Very Bad at Math | Review

Very Bad at Math
Writer/artist: Hope Larson
HarperAlley; $24.99
Publisher’s Age Recommendation: 8-12 Years

Hope Larson’s new original graphic novel Very Bad at Math stars eighth-grader Verity “Very” Nelson, who seems to be the perfect student in every way. Heck, when she’s first introduced in the book, Larson draws little sparkles trailing in her wake to denote just how special she looks to the other students. Not only is she at the top in all her classes, from social studies to band to gym, she’s also the class president and quite popular, having earned her popularity by getting to know all of her fellow students.

As the title of the book no doubt tipped you off, however, our red-haired, freckled, pointy-nosed heroine does have a chink in her armor: She’s bad at math. In fact, she’s so bad at math that she’s failing, which presents a major problem for her, as there’s a grade requirement to serve on student council. If she fails, she can no longer be president. And she campaigned on a promise of raising enough money to fund a class trip to an amusement park, a promise she won’t be able to keep if she’s forced to resign.

The principal thinks she has a solution: A special math pod with a student teacher during fifth period study hall to give her and another student, her newly made frenemy Lucile, extra help in math.

Very tries to keep her math problems secret from everyone, even her parents and her vice president. Her only real confidant is Ali, the woman who answers the phone at the office of Representative Hazel Shaw, the local politician who is Very’s very own hero.

How long she can keep her academic troubles a secret may not be entirely up to Very, though, as the class podcaster smells a story and works to get to the bottom of it.

Despite the extra help the pod offers Very, and all of the hard work that she pours into studying and improving her math grade, she just doesn’t seem to be getting better at math. It turns out the root of the problem may be something that’s affecting other aspects of her life (and that Larson subtly teases very early on), and it’s not something that can necessarily be fixed by simply trying harder.

In Larson’s career she has worked as a cartoonist, both writing and drawing her works, as well as a writer, scripting books for other artists to draw. This is, of course, one of the former, and her art here looks looser than in some of her earlier works, with a somewhat more deliberate two-dimensional look and sharper lines and pointier edges. In fact, were it not for her name on the book, I might not have recognized it as the work of Larson at first glance.

It still looks good though and, more importantly, reads well, perfectly fitting the story Larson’s telling and the characters in it. Kids should enjoy meeting Very and her classmates, and enjoy spending time with them, as Very ultimately learns some things about herself, and perhaps the most important lesson of all: Nobody’s perfect…no matter how much they might seem to sparkle.

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