Welcome to Litsy!

Today is my son's first day as camp counselor, so for all the kids heading off to camp, let's share our favorite books about the experience for #middlegrademonday!

Be Prepared is a graphic memoir. Her family can't afford regular summer camp, but then she learns of Russian camp where everyone will be like her. She gets to go, but it isn't what she expected. Still, she learns and grows in important ways. Great coming of age memoir!

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Be Prepared solidified my suspicion that I'm very lucky to have never gone to a summer camp as a child.
Anya's ghost goes from awkward teen stuff to legitimately creepy to lessons learned in an admirably fluid manner. Both are a window into being a first generation Russian immigrant kid in America and/or the outsider. The illustration is expressive, though I can't help but be spoiled and wish for full colour rather than single tone wash of tint.

Vera shares about her summer camp in a style that flows as smoothly as fiction. She opens up about feeling Other because of her Russian family and customs, and because her family was low-income and couldn't do things quite the same way as her more wealthy friends. The sleepover scene was heartbreaking. It was fun watching her learn and grow at camp. #Comic #GraphicMemoir #Memoir #Nonfiction #Camp

I adore pop culture references in comics and graphic novels! #comic #Reference

We went to the Arc to find used baby blankets for one of our dogs, and somehow left with so many books (and only two of them were my fault)! #BookHaul #UsedBooks

I guess the author and I must be the same age because I got ALL of her references about her childhood! The book overall is about a girl who feels out of step with her peers going to Russian summer camp and not loving it (but surviving!). In the beginning she describes another girl‘s birthday party (Pizza Hut, Carvel cake) and this panel made me chuckle. The art and emotions portrayed are top notch and I definitely recommend this graphic novel.

I took this young adult graphic novel camping with me this weekend, and it was the perfect read for it!! So funny, relatable, heartfelt, emotional, entertaining, and beautifully drawn! I loved it!!

Expectation does not meet reality for Vera when she sets off to her first Summer Camp…

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5

This is going to be a very different school year for me, as the library is largely closed and I am spending most of my time in a 7th grade special ed classroom. The plus side is that they are awesome kids and were very excited when I brought them each a stack of books to choose from for free reading this week. My buddy here was so excited to finish this book today - he loved it! #schoollibraries #librariansoflitsy #teachersoflitsy

I‘m really bummed. My daughter and I had a trip from Ohio to Louisiana and Alabama planned for next week to tour three universities she‘s interested in. Had to cancel because of the health crisis. My one consolation is more reading time for #MiddleGradeMarch.
Tagged book, set at summer camp, was a great graphic novel about finding the place you fit in.

My review of this book can be found on my Youtube Vlog at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FABJ67N9sXo

Enjoy!

A graphic memoir... Vera is a 9-year-old Russian immigrant who desperately wants to fit in with the American kids in her suburban neighborhood. When she discovers there is a summer camp for Russian kids, she thinks she's finally found her people. Surprise!—Russian summer camp also kind of sucks, and Vera has to use all her ingenuity and bravery to make it through.

This is a standard fish-out-of-water story, but Brosgol writes with poignancy. ❤️

Who else has worn out purses and bags from years of carrying heavy books around *just in case*? #readerproblems #itme

#7ComicCovers7Days

Day 4

Day 18 - #Prepared #QuotsySept19

Read this because the art style was SO CUTE 😍. The story was also very cute, and as this was a graphic novel, a very short read. I finished it in one sitting. While I‘ve always loved going to camp, I was still able to empathize with Vera‘s struggles throughout the story and rooted for her to make good decisions in the end.

As someone who had both awful and amazing summer camp experiences, I could definitely relate to Vera - her excitement, her disappointment, her eventual resetting of expectations. Love the artwork!

Fantastic art once again, in shades of green, yellow, and brown. This comic brought back memories of mine from Girl Scout camp, both good and bad. Young Vera thinks summer camp will be a blast, but the older girls are mean to her, there‘s no candy allowed, and she has to use latrines! As the four weeks of camp go by, Vera learns a lot about herself and friendship.

#2019Book44
As someone who hated the two days of summer camp I managed to suffer through, I found a kindred spirit in the author/illustrator of this graphic novel. If camp and attempting to make new friends have never really been your favorite things, then definitely check out this book.

Life is good.

Got this graphic novel from the library. It‘s a true story about a camp for Russian-American girls that the author attended. Except it‘s not like she planned as she deals with Mean-girls, and the general “outside stuff” camping entails. Sounds like a good children‘s graphic novel about fitting in and acceptance when all you feel like is an outsider.

Just the two of us tonight, so it‘s a #bookanddinner Meatless Monday kind of night! Tagged Maya‘s book, which she is reading for the 50th or so time. 😂😂

On the plate: sweet potato, black bean and goat cheese quesadilla with salad. (Can you call it a salad if it‘s only lettuce and dressing?) 🧐

Part three of my #18in2018. (I‘m done now, I promise.)

I loved camp, so I did not fully identify with this protagonist. But so charming!

Super cute graphic novel about a girl who feels like she doesn‘t belong because of her family background, so she goes to a summer camp where everyone should be the same as her. Of course she discovers this is not enough to fit in. But she does have some adventures.

"If you're bitten by a wild animal, please go see a doctor and not a kid." #LifeLessons ?

#NoFemmeber Day 13: #SheWill be prepared for Russian camp! Being the youngest girl in her tweener camp, Vera used her skills as an artist to gain friends, as can be seen in the image above. However, her attempts backfired, as she found herself changing into someone she didn‘t really like all that much. Named by Mariko Tamaki during the Singapore Writers Festival as one of the best MG novels this year. My review: https://wp.me/pDlzr-iYK

This was a really cute book all about fitting in and how hard that can be

#BePrepared #Vera

This is an adorable middle grade graphic novel. The illustrations were amazing and I think everyone would be able to relate to the main character, Vera. I will be passing this along to my kids.

Grand Rapids Michigan haul!!! Went on an awesome day trip with two of my lovely sisters! They both got piercings like the pros they are and I felt blessed and excited to be with them! Plus look at all my loot! We went to #vaultofmidnight #booksandmortar and you know we did some thrift shopping! 😎 I've been wanting this Chipmunks album since I was a kid!

Fantastic fictionalized memoir of an awful summer at Russian summer camp for the middle grade crowd. As someone who hated camp, I relate strongly with Vera! This was like stepping into a time capsule. ⛺️

Home with a sick kid = time to finally start this one. I loved her first graphic novel, and her picture book. I‘m excited to see how this one measures up.

Maya has been at Green River Preserve, a sleepaway camp in the NC mountains since July 22! This photo popped up on their FB post last night, and it gave me ALL.THE.FEELS. ✨💞

They had just returned from a 3-day backcountry camping trip, I am not surprised that one of the first things she did after arriving back at the cabins was to grab the graphic novel I recently mailed to her in a care package! 💚📚⛺️

She comes home on Friday. 😃

Books finished today for #24in48 include 8 graphic novels and one short story novel collection. I also finished my current audiobook - The Girl Who Saved Christmas and read over 11 hours!! About to start another novel but probably won‘t last the hour. Happy reading everyone and see you in the morning!

If you‘ve ever been to sleepaway camp, you can relate to at least some of the experiences here. Brosgol does an excellent job of highlighting the good, the bad and the ugly. Loved this one, and kids are going to love it, too.

Adored this book 💚 Loved how the story was about the author‘s own experiences at summer camp. Definitely one of the best summer reads!

Loved this charming graphic novel. Mostly appropriate for all ages.

I read this book solely on cover and a spurt of some of my favorite graphic novelists having this ARC in their pictures.
I knew nothing except it was about camp. What I got was a little bit of my adolescent self: raised by immigrant parents, not fitting in socially or economically with my peers and the longing to be like everyone else.
This GN was charming and heartfelt. Vera's journey was a pleasure to follow!

Loved this graphic novel- it‘s the perfect summer camp read.

Very sweet autobiographical graphic novel about an immigrant girl who wants nothing more than to go to sleep-away summer camp like her more privileged friends. And when she finds a way go, which is Russian camp partially subsidized by the Orthodox Church, it turns out that camp is perhaps not all that it‘s purported to be. Loved the art style and minimal color palette.

Went hiking over the weekend and brought this graphic novel with me ^^ it was a fun read about a little girl named Vera who just wanted to go to camp like the other kids because she felt left out. She goes to Russian camp with her little brother where they learn about their culture and the history of their people. Vera not only learns more about her heritage but also how to make friends and enjoy herself despite the new and scary environment.

Loved this one! My 8YO son has read this 3x in the past 48 hrs as well. Funny and heartbreaking with charming illustrations.

Reading Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol in preparation for camping this weekend with 12 Girl Scouts!

It‘s a graphic novel kind of day. Today‘s reads, all 👍🏼!

Lovely new books! #bookhaul #bookmail #graphicnovel Can‘t wait to get started on these!

I always have a hard time deciding what to choose for #freecomicbookday but I'm pretty happy with my pick! I'm very excited to read these snippets from some great looking graphic novels, especially "Be Prepared". I actually had time to browse the shop (Paper Escape in Dixon, Illinois) this year and I found the discount boxes in the back and...

Had a chance to sneak this one in while daughter was doing stage crew stuff. Brosgol—author of Anya‘s Ghost & Leave Me Alone!—tackles summer camp in her latest. Vera is desperate to go, like everyone else in her neighborhood, but when she finally does, it‘s not the idyllic vacation she thought it would be. There are mean older girls, outhouses & bugs. Lots & lots of bugs. It takes time but Vera gets over her fears & even makes some friends.

Check out my latest #graphicnovelreview at LaceyDoesLit.com! #graphicnovel #reading #reader #arc #bookish #advancecopy #