Seconds: A Graphic Novel

O'Malley, B. (2014). Seconds: A graphic novel. New York: Ballantine Books. Twenty-nine-year-old chef Katie runs the successful restaurant, Seconds, but she can’t wait to open her own restaurant of which she can be part-owner. Her love life is awful and the plans for her new restaurant have stalled. Her top waitress gets badly hurt in the kitchen and Katie wishes she could have stopped the accident. Then Katie meets the mysterious house spirit, Lis, which lives at Seconds. She gives Katie an opportunity to erase her mistake and all she has to do is eat a magic mushroom, wish the mistake never happened, and go to sleep. Upon waking up Katie realized that the mistake was indeed erased. Now with a drawer full of mushrooms Katie strives to live the perfect life not realizing the dangers of continuing to erase the past. Seconds: A Graphic Novel is on the 2015 Great Graphic Novels for Teens List. This graphic novel is geared for high school students and can be used to teach a lesson on characterization and complex character relationships using the detailed illustrations.