The Plain Janes

The Plain Janes
By Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
DC Comics
New York, New York
978-1-4012-1115-8
2007

Summary

Jane has just moved to anytown USA, called Kent Waters, after a bomb has exploded in her big city home town of Metro City. Jane had been walking by the Café where the bomb was when it exploded. Needless to say, this incident changed Jane’s life in more ways than one. Jane has coped well with the change in her life realizing that there is beauty around her. A dandelion that survived the blast and the ensuing chaos, plus a sketch book from another victim has kept Jane going. Throughout the novel, it is the letters to John Doe that narrate parts of the story.

When Jane arrives at her new school she snubs the popular group she had been a part of at Metro City and sits down at a table of rejects who all happened to be named Jane. It takes a lot of work on Jane’s part, but the other Janes finally agree to be a part of a group called P.L.A.I.N. PLAIN is the brainchild of Jane and it stands for People Loving Art In Neighborhoods. The goal is to get people to notice the beauty that surrounds them. Together they plan art “attacks” like bottles hanging from a tree with instructions like give someone a hug or they wrap objects on main street like presents.

While the teens see that PLAIN is a harmless group (with the exception of bubbles in the fountain), the parents and town police react by imposing curfews and threatening suspension. Jane’s mother, who has become ultra protective of Jane, is the most worried and is the first to call the police. But nothing will stop the Janes, even when a letter comes back “Return to Sender” from John Doe and Jane breaks all rules to find out what happened. After all, John is the one who taught Jane to hope again.

Impressions

The Plain Janes is a graphic novel and it was one of the first graphic novels I have ever read. It flowed well and the pictures added much to the storyline. The story was believable and could have been any Manhattan family after 9/11. In my years of teaching I have found that students want their voices heard and acknowledged. Some teens go about it the wrong way, and some teens join the newspaper, debate team, or other student activity.

Reviews

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. Grade 7–10—Young adult author Castellucci makes her graphic-novel debut with this quirky comic. Jane's parents relocate to the suburbs when she's caught in a bomb attack in Metro City. Bored and lonely in her new town and school, the teen is thrilled when she meets three other girls named Jane, all of them as out of place as she is. They form a secret club, the Plain Janes, and decide to liven up the town with art. Some people like their work, but most are frightened, and the local police call the Plain Janes' work "art attacks." Castellucci gives each girl a distinct personality, and spirited, compassionate Main Jane is especially captivating. Rugg's drawings aren't in superhero or manga style, but resemble the more spare, clean style of alternative comics creators such as Dan Clowes and Craig Thompson. A thoughtful look at the pressures to conform and the importance of self-expression, this is also a highly accessible read. Regular comics readers will enjoy it, but fans of soul-searching, realistic young adult fiction should know about it as well.—Lisa Goldstein, Brooklyn Public Library, NY
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From Booklist
*Starred Review* For the first book in a new series aimed at teenage girls, DC comics recruited novelist Castellucci (Boy Proof, 2004, and The Queen of Cool, 2005) to write this story about outsiders who come together, calling up themes from the author's popular YA novels. Relocated to suburbia after a brush with disaster in the big city (and fueled by an urge not to be terrified of the world as a result), Jane rallies a small group of outcasts into a team of "art terrorists," shaking the town from its conservative complacency by putting bubbles in the city fountain and wrapping objects on the street as Christmas packages. Their activities end up rallying the local teenagers to their cause and working the adults into a dither. The book has its share of stereotypes--the science geek, the psychotically overprotective mother, the irrepressible gay teen--but this is thought-provoking stuff. The art, inspired by Dan Clowes' work, is absolutely engaging. Packaged like manga this is a fresh, exciting use of the graphic-novel format. Jesse Karp
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