Go with the Flow

By Karen Schneemann and Lily Williams

High school students embark on a crash course of friendship, female empowerment, and women's health issues in Lily Williams and Karen Schneemann's graphic novel Go With the Flow.

Good friends help you go with the flow.
Best friends help you start a revolution.

Sophomores Abby, Brit, Christine, and Sasha are fed up. Hazelton High never has enough tampons. Or pads. Or adults who will listen.

Sick of an administration that puts football before female health, the girls confront a world that shrugs—or worse, squirms—at the thought of a menstruation revolution. They band together to make a change. It’s no easy task, especially while grappling with everything from crushes to trig to JV track but they have each other’s backs. That is, until one of the girls goes rogue, testing the limits of their friendship and pushing the friends to question the power of their own voices.

Now they must learn to work together to raise each other up. But how to you stand your ground while raising bloody hell?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Jan 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781250771100

Karen Schneemann

Karen Schneemann grew up in Northern California. She received her first undergraduate degree in Engineering from UCLA and her second in Animation from California College of the Arts. In addition to being an engineer, artist and writer, Karen is also a mom to two adorable kids. She lives and works in foggy San Francisco, California.

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Reviews for Go with the Flow

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is great. We don't talk enough about periods, and we sure as heck don't advocate enough for supplies to be readily available to anyone who needs them. I love that this book tackles both head on, without being altogether preachy -- there are several other stories going on in the background, and the book hangs together nicely. Friends, high school, activism. Good stuff.

[Jodi Martinez · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wish this book had been around when I started having periods.

[jothebookgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It’s high school and the girls fell the time is right to take a stand and protest the system and the injustice. I know, there are o lot of those novels already out there, but I think you’ll find this one to be a little different. At the center of the story is a girls worst nightmare? You get your period one day at school while wearing white pants and it feels like EVERYONE notices? As is she needed a new worry. Sasha’s worried enough about making friends at her new school and now this? This misfortune leads to meeting three amazing girls. Abby, Brit, and Christine who are exactly the kinds of friends you wish you had in high school. They come to Sasha’s rescue. You will find these girls smart, funny, and passionate. Abby in particular sees Sasha’s problem and then starts to notice other issues. Why are the school’s machines in the bathrooms always empty of tampons and pads? And what about kids who don’t have a lot of money to put fifty cents into a dispenser for a sanitary napkin. Who even carries quarters these days anyway? Sanitary products should be free and easily accessible. What starts out as an annoyance quickly grows into a cause, but how do you get the world to notice something it simply doesn’t want to see? Periods are definitely seem to be a closet topic. Why, menstruation is a normal part of life for half the population. The part of this that struck me as particularly keen, however, was that the book is not merely about raising the awareness of the existence of menstruation and the ways in which it can physically hurt those girls and women with endometriosis, adenomyosis, PCOS, and fibroids, but also how Williams ties all this into economic disparities. She makes the choice not to make any of the starring girls in this book lower income. They could afford those 50-cent tampons (if the bathrooms ever bothered to stock them). And everyone but Abby is fairly fine with this fact. She’s the only one consistently bothered that “there are kids here who can’t even afford lunch… How can they afford proper sanitary items for their periods if they cannot afford lunch?” Abby is so passionate about about this cause that she brings it up in every conceivable situation (“But have you guys heard about Toxic Shock Syndrome?”) and then plunges forward with bold plans to right the wrongs of the world without thinking about how her choices might affect people closer to home.Abby goes to the principal, (a man) with a cause she’s not afraid to talk about. When the principal says to her, “It’s not like the boys get free jock itch cream,” it can be mighty hard not to start screaming at the page. And when the principal states the school can’t afford to provide free products to girls, Abby points out the fact that the football was just outfitted with new uniforms and equipment. And they just got new uniforms only two years ago. Now desperate, Abby writes a blog post and it goes viral. I think we’ve seen this plot twist before, and while fun, it is a bit far fetched..The subject matter is on the more serious side but the dialogue is fun.... “WALK AWAY! Ya big ol’ fart bag!” There are adults out there that would tell you with a straight face that kids don’t need to know about that stuff when they MOST certainly do! I could have certainly used a book like this when I started my own periods. My only complaint is the audience for the book is YA and takes place in high school while most begin menstruation in middle school. I think I would have rather seen the story set in 6th, 7th or 8th grade. Common sense media states the reading for ages 10+ and gives a five star rating. But, bottom line, this book is timely and well written. The graphic illustrations are cleverly drawn in all shades of pinks and reds. I thank the author and illustrator for this fine work and hope it makes its way to every middle and high school library shelf and in the school nurse and counsellors office.

[salsabrarian · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Brit, Christine, and Abby are best friends in high school. They befriend new girl Sasha after rescuing her when her period comes and stains her white pants in front of the whole school. In the process, Abby notes that the school's sanitary product vending machines are always empty, and why do they have to pay for them anyway? She starts a blog on the topic, engages her friends in a letter-writing campaign, and adorns the school with protest art that gets her suspended and hurts her friends. The authors (and by extension, Abby) are careful to note that it's not just girls who bleed, but transgender males and non-binary people. Menstruators will appreciate the informal approach to normalizing an everyday concern.

[villemezbrown · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A book devoted to menstruation? Proof positive that I will read anything as long as it is in graphic novel format. And, hey, it's not even the first time! But I think it is telling that the previous comics I've read that were so focused on menstruation gave the subject a horror story twist: Alan Moore's Swamp Thing #40 back in 1985 and the much more recent Man-Eaters by Chelsea Cain. What happens when things get less metaphorical?I'm impressed to see real issues and injustices tied to women's periods directly addressed in this entertaining and engaging tale about four high school friends. Sasha is being teased and bullied due to an unfortunate incident. Brit is dealing with a physically painful condition. Christine is working through a same-sex crush on one of her friends. Abby aspires to make a difference, and the dismissive attitude of the school administration to her complaints about the tampon dispensers in the bathrooms is getting her riled up.It works as a story of friendship, as a source of information about the topic, and as a call to action. Recommended.

[ecataldi-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I wish I had this graphic novel when I was younger! It's not just about periods; it's about activism, friendship, and bullying. Three teenagers take a new kid under their wing after she gets her period at school and all her classmates start taunting her and calling her Bloody Mary because it went through her pants. The four of them quickly become close and realize how unfair it is that the pad machine is never stocked AND it costs money. They decide they want to try and change that but they don't know how. A beautiful graphic novel that is a must read for teenagers, teachers, parents; and women of all ages. It's never to early to make a difference!

[foggidawn · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When Sasha, a new student at their school, has a period emergency, friends Brit, Abby, and Christine come to her rescue. Abby realizes that the school's feminine hygiene product dispensers are always empty -- and shouldn't those products be free, anyway? As the school year goes on and she has frustrating, unproductive encounters with the school's administration, she gets drawn more and more into period activism -- but will she go too far?This graphic novel is a strong depiction of female friendship, and will be an eye-opener to some about issues surrounding menstruation. A great resource for people hitting puberty, but also a solid friendship story.

[carolee888 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is advanced reading copy of graphic novel that I would have loved to have had when I was twelve years old. It is so much better than the cartoon that we watched in gym to explain menstruation! The characters are Abby, Brit, Christine and Sasha. Even though it has been sixty-one years since I had my first period and ran to my mother to tell her that I must be "dying", I identified with all of this group of girls. I know what it is like to be Sasha. To be the new girl in the school and have a large red spot on my clothes and being sick with embarrassment.The many different aspects are covered in an informative way and the girls supported each other with love and respect. LBGTQ, different races and are all represented. The unfair situation of an empty pad or tampon machine when it is needed the most was even in this book. The pain and length of periods and the need for young women to discuss their periods and to see a doctor if the period is not normal, it is all in this book. I am going to hold onto this copy for my granddaughter to read.I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the Publisher as a win from FirstReads but that in no way made a difference in my thoughts or feelings in this review.

[librarianryan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a bloody lovely surprise. I had guessed it would be about girls and their period by the tag line, but it was so much more. It's about the first realizations that girls and women are held back because our biology is seen as “gross” by men. That we as women speaking privately about periods where we should be speaking publicly to help erase the stigma of womanhood.That all may sound heavy, but this is really a nice light hearted graphic novel for anyone who menstruates. It doesn’t go heavy into biology or why, more of we are all different and that is okay. There is great non-fiction information included with notes at the end, but also by one of the character’s blog posts. The reader follows a group of girls as they make a new friend who is shamed for getting her first period in highschool. And it goes on not only to show a strong friendship between girls, but also anxiety that revolves around being a menstruating human. This is not a preachy book by any means, it’s a fun romp, that can play an important role in helping girls new to Aunt Flow understand what is going on.BTW any one else notice that menstruates and menstrations start with MEN. and Strates means low flow according to an online dictionary. Why is something so very XX biologically named after something so very XY. hummmmmThis read was not only educational, it was enjoyable, and one that I will recommended frequently to moms, daughters, or anyone else who needs to talk about menstruation.#LittleLoveBingo #recommendsday#KillYourTBR