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A review by tinaha083
Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol
3.0
This was a decently interesting read. Vera is a young girl of Russian-Jewish descent, who is trying to find a place to fit I with her American schoolmates. In an attempt to be like the other girls, she pesters her mother to go to summer camp...only this summer camp isn’t at all what she expects. Are the girls there any better than the ones she knew from school?
This book takes the subject of bullying and deals with it in a way that feels very real. As someone who’s been bullied and left out, her experience hit very close to home and it was decidedly uncomfortable to go back through my own experiences via Vera. I felt for and with her as she navigates mean girls, camp rules, and cliques. I think everyone would be able to relate to that. She dealt with older girls, and buying friendship, and loneliness in a really heartfelt way.
Where it started to fall into the “meh” category for me was in the execution. I know that she’s nine years old, but the bathroom humor felt even more juvenile because it was largely out of place. Not many of the characters were likable, including at time Vera herself. It just felt as though it was missing something.
Overall the book was serviceable, while not memorable. I liked it well enough but wasn’t impressed as I thought I would be from the cover.
This book takes the subject of bullying and deals with it in a way that feels very real. As someone who’s been bullied and left out, her experience hit very close to home and it was decidedly uncomfortable to go back through my own experiences via Vera. I felt for and with her as she navigates mean girls, camp rules, and cliques. I think everyone would be able to relate to that. She dealt with older girls, and buying friendship, and loneliness in a really heartfelt way.
Where it started to fall into the “meh” category for me was in the execution. I know that she’s nine years old, but the bathroom humor felt even more juvenile because it was largely out of place. Not many of the characters were likable, including at time Vera herself. It just felt as though it was missing something.
Overall the book was serviceable, while not memorable. I liked it well enough but wasn’t impressed as I thought I would be from the cover.