Karen Schneemann

Lily Williams

Good friends help you go with the flow. Best friends help you start a revolution. Sophomores Abby, Brit, Christine, and Sasha are fed up. Hazelton High never has enough tampons. Or pads. Or adults who will listen. Sick of an administration that puts football before female health, the girls confront a world that shrugs—or worse, squirms—at the thought of a menstruation revolution. They band together to make a change. It’s no easy task, especially while grappling with everything from crushes to trig to JV track but they have each other’s backs. That is, until one of the girls goes rogue, testing the limits of their friendship and pushing the friends to question the power of their own voices. Now they must learn to work together to raise each other up. But how to you stand your ground while raising bloody hell?

Go With the Flow

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

So much to enjoy and appreciate with multiple nods of "Yes!" and "This!" in this realistic fiction graphic novel about friendship, mean-girl-ism, menstruation, and activism. 

The daily pressures of being a woman in a world that doesn't want to acknowledge women's bodies and their needs is made inescapable, stunningly visible in the flat brick red and brown palate of the pages. These color choices emphasize the primacy of monthly worries about bleeding, upset stomachs, excruciatingly painful cramps, potential accidents, realities for so many high school students that are deemed "inappropriate" to discuss in the greater high school community. 

Sick and tired of their high school bathroom never having tampons or pads stocked in the vending machine, and having to pay for them in general, sophomore Abby decides to create an awareness campaign in her school about the inequity of the boys' football team getting new uniforms while the principal argues that there are no funds for period supplies. This action is catalyzed by a new girl, Sasha, who has the dreaded accident in white pants that everyone who has a period shudders to contemplate and/or remembers with horror. Sasha is wrapped up in Abby's group of friends, including Brit, who likely has endometriosis, and Christine, who is figuring out a couple complicated crush situations. Banding together to agitate for change is one thing, taking the protest public and online is totally another. The pressure of being the new girl in high school and trying to fit in, the pressure of standing up for something that is private and potentially embarrassing, the pressure of not knowing what to do with feelings for a friend that might be more than a friend, everything about this book affirms the power and potential of young women to change their world when they work together.

Nadine 

Excellent graphic novel around a group of girls who take action in their school in order to make having periods normalised and getting sanitary products subsidised.

High school students embark on a crash course of friendship, female empowerment, and women's health issues in Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann's graphic novel Go With the Flow. Good friends help you go with the flow. Best friends help you start a revolution. Sophomores Abby, Brit, Christine, and Sasha are fed up. Hazelton High never has enough tampons. Or pads. Or adults who will listen. Sick of an administration that puts football before female health, the girls confront a world that shrugs—or worse, squirms—at the thought of a menstruation revolution. They band together to make a change. It’s no easy task, especially while grappling with everything from crushes to trig to JV track but they have each other’s backs. That is, until one of the girls goes rogue, testing the limits of their friendship and pushing the friends to question the power of their own voices. Now they must learn to work together to raise each other up. But how do you stand your ground while raising bloody hell?

Go with the Flow

Molly Rae Stacy

The art is spectacular, and the characters alone deserve 5 stars. Would have liked to see bigger payoffs plot-wise. 

Brianna Brown

Will definitely be sharing this one with my daughter once she gets a little older.

laura

* I got this book for review from the publisher*

I adored this read. I think periods and discussions about the various issues never occur in YA novels and I really enjoyed this book. I thought this book addressed so many issues like periods but also about friendships and also activism for younger kids. I think his book tackled so many issues that never are chatted about. I really grew to love the girls that I met in this book and this book made me happy and also rather emotional. Such a important read!

Caitlin Berger

Wow, what a lovely and beautiful book!! I think it’s much needed for teens to read especially. I wish the language about periods had been more consistently inclusive, and that there was more overt gayness but otherwise, thoroughly enjoyed it!!

Go With the Flow

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