Module 13: The Plain Janes

Book Summary:

This graphic novel follows Jane as she is forced to move from the city after a bomb is set off. She helped save a stranger and visits him in the hospital until she leaves, then she writs to him. Once in her new town, Jane tries to make friends with a group of outcast girls, all names Jane. She is asked to join the popular girls but Jane doesn't want to be that person anymore. She finally convinces the Janes to join her in a scheme to add beauty to the town by making art projects at night and leaving them in different locations. The Janes feel free and the other kids love it. The adults try to catch them but can't. They call their group P.L.A.I.N. which means: People Loving Art In Neighborhoods. Through all of this Jane still writes to the stranger she saved who is on a coma but later her letters are returned. She runs off to the city and learns the stranger woke up and went home. She is given his name but she doesn't know how to reach him. With help from Damon she finds him and continues writing him. The book ends leaving you waiting for more to come.

APA Reference:

Castellucci, C.; Rugg, J. (2007). The plain Janes. New York, NY: DC Comics.

My Impressions:

I enjoyed this graphic novel. It was realistic to see how the girls started sharing more and taking on each others' strengths. The art work was very well rendered in black and white. I think I connected to this story because the Janes were all so different from each other and that reminded me of my high school friends. We all had different interests yet we hung out together. Many teens do not think they can have friends who are not just like them. It was refreshing to see teen friendship portrayed realistically.     

Professional Review:

For the first book in a new series aimed at teenage girls, DC comics recruited novelist Castellucci (Boy Proof, 2004, and The Queen of Cool, 2005) to write this story about outsiders who come together, calling up themes from the author’s popular YA novels. Relocated to suburbia after a brush with disaster in the big city (and fueled by an urge not to be terrified of the world as a result), Jane rallies a small group of outcasts into a team of “art terrorists,” shaking the town from its conservative complacency by putting bubbles in the city fountain and wrapping objects on the street as Christmas packages. Their activities end up rallying the local teenagers to their cause and working the adults into a dither. The book has its share of stereotypes—the science geek, the psychotically overprotective mother, the irrepressible gay teen—but this is thought-provoking stuff. The art, inspired by Dan Clowes’ work, is absolutely engaging. Packaged like manga,this is a fresh, exciting use of the graphic-novel format.

— Jesse Karp


Karp, J. (2007, March 15). [Review of the book The Plain Janes, by Cecil Castellucci and Jim
     Rugg]. Booklist. Retrieved from: http://booklistonline.com/The-Plain-Janes-Cecil-
     Castellucci/pid=1911749


Library Uses:

I would use this in a collaborative project with the high school art teacher to allow students to create and display their art around the school.