Word Out 2011

Alan H. posting here on behalf of my colleague Helena D., who's currently AFK IRL, but found time before saying "BBL" to provide some discussion of this week's graphic novel selection, Arisa Vol 1:

I've always loved a good story about sisters.  Not having a sister but always having wanted one, I can't help feeling that there is something really compelling about the love/hate dynamic of a sister pairing.  In Arisa, Arisa is the popular, pretty one while Tsubasa is her outcast twin. 

Of course, all is not as it seems, and Tsubasa comes to realize that her "perfect" sister is not so perfect after all.  It must be a little weird knowing that you and your sister are connected in ways you could never be with anybody else in the world but also feeling so utterly different from her. 

As far as I'm concerned, this makes for some good reading – think Betsy and Julia Ray of Maud Hart Lovelace's series, or the two eldest Bennetts, Jane and Lizzie, in Pride and Prejudice, or Cassandra and Rose in I Capture the Castle, or Cam and Perry in the upcoming The Probability of Miracles by debut author Wendy Wunder (due out this fall).  Who are some of your favourite fictional sister pairs?