Sheets

Marjorie, responsible for running the family launderette at the tender age of 13, is trying to hold everything together – her grieving father and younger brother are little help.

School isn’t great either, especially with horrid popular girl Tessi Waffleton tripping her up at every opportunity. And with the unpleasant Mr Saubertuck wanting to turn the launderette into a posh yoga retreat, Marjorie doesn’t know where to turn for help.

Unexpectedly, it’s sheet-wearing Wendell and his fellow ghosts that can prevent Marjorie and her family from being turned out onto the street with a brilliant plan...

Thummler’s bright, beautiful graphic novel about laundry, ghosts, bereavement and family is funny, clever and modern. The bereavement theme is sad but dealt with in a sensitive and light touch manner, and a happy ending reminds us that families do pull together when it matters.

There’s a subtle girl-boy romance story too, but very minimal, and very much of the tween bumping-heads-accidentally variety.

Wendell and the ghosts in the Dead Youth support group are a joy, and Thummler presents them as tragicomic yet sensitive support for the theme of passing over.