Don't Cosplay with My Heart: 05/05/18

Don't Cosplay with My Heart by Cecil Castellucci is a YA about self love, crushes and cosplay. Edan Kupferman is a fan of Team Tomorrow, especially Gargantua who is the opposite of how she is in real life. Edan decides to cosplay as her at the last minute at the local comic-con. She can't get tickets and ends up being given a one by a classmate named Kirk.

With that rough start, Edan decides to start a cosplay club at school. She calls it SEW. She and others learn how to make their own costumes and they end up building friendships. It's all rather like a high school club anime but set in America.

Edan is also dealing with feelings of low self esteem and anxiety. Cosplay ends up being therapy for her. In this regard she's like Stanley Fortinbras of Stanley Will Probably Be Fine by Sally J. Pla. The big difference is tha Stanley's story is set in a town I grew up. Stanley's knowledge of comic book heroes is drawn from a lot of older and by today's standards, obscure ones, making for fun easter eggs for readers.

Edan's fandom felt completely made up. It also didn't feel well realized. Gargantua reads like a quick sketch of Susan / Ginormica from Monsters vs Aliens. I never really got to know Edan the way I got to know Stanley. Without that connection I wasn't as invested in the story.

Three stars

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