And the book doesn't disappoint at all. It's the per More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 09, 2011

Kellee rated it:

Reviewed at: http://www.teachmentortexts.com/2011/12/...

Summary: Anya isn't exactly the most popular girl in school. She has one friend and they spend most of their time skipping class and feigning interest. She'd give anything to be more popular and be noticed by Sean, the basketball player, but that doesn't seem likely. She is ashamed of her Russian heritage and wishes she could look like Elizabeth who doesn't even have to try. But then when she falls down a well and spends 2 days More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 20, 2012

Rebecca rated it:

Russian immigrant Anya, who just wants to fit in and be popular at school, falls down an old well in the woods and encounters the skeleton--and the ghost--of Emily Reilly. Somehow a fingerbone of Emily's gets into Anya's bag, so when Anya is rescued, Emily can go with her. At first, after Anya gets over the shock, having a ghostly friend is a great help--Emily can find things out for Anya and help with her homework. Soon, though, it seems that Emily wants to push Anya in a direction she doesn't More...

0 comments like

Feb 20, 2012

Sarri rated it:

Teiniangstinen, venäläistaustainen Anya ei viihdy yksinhuoltajaäitinsä maksamassa yksityiskoulussa. Muut tytöt ovat varakkaista perheistä ja elävät teiniyden ruuhkavuosia. Anyalla on vain yksi ystävä, ronski irlantilaistaustainen Siobhan, jonka kanssa ei ystävyys aina ole ihan saumatonta. Eräänä päivänä, kun kaikki oikein harmittaa, Anya kävelee ajatuksissaan ja putoaa vanhaan kaivoon. Kaivon pohjalla on luuranko ja vähän ajan kuluttua Anya tapaa pienen ja harmittoman oloisen kaivon kummituksen, More...

0 comments like

Feb 07, 2012

Shazza rated it:

Anya's Ghost is a story about immigrant Anya Borzakovskaya, a Russian teenager living with her mother and younger brother. She's attending a private school (the third worst in the city), and she's unhappy. She is unpopular at school because she's different, and has only one real friend, Siobhan, a ne'er-do-well.

After humiliating herself in class, and getting chased by bullies, Anya falls down a hole in a forest. She's terrified, of course, that she won't get out, but something h More...

0 comments like

Jan 18, 2012

Dona rated it:

Anya is a high school student with a lot of angst. She, her mom, and her little brother immigrated from Russia. Anya has been in America long enough to feel a desperate need to fit in and decides the best way to do that is to reject her Russian culture and her family in the process. The author did a great job of portraying Anya's struggles to be some one she really isn't. There isn't much to like about Anya for the first two thirds of the book. Fortunately, in the first quarter of the story Anya More...

0 comments like

Jan 05, 2012

Ottery rated it:

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

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 29, 2011

Zack rated it:

i do love a good ghost story. and this one is good. really good - especially when compared to the bulk to young adult graphic novels. usually, i feel that any graphic novel done in black and white, even if it's good in black and white, would be better in color. i think this is the first time i've read one in monochrome (in this case black, white and purple) that i think could suffer from a full color make-over. while i liked the writing for the most part, there are lengthy sections of the book t More...

0 comments like

Dec 18, 2011

Edwin rated it:

I read Anya's Ghost by Vera Brogosol. what attracted my to this book is that it looked like a fun and interesting book to read. it kind of looks like the Persepolis and i really enjoyed that book. Persepolis was a quick book to read and it was also very interesting.
In this book there's a character named Anya and one day she was walking and felt through a whole. there she met a girl named Emily. When Anya leaves she accidentally took a bone and now Emily follows Anya were ev More...

0 comments like

Dec 08, 2011

Kristin rated it:

Anya is a 16-year-old girl who was born in Russia but raised in America. She lives there with her mother and little brother and goes to a private school. Anya is a bit of a misfit who likes to cut class and smoke in the bathroom and generally feel alienated from the more compartmentalized identities at her school. She also tries hard not to show the fact that she's more or less a Russian immigrant.

One day while cutting school, Anya falls down a well and meets the ghost of a girl who fe More...

0 comments like

Dec 04, 2011

Karissa rated it:

I had heard wonderful things about this graphic novel, so when I saw it at the library I picked it up. It was a very well done book and I enjoyed it a lot.

Anya has trouble fitting in at school: she is a little on the plump side and Russian and just all in all can't seem to fit in. Then she falls down a well and meets a ghost. When Anya is rescued the ghost follows her and starts helping her out; telling her what the cute boy likes, helping Anya cheat on tests, and just making Anya's More...

0 comments like

Dec 01, 2011

John rated it:

The first two thirds of Anya’s Ghost are amongst the most winning of anything I’ve read this year. Brosgol jumps into familiar portrayals of cynical teens, tempering their shortsightedness with humor, humility and sympathy. Her art is drawn from an extremely deep violet that so often resembles black and white that key uses, like in the eyes of a popular blonde, nearly pop off of the page. She excels at emoting through her simple faces, greatly assisting her dialogue and adding some punch to the More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 13, 2011

Terri rated it:

I am more and more impressed with First Second publishers. My first exposure to their publications was Gene Luen Yang's, "American Born Chinese." Since that time, First Second has published a string of impressive Young Adult titles. "Anya's Ghost," a graphic novel that has been well reviewed and received lots of critical acclaim, is another fine addition to that list.

Anya, a Russian-American, private high school student, is not always likable. She lacks confidence b More...

0 comments like

Nov 02, 2011

Rosalia rated it:

So after ordering this book for both the libraries I work at and putting it on my graphic novels list for teens, I thought maybe I should actually read it. (Usually I do this the other way around but it was getting such high praise I felt comfortable reccommending it.)

Anya is a Russian imigrant in a private high school that has worked really hard to Americanize herself. She's fairly insecure b/c she can't get the guy she wants and embarrassed by her Russian heritage and her Russian More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 28, 2011

Samantha rated it:

Incredible! Anya is a high school student who struggles with fitting in especially because she is not American. She has lived in America since she was 5, but her family is Russian. All taht aside, Anya is your typical teenage girl who worries about her weight and her grades and has a crush on a popular boy. The other facet of Anya's story that makes her different from her peers is her friends, one in particular: a ghost. Anya accidentally falls down a well and finds a skeleton and its ghost keep More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 24, 2011

Caitlin rated it:

Other reviewers have mentioned that the plot to Anya's Ghost is fairly predictable: the tried and true formula of the outcast who learns to accept her differences through the story's conflict. So yes, certain plot points that I've seen in numerous stories, particularly those for young adults, DO pop up. Yet each of those points are handled in a fresh way that gives the story strength, character, and a surprising amount of realism for a ghost story.

Anya is fantastic as the main charac More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 22, 2011

Monica! rated it:

Well, I wasn't blown away by this book -- it was fairly predictable, and the "I am Russian so I don't fit in" plotline could be substituted for any other "I am {This} and thus I am an outsider" story.

But luckily it's saved from total Meh-ness by being both humorously written, and gorgeously illustrated. Anya is bitter and cynical and willing to use a ghost to cheat on all her exams and to help her hook up with guys, but she's also realistically insecure and not a More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 19, 2011

Jess rated it:

Wow. Where to start with this...

This is the first graphic novel I've ever read. It caught my eye as I was browsing through the library the other day, and I thought it was about time for me to try a graphic novel, so I picked it up.

And let me just say this--I LOVED it. It was SO flipping good. I have to admit (even though this is going to make me sound ridiculous), I never really had too much desire to read graphic novels, only because they seemed like glorified comic books t More...

5 comments like (6 people liked it)

Oct 16, 2011

Barbara rated it:

Like so many teens, Anya finds fitting in at her high school to be more than a little bit challenging. She's ashamed of her name--Borzakovskaya--and her Russian immigrant background. She's dealing with body image issues, and thinks she's too plump compared to her classmates. She avoids Dima, another immigrant who is teased by the other students because of his enthusiasm for school, his appearance, and his accent, since she doesn't want to be associated with him by the others. She only has one fr More...

0 comments like

Oct 02, 2011

Nicola rated it:

Reason for Reading: I love a good ghost story!

Brilliant creepy ghost story! Anya is a Russian immigrant highschool student. She's been in America since she was 5 so she's pretty much Americanized except for her name, but she doesn't see it that way. She feels as though she has to struggle to fit in at school, that her mother and her Russian cooking and ways are embarrassing, that she's expected to be friends with the new Russian nerdy kid is beyond endurance, especially since she More...

0 comments like

Sep 26, 2011

Aaron rated it:

It's not easy being a teenager, particularly when you are a Russian immigrant hoping to be just like the other kids at school. Anya Borzkovskaya has worked really hard to fit in: she learned to speak English without an accent, she tries to dress like the other kids, and she has even learned to eat a veggie diet. Even with all of that, she feels like an outsider.

Anya has a crush on one of the cool older guys at school, and she is very jealous of his girlfriend. He is not the kind of boy More...

0 comments like

Sep 17, 2011

Bethany rated it:

Anya, sort of a Ghost World girl (quirky, cynical, irreverent--though not anywhere to the extreme that the girls in Ghost World were, because Anya mostly wants to go unnoticed), falls down a well and discovers a skeleton. And a ghost. A ghost who comes with Anya when she's finally rescued. And who proceeds to try to help Anya fit in, improve her social status, and Get the Guy. As you can imagine, things aren't nearly as simple as they seem.

There was a lot going on here. Boys who a More...

0 comments like

Sep 01, 2011

Sarah-Greenbeanteenqueen rated it:

About the Book: After falling down a well, Anya discovers bones and a ghost to go along with them. Emily was murdered ninety years ago. When Anya is freed from the well, she discovers an unexpected souvenir. Emily says she wants to join Anya and have a second chance. Sounds good until Anya finds herself with a very pushy ghost with her own agenda.

GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: This is a wonderful graphic novel! Anya is dealing with a lot in high school which makes this a great layered stor More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 02, 2011

Jessica rated it:

Anya is your typical angsty teen-she has only one friend, an annoying little brother, an unrequited crush on the hot guy who has an equally hot girlfriend, and, as a Russian immigrant, she doesn't really fit in despite how hard she's worked to lose her accent. But everything changes when she inadvertently falls down a well in a park (just go with it) and encounters a seemingly friendly ghost, Emily Reilly, who died a hundred years ago. Emily is happy to have someone to hang out with and helps More...

0 comments like

Aug 29, 2011

Marielle rated it:

Though I'm not sure this book lived up to the hype, I do think it literally a good read. Anya is a delightful character. The fact that she's the child of Russian immigrants makes her story as a teenage outcast even more relate-able, and it's a great device that comes in handy throughout the story. I'd actually like to see more stories about Anya, supernatural or otherwise, just because I like her and her family so much!

I think this was a typical, but satisfying coming of age tale, wi More...

0 comments like

Aug 29, 2011

Thornyrose rated it:

Anya's ghost is probably the best graphic novel to give to someone who doesn't fancy them. In my mind the graphic novel brings up the words: sci fi, geeky and probably nerdy too, (though none of them are negative to me). I was a bit wary buying this. Would I like it? Would it be too hard to follow? Will the pictures distort my natural picturing of the characters and settings... etc.
First of all Anya and all the other characters are so realistic. Anya is such a normal teenager, she thinks s More...

0 comments like

Aug 26, 2011

Jess rated it:

Here's a nicely creepy blend of a ghost story, a high school outsider story, and a graphic novel. I loved that Anya as a character doesn't feel like someone you've already met in a young adult book. Her family came to the US from Russia when she was young, and as she puts it, she "served her time in ESL." She lost the accent but she still feels like an outsider. Things get stirred up when she falls down an old well and meets the ghost of a girl who died there in 1918 - and this gho More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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