by Vera Brosgol
Recently, I just finished an amazing graphic novel named Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol. It’s a slightly modified memoir from the author’s childhood. She came from Russia to America when she was five, and longed to fit in. Every summer, her American friends would go to a camp while she was stuck at home with her brother and baby sister, but this year was going to be different. Vera was going to go to a camp as well. A Russian camp. A place where she thought she would be accepted.
She arrived there in July, ready to have fun, but she was unaware of how disappointed she would be in the next coming days. She met her cabin mates, both named Sasha, and both 4 years older than she. No one wanted to be her friend, and the outhouse smelled terrible. Everyone treated her like an outcast, until she started to gift her drawings to everyone. They instantly wanted to be friends with her.
But, buying friends wasn’t the right way to do it. That’s why, when Vera took some of Sasha’s skittles, thinking her new friend wouldn’t mind, she got the whole cabin in trouble, and now no one wanted to play with her. But later in the book, Vera found a better friend. Someone who loved drawing and nature as much as she.
This book reminded me heavily of an outdoor camp I went to this past summer. I went there with my friend from home, so I did not need to worry about losing any, and I definitely gained some more new friends. I had a lot of fun there, and all the counselors were very nice.
I thought that the author’s palette for this book was intriguing.The green really roughed out the nature in the camp, which I thought was unique. The ink also looked cool with the green and shades of grey. It just focused on the green parts in the scene a bit more.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I think that it is fit for children ages 5 to 14.