"Skim" is Kimberly Keiko Cameron, a not-slim, would-be Wiccan goth who goes to a private girls' school in the early '90's. When her classmate Katie Matthews is dumped by her boyfriend, who then kills himself possibly because he's (maybe) gay the entire school goes into mourning overdrive. It's a weird time to fall in love, but that's what happens to Skim when she starts meeting secretly with her neo-hippie English teacher, Ms. Archer. But then Ms. Archer abruptly leaves the school, and Skim has to cope with her confusion and isolation while her best friend, Lisa, tries to pull her into "real" life by setting up a hilarious double-date for the school's semi formal.

Suicide, depression, love, homosexuality, crushes, cliques of popular, manipulative peers the whole gamut of teen life is explored in this poignant glimpse into the heartache of being 16.

About the Author

Mariko Tamaki's works include the comics This One Summer (First Second/Groundwood Books), Skim (Groundwood Books), with Jillian Tamaki, Emiko Superstar (DC Comics), with Steve Rolston, and the YA novel (You) Set Me on Fire (Penguin Canada). Her upcoming YA novel, Saving Montgomery Sole (Roaring Brook Press), is about unsolved mysteries, California and frozen yogurt.

Her first film "Happy 16th Birthday, Kevin" is currently touring with Toronto's Inside/Out Festival.