About the Author

Isobel Harrop is an eighteen-year-old girl from the North of England, squished somewhere between Manchester and Liverpool. She's just finished school, where she studied English Literature, English Language, and Media Studies. She's got her fingers crossed to go to university next year to carry on doing English Literature somewhere a bit more interesting. This is her first book that wasn't made using the school photocopier and staples. Inspired by Peanuts comics and 1960s design, Isobel loves to draw whenever she gets a chance, and almost every piece of her schoolwork is scrawled all over with drawings of imaginary people. When she isn't working or drawing, you might find her fawning over cute animals on the Internet (especially sea otters!), eating vast amounts of chocolate in all its forms, and collecting stuff that she doesn't need from vintage shops.

Reviews

...a charmingly idiosyncratic scrapbook. . . .the entire concept of story is beside the point here, as Harrop's work reads like a Tumblr re-organized by hashtag rather than by date. Although most illustrations are by hand and Harrop includes pages scanned in from her actual diary, the overall conceit is of an online commonplace book brought into print. Some readers may wonder about the point of such an exercise. These readers are not the intended audience, who will see themselves, their interests and their remix approach to life reflected in the many pages of impossibly cute animal drawings and Lauren Child-like collages of sketches and photographs.-- "Kirkus Reviews"

...its familiarity will definitely hit the right notes for teenagers (especially those living through a particularly angsty phase), and its illustrations will make you smile. . . .It's charming and adorable...-- "Examiner.com"

...readers are treated to the internal musings of a teenager as she navigates everyday life on the topics of Beyonce, love and breaking up. The prose is reflective of the female inner dialogue filled with doubt, dreams, and sprinkled with tidbits of motivation. . . .Drawn with a childlike innocence, Harrop is able to convey an array of emotions in a raw state, while maintaing a connection between the teenage character's journal and an audience peeking in.-- "Becoming Books blog"

Blogger and Tumblr fan Isobel Harrop, 18, shares her thoughts and insights on the highlights of her life. Through a scrapbook-type journal--much like the one teens may have by the side of their beds--full of drawings, taped-in pictures, and ticket stubs, Isobel tells readers about her desire to make beautiful things, and her difficulty fitting in with the arty kids. . . .this creative mixed-media work by a UK teen will be devoured quickly--and will inspire readers to created their own illustrated notebooks.-- "School Library Journal"

Harrop, a teenage blogger from northern England, presents a stream-of-consciousness journal/scrapbook. . . .Younger YA readers will probably find this to be a fascinating, sweetly funny, and relatively unscary introduction to teenage life...-- "Publishers Weekly"

Harrop's art journal is part autobiography, part sketchbook. . . .her loose, cartoonish drawings have a youthful charm. . . .Give this one to teen readers just getting into autobiographical comics or girls who love to journal, whether in drawings or words.-- "Booklist"

Harrop's illustrations depict everything from her love of stripes to a slug in need of a hug with technical skill, as well as a pervasive, carefree sort of teenage whimsy. . . .When I return to school in September, I plan on ripping out pages of THE ISOBEL JOURNAL and taping them to my friends' lockers.-- "TeenReads.com/The Book Report"

I found this journal-book and the illustrations sweet, intimate, insightful, fun and funny.-- "Artist Julia Noyes, curator of the Noyes Art Gallery"

If you love the grungy and odd, vintage clothes, championing music no one else has heard of, rhapsodizing about tea, and ironically listening to '90s girl bands, meet your new best friend!-- "Out of the Box blog, The Horn Book"

This book is head and eye and mind bliss. I want to print every page onto a t-shirt and wear one every day to show them off to the world.-- "Laura Dockrill, author of Darcy Burdock and Mistakes in the Background"

This is a cute, quick read; and it is a pleasure to page through it at a leisurely pace. . . .I found it quite refreshing.-- "Whispers of a Barefoot Medical Student blog"