A fresh approach to a subject of perennial interest.
The 16-year-olds at Camp Silver Moon look back at their 12-year-old selves to offer advice to girls facing puberty.
The nine tightly bonded girls form a consciously diverse group of tall and short, skinny and curvy, athletic and dramatic counselors-in-training whose range of skin tones, hair textures, and experiences allows for advice for preteens and young teens of all sorts. They’ve organized their guide into chapters about puberty, hygiene, breasts, menstruation, puberty in boys (written by their male counterparts), health, and feelings (including romantic ones). Presented as if handwritten in a lined notebook, it’s appealingly decorated. Besides the customary physiological details, they offer advice on such topics as choosing and using brassieres and menstrual supplies, what to do about both head and body hair, and crushes of all sorts. The older girls are frank about variations in maturation (not limited to age of onset), sexual orientation, and gender identification. They often advise turning to an adult (not necessarily a parent) for information and support, but their comments make clear how much they have supported one another during these years of change. With an engaging premise, lively design, and comprehensive, inclusive content, this has sure-fire appeal—especially to girls who have been to summer camp or dreamed of going.
A fresh approach to a subject of perennial interest. (Nonfiction. 8-14)Pub Date: Dec. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5235-0268-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Workman
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy.
Through the author’s own childhood diary entries, a seventh grader details her inner life before and after 9/11.
Alyssa’s diary entries start in September 2000, in the first week of her seventh grade year. She’s 11 and dealing with typical preteen concerns—popularity and anxiety about grades—along with other things more particular to her own life. She’s shuffling between Queens and Manhattan to share time between her divorced parents and struggling with thick facial hair and classmates who make her feel like she’s “not a whole person” due to her mixed White and Puerto Rican heritage. Alyssa is endlessly earnest and awkward as she works up the courage to talk to her crush, Alejandro; gushes about her dreams of becoming a shoe designer; and tries to solve her burgeoning unibrow problem. The diaries also have a darker side, as a sense of impending doom builds as the entries approach 9/11, especially because Alyssa’s father works in finance in the World Trade Center. As a number of the diary entries are taken directly from the author’s originals, they effortlessly capture the loud, confusing feelings middle school brings out. The artwork, in its muted but effective periwinkle tones, lends a satisfying layer to the diary’s accessible and delightful format.
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy. (author's note) (Graphic memoir. 8-13)Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-77427-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many.
Young Raina is 9 when she throws up for the first time that she remembers, due to a stomach bug. Even a year later, when she is in fifth grade, she fears getting sick.
Raina begins having regular stomachaches that keep her home from school. She worries about sharing food with her friends and eating certain kinds of foods, afraid of getting sick or food poisoning. Raina’s mother enrolls her in therapy. At first Raina isn’t sure about seeing a therapist, but over time she develops healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her stress and anxiety. Her therapist helps her learn to ground herself and relax, and in turn she teaches her classmates for a school project. Amping up the green, wavy lines to evoke Raina’s nausea, Telgemeier brilliantly produces extremely accurate visual representations of stress and anxiety. Thought bubbles surround Raina in some panels, crowding her with anxious “what if”s, while in others her negative self-talk appears to be literally crushing her. Even as she copes with anxiety disorder and what is eventually diagnosed as mild irritable bowel syndrome, she experiences the typical stresses of school life, going from cheer to panic in the blink of an eye. Raina is white, and her classmates are diverse; one best friend is Korean American.
With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many. (Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-545-85251-7
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: May 11, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2019
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