This brilliant YA graphic novel is a love letter to family and all of the messy complexities they come with, from the acclaimed author of Ephemera: A Memoir . Harvey Awards WINNER Best Young Adult Book Award 2025 ALA's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table Outstanding Young Adult Comic, 2025 New York Public Library Best Comics for Adults 2025 Best Graphic Novel of 2025 - The Guardian Best Teen Graphic Novel of 2025 - The Chicago Public Library The Missouri Association of School Librarians Denny O’Neil Graphic Novel List, 2026-2027 Set in the author’s own teenage years, Raised By Ghosts begins in 1991 with semi autobiographical Briana in middle school. Classes are a bummer, but lunches are worse; either spent alone, or being teased. Traditionally a good student, Briana is not doing well in her academics, but keeps it a secret. Her parents (divorced) are a mess, and largely absent. She spends a lot of time by herself. By high school, she makes friends, and those connections are her only source of happiness as they help each other navigate adolescence. But life at home with each parent remains fraught. When her relationships at school begin to falter, she has no one to turn to, forcing Briana to grapple with her sense of self-worth, her longing for belonging, and her desire for authenticity in her relationships. Raised By Ghosts is a powerful, affecting graphic novel for young adult readers. The story is told by shifting between Briana’s first-person class notes and diary entries. In her understated yet masterful approach to comics storytelling, Loewinsohn eschews dramatic confrontations and overt sentimentality, preferring instead to underscore the idea that sometimes acceptance and love can be communicated through quiet, everyday moments and close family bonds. Full-color illustrations throughout "Decades-old notes stitch together a wistful search for connection and acceptance in this aching semi-autobiographical comic by Loewinsohn." ― Publishers Weekly Starred Review "Both sweet and melancholy, Raised by Ghosts is a love letter from Loewinsohn to her younger self, and also to lost souls, who are waiting to be seen." ― Broken Frontier "This understated semiautobiographical story mixes in abundant and creatively rendered journal-entry excerpts that encourage the reader to slow down and inhabit Briana’s world, where friends matter more than anything else. Quietly emotional, reflective, and hopeful." ― Booklist "There is a mix of nostalgia and timelessness to Raised by Ghosts that makes it a real treat of a read." ― The Newest Rant "Slightly-grungy Wes Anderson." ― Comics Beat "Loewinsohn’s graphic memoir is an ode to handwritten notes." ― San Francisco Chronicle "One of the most intriguing aspects of the book is the way that the storytelling changes as young Briana starts developing her artistic voice, shifting away from the traditional structure and realistic imagery into more expressionistic territory. It emphasizes the way that art helps her process and work through her challenges at school and at home, finding comfort in the endless possibilities that exist on the blank page." ― AV Club "Lovely and atmospheric, Raised by Ghosts is a potent trip back to the 1990s. I could feel myself unfolding one of Loewinsohn's handwritten notes." ― Rainbow Rowell, NYT bestselling author of Eleanor & Park "A quiet, heartfelt memoir about the joys and sorrows of being a teenager. Poetic and beautifully rendered." ― Gene Luen Yang, author of American Born Chinese " Raised by Ghosts is so beautiful and melancholy and sweet and devastating. Briana captures the sanctity of friendship and art, and the all-consuming sadness of being a teenager, in a way I've never seen on paper before. If parental neglect leads to brilliant cartoonists like Briana, maybe we should all neglect our kids a little more. This is a book that might have saved me as a teen, but it came out too late. At least I got to thoroughly enjoy it as an adult." ― Julia Wertz, author of Impossible People "While there is an inevitable adult sensibility in the insights Briana has, this is more comforting than precocious, as it demonstrates that there is good on the other side of adolescence, and that one can even gain some wisdom having survived it." ― The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "Handwritten notes and diary entries sit alongside observant scenes of the young Briana staring hopefully at her family’s empty fridge, laughing with her friends or bathed in the light of her TV as she negotiates her teenage years with mostly absent parents." ― The Guardian "...it is powerfully dark, stormy on the page, filled with isolation and frustration. The images echo the subject matter beautifully, creating a unique reading experience." ― Waking Brain Cells "It’s an incredibly thoughtful coming of age memoir that avoids the trappings of being a standard coming of age book. Made out of the scraps of memor