Another graphic novel series I’ve read out of order. This volume comes before Forget Me Nat, and yes this one did make clear to me some things I’d puzzled over with the other book. In Nat Enough, Natalie is new to middle school, and meets all the kids who are continual main characters- the girl with hair that’s constantly fallen over her face, the loud redhead always brazenly exclaiming how great she is and forgetting everyone else’s name, the cute boy that Natalie develops a crush on, etc. The lady in the mirror that Natalie sometimes talks to is also here, but not at all explained- and I was kinda hoping for an explanation, there. The cat and dog have their little asides again, often related to or reflecting the main story. It’s mostly about how Natalie feels like she doesn’t measure up. She’s not great at athletics, or super talented, or cool and popular. This becomes particularly painful when her best friend ditches her (in a really blunt, mean way) to hang out with a new cool girl at school. Nat is so hurt by this, and keeps constantly trying to talk to her once-best-friend, even as other kids become better friends to her and advise her to let it go. Nat spends most of the book stubbornly trying to get Lily back, but then to her surprise, when Lily and the cool girl finally invite her to sit with them, she realizes she’d rather be with her other new friends instead.
There’s all this middle school drama and stuff that makes it amusing, too. Dissecting frogs- except they were made of jello, which I thought was weird (we had to do real frogs, how clearly I remember that awful formaldehyde smell!)- and made for a messy, funny ending to that class. Awkward school dances. A class play, which hilariously ended in disaster too- though Nat was embarrassed. And best of all is the moment when Natalie shines at her talent, which she’d been unsure of all along- drawing. She makes an entire comic for a class project, is challenged by the teacher, who thinks she didn’t really do all the work, defended by the other kids in class, and ends up winning an award. That was great. And really boosted Natalie’s confidence.
Borrowed from the public library. Completed on 4/30/24.
