Review: Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong by Prudence Shen and Faith Erin Hicks

Title: Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong
Author: Prudence Shen and Faith Erin Hicks
Publisher: First Second 
Age Group: Young Adult
Category: Graphic Novel
Release date: May 7th, 2013
Pages: 288 (Paperback)
Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: Publisher
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You wouldn’t expect Nate and Charlie to be friends. Charlie’s the laid-back captain of the basketball team, and Nate is the neurotic, scheming president of the robotics club. But they are friends, however unlikely—until Nate declares war on the cheerleaders. At stake is funding that will either cover a robotics competition or new cheerleading uniforms—but not both. 

It's only going to get worse: after both parties are stripped of their funding on grounds of abominable misbehavior, Nate enrolls the club's robot in a battlebot competition in a desperate bid for prize money. Bad sportsmanship? Sure. Chainsaws? Why not. Running away from home on Thanksgiving to illicitly enter a televised robot death match? Of course! 

In Faith Erin Hicks' and Prudence Shen's world of high school class warfare and robot death matches, Nothing can possibly go wrong.

Last year, I lost my graphic novel virginity with Friends With Boys by Faith Erin Hicks.  Though many things originally drew me to the book, the illustrations were what made me love the story even more.  When I saw that Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong was about a robotics club AND was illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks, I knew I had to dive in.   Of course, as I'd hoped, I enjoyed this book from start to finish.  As Prudence Shen's debut, she should be very proud.  Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong is the story of two completely different groups of people coming together for a common cause.  With many laugh-out-loud moments, lovable characters and an awesome plot, readers will fly through this story in a matter of hours.

Charlie and Nate have been close since childhood, though they've always been very different on the outside. When the issue of which team should get the limited amount of funding for the things they need, such as uniforms for the cheerleaders or a chance to go to the national robotics competition, each character takes it into their own hands.  This will cause many laugh-worthy scenes throughout the book as both of the boys (willingly and unwillingly) compete against each other to become school president in order to choose which club will get the money they need.

The characters were perfect for this story from the start.  There was Charlie: the jock, his ex girlfriend named Holly and her intimidating group of cheerleaders, and Nate: the president of the robotics club.  There were also a few smaller characters that don't get much face time, but I have to say that my favorite of all of the characters was Joanna, the heart of the robotics team.  She's quirky and kickass, but most of all, she seems to have an unhealthy attachment to their robot, The Beast, and that's what made her so lovable.  As for the artwork, I can definitely say that I loved it, but I knew I would before I even started the book.  The illustrations capture the moments and the characters feelings perfectly.

Overall, Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong was great, because it didn't only show us the story that was expected.  There was more to it, including a glimpse of Charlie's broken family life and how that has affected him over the years.  Those little scenes really tied the book together for me, because it made the story more genuine.  I would highly recommend this book to those who find themselves even the slightest bit interested in robotics, the difficulties of high school, and friendship.