Friends with Boys - Faith Erin Hicks

Title: Friends with Boys
Author: Faith Erin Hicks
Publisher: Square Fish (Macmillan), 2015 (Paperback)
Length: 220 pages
Genre: Young Adult; Graphic Novel, Realistic Fiction, Fantasy
Started: January 11, 2016
Finished: January 11, 2016

Summary:
From the back cover:

After years of homeschooling, Maggie is starting high school. It's pretty terrifying.

Maggie's big brothers are there to watch her back, but ever since Mom left, it just hasn't been the same.

Besides her brothers, Maggie's never had any real friends before. Lucy and Alistair don't have lots of friends either. But they eat lunch with her at school and bring her along on their small-town adventures.

But when a ghost won't leave Maggie along, can her new friends help her? Or is she destined to be haunted forever?

Review:
This is a really cute coming of age story of Maggie, her three older brothers, her friends, and a local ghost. Maggie and her older brothers Daniel, Zander, and Lloyd were all homeschooled by their mom until reaching grade 9 when they moved on to the public high school. As the youngest, Maggie is about to embark on her first day of high school, with the very obvious difference that their mom left recently and it's up to their police chief father to finish raising his children alone.

The relationship between Maggie and her brothers is really sweet while still being realistic. Daniel, Zander, and Lloyd all look out for Maggie and help her out while still being involved in their own lives, leaving Maggie to fend for herself for certain things and become more independent. I also liked how all the other characters besides Maggie had some backstory going on which unraveled as the story progresses, I can genuinely say I really enjoyed all the characters (to the point where I wanted Maggie's older brothers for my own).

The artwork is gorgeous, edgy enough to be unique and recognizable while not weird to the point of being unappealing. Maggie learns a great lesson that most kids need to accept at some point in their lives: you can't fix everything, so stop making yourself crazy trying to do so. The ghost is actually worked into the plot of the story rather than a weird add-on, which I appreciated.

Recommendation:
A sweet coming of age story with great characters and beautiful artwork, what's not to like?

Thoughts on the cover:
I like how all the main characters are pictured (though I kept turning the cover upside down to a get a good look at the non-Maggie end).