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 This One Summer recently won a Printz Honor and Caldecott Award, two of the most prestigious awards in children's literature. In fact, this is the second time a graphic novel has ever won the Printz (the first being American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang) and it's a groundbreaking achievement for graphic novels who are usually not recognized as literary. I can definitely see why this one has received such acclaim with its gorgeous artwork and the fact that it discusses important issues, but at the same time I desired more. This graphic novel merely touched upon these issues and its story didn't really have much momentum. 
 This One Summer tells of two friends as they navigate of a summer in which they try to find themselves. What ensues is swimming, watching horror films, talking about boys, eating Twizzlers and a bunch of other activities. While I did like the characters especially Windy, not enough went down in this book and there wasn't really a plot perse. I wanted to feel something, but I just couldn't because there wasn't enough heart and emotion in this story. Even when the novel ended, I didn't feel any sort of closure and the lacking of a formal conclusion irked me to no end. 
 Even when This One Summer discussed issues like divorce, teen pregnancy, falling out of love, it just didn't push these issues far enough. When it did talk of these issues, it was with grace and I was extremely intrigued but it just a taste of what I wanted. I felt that the authors held back on their readers and as a result, this novel just doesn't feel true or as poignant as it could've been. 
 Artistically, This One Summer is a huge success, but the story just wasn't developed well enough for me. I'm interested in reading the authors' other novel, Skim, in hopes that it has a stronger story.