While looking at online reader copies that were new to the site I use, I found Bad Kid (a Graphic Memoir): My Life as a Troubled Teen by Sofia Szamosi. It said it was a companion to Unretouchable. Which, of course, meant that if I wanted to read Bad Kid, my brain said, you need Unretouchable. Therefore, off to the library I went to pick up a copy via interlibrary loan.
Szamosi discusses the beauty industry and how she is both part of and wants to separate from it. She talks about how social media is always in our faces. And how what we see might not be as real as we are led to believe. Set in the mid-2000’s Sofia might be a high school graduate, ready for the next step in her journey, but she still has a lot still to learn. This graphic novel is clever, funny, and realistic with images that I both enjoyed and found a bit off putting, but make me like them more. I think you need to be unbalanced, as this is the world we have entered when you are viewing what is happening around Sofia.
There are a lot of triggers: body images, social media, family dynamics, and mention of eating disorders. And there are a couple pieces of the story (such as Sofia’s wild best friend) that I would like to explore more. I look forward to finding Bad Kid (due March 2026, even though I have read a few things about it that now makes me wonder about how I feel about this debut graphic novel) and in November 2026, Fertile: A Graphic Memoir.
