Cheeky: A Head-to-Toe Memoir

Elovic navigates her relationship with every inch of her body in her spirited debut. Lamenting that she spent her teenage years putting off enjoying her life because she didn’t feel attractive enough, she vows to see her body as something other than “a never-ending project with countless areas to wax, shrink, tone, or hide.” Comics arranged in sections such as “Girls Don’t Poop” and “The Weirdest Places I’ve Found My Bra” dish about sweaty armpits, periods, body hair (“Can I still feel like a feminist and bash the bush?”), as well as delving into hang-ups around food. Elovic’s cartoon–alter ego sports an unruly mane and a wide, toothy grin, and cheerily dramatizes mishaps and taboo toilet-humor, with a circle of supportive friends called “the Yentas” serving as a Greek chorus. In addition to explicit and celebratory portraits of herself and tips on beauty products, Elovic draws colorful flights of fancy (the Yentas imagine bathing in their favorite foods). Elovic’s bold, chunky art carries personality, but doesn’t break new ground. Even so, this chummy memoir will appeal broadly to comics readers, as well as any fan of lighthearted feminist memoir. [em]Agent: Meredith Kaffel Simonoff, DeFiore & Co. (Dec.) [/em]