tweyant's review against another edition
3.0
I expected a lot more from this book. I loved the concept behind it — young girl goes to camp and discovers herself. Sounds great, right? Meh. It was just okay for me. The pictures fell flat and the story had no real climax or resolution. Granted, it’s based on a true story, so the events probably accurately represent the author’s life. I just wanted more.
carriepond's review against another edition
5.0
Maggie Thrash’s coming-of-age graphic memoir about her girlhood crush on her female camp counselor is just wonderful. It breaks your heart in the way that only being a teenager can.
pwbalto's review against another edition
3.0
I kind of can't get past the fact that Maggie Thrash can't draw. In fact, I'm a little fascinated that the book is readable despite the fact that she can't draw.
Maggie is at sleepaway camp somewhere in Kentucky, an all-girls camp that has been around for generations. This is a super preppy Southern girls camp - white girls from upper-class families shooting rifles and making friendship bracelets. Maggie has been going to this camp for years, as did her mother and grandmother. This summer, she's sixteen - she'll be preparing for her cotillion when she gets home. It's a great time for her to develop a crush on an older girl.
Maggie's story is great. The pacing is good - the writing communicates the languid rhythms of camp days and the suspended quality of all-summer sleepaway camp. Her relationship with the older girl builds by glances and awkward, nonaccidental accidental touches. We've all been there.
But for Pete's sake, why is she drawing her own book? This is not me being mean - I've seen Maggie Thrash speak and she'll be like, "I never drew a thing before I started making this book!" And it's not like she's a natural. Eyes are blank ovals with kind of a hashmark off the top, landscape is minimal, and the only way to tell characters apart is by their hair.
It reminds me of the way the 5th grade girls all drew puppies one year. Every kid's notebook was covered with shaggy pups with blank oval eyes and a hair bow. And I mean, maybe that's going to make the book more relatable. I have been surprised more than once by kids developing great affection for really badly-drawn graphic novels. (3-2-3 Detective Agency - WHYYYYY?)
And I love how there are so many graphic novels set at sleepaway camp or boarding school: Chiggers, Supermutant Magic Academy, Lumberjanes, The War at Ellsmere.
Maggie is at sleepaway camp somewhere in Kentucky, an all-girls camp that has been around for generations. This is a super preppy Southern girls camp - white girls from upper-class families shooting rifles and making friendship bracelets. Maggie has been going to this camp for years, as did her mother and grandmother. This summer, she's sixteen - she'll be preparing for her cotillion when she gets home. It's a great time for her to develop a crush on an older girl.
Maggie's story is great. The pacing is good - the writing communicates the languid rhythms of camp days and the suspended quality of all-summer sleepaway camp. Her relationship with the older girl builds by glances and awkward, nonaccidental accidental touches. We've all been there.
But for Pete's sake, why is she drawing her own book? This is not me being mean - I've seen Maggie Thrash speak and she'll be like, "I never drew a thing before I started making this book!" And it's not like she's a natural. Eyes are blank ovals with kind of a hashmark off the top, landscape is minimal, and the only way to tell characters apart is by their hair.
It reminds me of the way the 5th grade girls all drew puppies one year. Every kid's notebook was covered with shaggy pups with blank oval eyes and a hair bow. And I mean, maybe that's going to make the book more relatable. I have been surprised more than once by kids developing great affection for really badly-drawn graphic novels. (3-2-3 Detective Agency - WHYYYYY?)
And I love how there are so many graphic novels set at sleepaway camp or boarding school: Chiggers, Supermutant Magic Academy, Lumberjanes, The War at Ellsmere.
daydreamangel18's review against another edition
3.0
Maggie Thrash's graphic memoir was an average read to me. I understand that it was an important summer of her sexual awakening but in term of entertainment value, it felt quite pedestrian. I liked some parts of it that take me back to the start of the 3rd millennium, and just for sheer nostalgia, it was relatable and familiar since I am about the author's age. The campers, however, were virtually indistinguishable to me, and I couldn't tell them apart - were they drew not differently enough or was the shoddy caricatures intentional? And the ending felt anticlimactic and I was disappointed that Maggie blew her chance (I know it's a true story but still). Anyways, it wasn't horrible but not anything special either.
ellieafterall's review against another edition
3.0
4.5 out of 5 stars. I really, really liked this. I think it felt honest and understandable, especially as a gay girl, and it felt realistic. A teenager who’s struggling with herself and her feelings for a girl. Both things she had never even though about before. And reading it in graphic novel form, too, i think made it more realistic and relatable? like I could picture myself sitting in a corner questioning things. I just wish it didn’t end so abruptly and like, open. I don’t know.
What was I doing before? Was I just...floating along? Maybe I was better off that way. Because what’s ironic is that being in love doesn’t actually make you happy. It makes it impossible to be happy. You’re carrying this desire now. Maybe if you knew where it came from, you could put it back. But you don’t.
What was I doing before? Was I just...floating along? Maybe I was better off that way. Because what’s ironic is that being in love doesn’t actually make you happy. It makes it impossible to be happy. You’re carrying this desire now. Maybe if you knew where it came from, you could put it back. But you don’t.
krissyronan's review against another edition
4.0
Great graphic coming of age memoir. Recommend for teens.
readerpants's review against another edition
4.0
I can't disagree that the art has some sloppy elements, but the story pulled me in and felt super authentic... especially the "oh my god, she touched my knee, I'm exploding" parts.