When popular girl Katie Matthews gets dumped by her athlete boyfriend, who days later kills himself, the entire school goes into mourning overdrive.

With the school counsellors breathing down her neck and the popular clique (including Katie's best friend Julie Peters) forming a new club, Girls Celebrate Life (GCL), in its wake, Skim finds herself in the crosshairs, deepening her alienation.

In their review, Publishers Weekly called Skim an "auspicious graphic novel debut" with a "fine ear for dialogue" that is "rich in visuals and observations".

[20] Skim was listed as one of the Young Adult Library Services Association's 2009 Great Graphic Novels for Teens award.

[25] Two prominent Canadian graphic novelists, Seth and Chester Brown, circulated an open letter to the Canada Council asking them to revise the nomination,[26] arguing that unlike a more traditional illustrated book, a graphic novel's text and illustration are inseparable parts of the work's narrative, and that both women should accordingly be credited as equal co-authors.

Their letter was also endorsed by other prominent Canadian and American graphic novelists, including Lynda Barry, Dan Clowes, Art Spiegelman, Chris Ware and Julie Doucet, as well as by Chris Oliveros of Canadian comic and graphic novel publisher Drawn & Quarterly, and Peter Birkemore of Toronto comic store The Beguiling.

[28] Later, both Jillian and Mariko Tamaki applied for and received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts to launch Skim in Spain.