Readers Annotation: Charlotte gets caught using a fake ID at a local London nightclub and is sent to live with her grandparents in the country. There she finds more than just golf waiting for her as she unravels a murder mystery.
Plot Summary: Charlotte “Lottie” is a goth teen living in London. She likes black and going out to cool clubs. One night she tries to use a fake ID and gets busted. Her parents ship her off to her grandparents house for the summer. There she is expected to work in the pro shop at their golf resort. Stuck in the country Lottie finds herself befriending one of the local boys. Together they find themselves investigating the murder of a local woman.
Critical Evaluation: Clubbing is a light, fluffy, short graphic novel. While the illustrations are well done the content isn’t anything to rave home about. There is some humor throughout, mainly about Lottie’s goth attire not going over well in the country. In parts Lottie seems to be very shallow and only concerned about fashion, dumb to the world around her. Other times she’s the gothic Nancy Drew solving a murder mystery. The ending of the novel is silly and doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the text at all. It seemed abrupt and very far fetched. One scene has them on the golf course, the next you’re underground with a cult and monsters are being summoned. At first it seems that there is a bit of hope for character development by the end, that Lottie has learned to accept people for more than their looks and that life is about more than the coolest clubs and clothes. But, the last lines dash any hope of that as her parents don’t want her to return, instead shipping her off to Japan where Lottie exclaims there is “good sushi, gaget central, cool gear and no more golf.”
Author: Andrew "Andi" Watson (born 1969) is a British cartoonist and illustrator best known for the graphic novels Breakfast After Noon, Slow News Day and his series Love Fights, published by Oni Press and Slave Labor Graphics. Watson has also worked for more mainstream American comic publishers with some work at DC Comics, a twelve-issue limited series at Marvel Comics, with the majority at Dark Horse Comics, moving recently to Image Comics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andi_Watson
Genre: Mystery/Comedy
Curriculum Ties: n/a
Booktalking Ideas: You discover a murder that the cops think is an accident, how do you begin collecting clues to solve the mystery?
Age: 14+
Challenge Issues: n/a
Why I Included This Book: I was shelving at the library and stumbled upon the graphic novel. Since I used to be a goth kid the cover intrigued me so I decided to check it out.
Minx Books, 2007, ISBN 9781401203702
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