Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass: The Graphic Novel

Praise

Vargas adapts Medina’s Pura Belpré Award winner into graphic-novel form. . . . This graphic adaptation is a fast-paced page-turner. Vargas keeps the text to a minimum and communicates much of Piddy’s inner turmoil wordlessly, proving the effectiveness of this format. . . . A decade on, as relevant as ever and likely to capture the hearts of even more readers.
—Kirkus Reviews

A minimalist color palette consisting of cornflower blue, black, white, and grays reflects the weight and solemnity of Piddy’s difficulties while also softening some of the severity of her experiences. . . . A carefully and skillfully ­approached, modernized adaptation that is sure to introduce Piddy and provide understanding to a new crop of teen readers.
—School Library Journal

Ten years after its original publication, Medina’s award-winning story (BCCB 03/13) gets the graphic novel treatment, bringing new depth to a teen girl’s efforts to navigate adolescence in the face of persistent bullying. . . . An essential addition to young adult and graphic novel shelves alike, this version will get this compelling story of resilience into the hands of a whole new cohort of adolescent fans.
—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

In recognition of the 10-year anniversary of Meg Medina’s Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, Mel Valentine Vargas has adapted the Pura Belpré Award-winner into an inventive, compelling graphic novel. Vargas creates a new lens through which to view Piedad "Piddy" Sanchez’s story by using sparse dialogue and highly emotive, limited-palette illustrations. . . a stirring account of school bullying that remains pertinent a decade after Medina’s original release. By offering the story in the graphic novel format, Vargas makes Piddy a superhero as well as a protagonist who can teach bully victims that they can be the superheroes of their own stories.
—Shelf Awareness

Award-winning Medina’s Pura Belpré Honor Book gets the graphic treatment in this straightforward adaptation. . . . Vargas’ gray scale and soft blue artwork utilizes body language and facial expression to convey some of the emotional depth of the source material.
—Booklist

Originally published as a YA prose novel, the graphic novel adaptation of Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass brings a new dimension to the much-lauded story of Piddy Sanchez as she deals with extreme bullying at her new high school. . . Piddy’s story is just as relevant as ever, and it’s really special to see her world brought to visual life in this graphic novel adaptation.
—The Popverse