Is it really bad? Are
kids mean to you?
No, it's just ...
Uncomfortable?
Yeah.
Well, that's the whole
point of camp! It's
supposed to be a challenge!
But I don't have any friends.
Everybody already knows
each other ... "
This graphic novel is perfect for middle graders, especially those who have a camping background. As a non-camper, having only attended one and hating every minute of it, I can relate to some of the scenes Vera Brosgol describes in this wonderful memoir. She bases it on her memories of the two summers she spent as a young girl at camp (which she hated).
"I wrote down all my memories in a big list, then grilled my siblings for THEIR memories. My mom dug up old letters and photos. I also interviewed Natasha, a former counselor who has been at camp much more recently than me. I even went to the camp myself, sneaking in during an open house to sketch and take photos. It was exactly as I remembered it, though they had added a door to the Hollywood and the campers were no longer washing their hair in the lake. (Thanks, Clean Water Act.)"
Vera is nine, and a Russian immigrant. She wants to be like the other kids. Because her church will pay for her to go, she begs her mother to allow attendance at camp. She can't wait to get there ... and then, she gets there. It is not the camp her friends are attending. It is nothing like she thought it would be. Traditions that many of the other Russian campers embrace are brand new to Vera. The girls can be mean, the outhouses are more than she can bear for their stink, the bugs are annoying, and she is downright miserable. Her older bunkmates use her artistic bent to draw sketches of the boys who interest them, to provide candy when they need it. They make fun of her at every turn. In the face of all the humiliation, she begins to find her footing when she finally meets a friend.
This is a wonderful graphic novel, and it will find many fans for Ms. Brosgol's work. The dialogue is spot-on, the pace is perfect and the artwork is full of feeling, even humor at times. Vera is a young girl to emulate, and to admire for her stamina and spunk. Vera endures, and eventually finds a place to belong.
The author speaks for me in an author's note in back matter:
"Though some details have changed a bit for dramatic purposes, the feelings are 100 percent true. I set out to write about a hard, lonely summer I had when I was a kid. It always took me a long time to make friends, and being dropped into a strange environment with older kids and giant horseflies didn't play to my strengths. Plenty of people love summer camp and look forward to it every year. Hooray for them, but I was not one of those people. I know I'm not alone in that experience, and this book will hopefully make some kids feel less alone, too. Or you can just laugh at what a weenie I was."
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