Peach Girl by Miwa Ueda

Peach Girl by Miwa Ueda
Young Adult Manga Romance
179 pp.
Suitable 13+

Readers Annotation: Momo is having bad rumors spread about her at school by her best friend, Sae.

Plot Summary: Momo has an unfortunate stereotype about her at school. Because she is on the swim team, she is very tan and has bleached hair. Therefore, schoolmates think she is a tramp. And it doesn't help that her best friend, Sae, starts spreading rumors about her being a slut as well. It could be because Sae is jealous of Momo and they both like the same boy, Toji. But when playboy Kiley goes after Momo, things get even more complicated. Though she does not like him, he likes her for one thing only. It gets even worse after Kiley almost drowns and Momo saves him by giving him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. This starts rumors by Sae that she kissed him, which complicates things between Momo and Toji. Even though Momo finds out that Toji likes her back, and doesn't mind tan girls, this complicated love triangle has just begun as this is the first book in a series of 18.

Critical Evaluation: This high school drama gets its two cents in short, to the point dialogue. Because it is a manga-styled book, there is not much dialogue so each line has a point, a purpose, moving this soap opera along. The dialogue seems realistic, with moments of slang and emotion, bringing out the development of the characters. Though at first these character may be one-dimensional, they each have hidden motives that add spice to the story. The pacing seems interesting: it mentions what happened within a span of just a few days as if the characters did not have time to even think about their actions; the decisions of these characters are based on fiery emotions instead of thinking things through clearly. And it also sends many messages. Even though the theme is to love and accept yourself as you are, that does not seem the case in the risque illustrations. Its unfortunate that these girls have low-self esteem, but it is social commentary of how girls see themselves. Unfortunately though, stereotypes do exist and the hidden motives from these characters are based on those.

Author: Miwa Ueda is a Japanese Manga artist born in Hyugo, Japan. She is best known for her works in Peach Girl and Angel Wars. In 1999, she received the Kodansha Manga Award for Peach Girl.

Ueda started publishing her works in 1985. She worked on parts of Sailor Moon before her famous works. She currently lives in Japan.

Booktalking Ideas:
1) Self-esteem issues
2) High school life
3) Stereotypes

Challenge Issues: There are no challenge issues present in the book.

Why Included: This might be one of the most checked-out manga books at the library I work out so I decided to check one out myself.