Maggie Thrash

Tegneserie - graphic novel. Maggie Thrash has spent basically every summer of her fifteen-year-old life at the one-hundred-year-old Camp Bellflower for Girls. She's never kissed a guy, she's into Backstreet Boys in a really deep way, and her long summer days are full of a pleasant, peaceful nothing - until one confounding moment. A split-second of innocent physical contact pulls Maggie into a gut-twisting love for an older, wiser, and most surprising of all (at least to Maggie), female counselor named Erin. But Camp Bellflower is an impossible place for a girl to fall in love with another girl. When it seems as if Erin maybe feels the same way about Maggie, it's too much for both Maggie and Camp Bellflower to handle, let alone to understand

Honor Girl

"Maggie Thrash has spent basically every summer of her fifteen-year-old life at the one-hundred-year-old Camp Bellflower for Girls, set deep in the heart of Appalachia. She's from Atlanta, she's never kissed a guy, she's into Backstreet Boys in a really deep way, and her long summer days are full of a pleasant, peaceful nothing . . . until one confounding moment. A split-second of innocent physical contact pulls Maggie into a gut-twisting love for an older, wiser, and most surprising of all (at least to Maggie), female counselor named Erin. But Camp Bellflower is an impossible place for a girl to fall in love with another girl, and Maggie's savant-like proficiency at the camp's rifle range is the only thing keeping her heart from exploding. When it seems as if Erin maybe feels the same way about Maggie, it's too much for both Maggie and Camp Bellflower to handle, let alone to understand"--

Lindy

A good portion of gay coming of age/coming out stories are totally unrelatable for me, but Honor Girl hit almost too close to home. Maggie Thrash captures the overwhelming confusion and delusion of waiting out what feels like an eternity of false starts. The details, like the campwide fascination with the Slog Boys and Maggie using an O-town poster for target practice, bring Honor Girl to life. 

I only wish that Thrash had chosen a point of view where she could engage in more critical reflection of her teenage self's interpretations; there's no sense of how Thrash continued to grow after the events of the memoir.

jess

I'm really glad I picked this up, because it was a very good and enjoyable graphic memoir. Camp stories are cool, and I loved the art style. It wasn't quite perfect, but it was quite reminiscent of being a 15-year-old. It was compelling and easy to read. 

I have to say that at the end I felt kind of ... left hanging, but since it's a memoir, I guess that's how life goes sometime.

Flavia Louise

I feel weird rating a memoir 3 stars but sadly I did not really like the art style and didn't really get it. :(

Alexa Jade

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

After years spending every summer at Kentucky's all-girls Camp Bellflower in Appalachia, where Civil War reenactments and general pre-debutante coaching is objectively the goal, fifteen year-old Maggie Thrash's life is thrown into confusion by a heady, deep crush on an older female camp counselor, 19 year-old Erin. This was definitely not pre-debutante approved crushing and Thrash learns first-hand how quickly heternormative pressures can be rallyed to keep her in line with the camp's objectives for white Southern girlhood.

It's the 90s and the hierarchy of girls in charge are adept at keeping younger girls under control. No one should be ambitious or arrogant about their skills, and certainly nobody should be coming out and falling in love with another girl. Maggie is a surprising crack shot at the rifle range but not allowed to be proud of it, deeply committed to her adoration of the Backstreet Boys and in particular Kevin Richardson, as well as pretty much just going through the motions at camp until her realization that Southern girlhood, and ultimately womanhood, is so much more complex and full of questions than she could have ever anticipated. All of the oldest campers are assumed to be focused on and competing to be the summer's Honor Girl, the top award and quite a loaded accolade full of spoken and unspoken rules about what it means to be a successful camper. But Honor Girl is nowhere on Maggie's radar. All she can think about is when she will see Erin again and would it ever be possible that Erin would like her back. 

This is a fabulously understated graphic memoir that was not only Thrash's coming out story but also her first time drawing and panelling a graphic story. You can read more about her decision to write her memoir and her creative process in this fun interview with MTV.

There is also a quirky booktrailer starring Thrash and summer camp vignettes with a great 90s vibe and some snogging here.

Highly recommended for readers 13 and up.

Nadine 

With a 15 year old protagonist this book raised a few concerns about whether or not to put it in the middle school library. You see, just yesterday we had an extensive discussion on language use, particularly swearing in our student population and how to try and moderate the more extreme violations of civilized conversations. 
So I'm all for ensuring my books are gender and sexual representation, but when right in the middle of an early page a character is screaming "Lets F***ing ROW" even if I know that's how kids talk, I'm like "really, must it?" 
There are other more important things going on in the book, so it will go into the collection. There is a lot of girl's discovering themselves that is important.
The thing is the sequel, "Lost Soul, be at Peace" is such a good book and so much deeper and just better generally and there's a place for having both in the collection. So sigh.

Logan Dittbrenner

i quite enjoyed this story. it was pretty light and fluffy and i got through it pretty fast. it helped me get out of a reading slump. i really wish the ending was different. the ending made me kind of sad and i want to know what happens next. it was still a good read for me

Hannah Knowles

Hmm. I feel like nothing really happened, especially at the end?

Chrissy

I usually enjoy graphic memoirs it's a fun way to learn about someone. But I struggled with the art style. I know that it's more about the story than the art but that is hard to not factor in when you are basically reading a picture book. The art style could be compared to a children's book ( I was asked if I was reading a children's book when I had left it open). 
The story itself was average. I'm sure it is something many readers will be able to relate to. Maggie goes to the same camp she has been going to for years but for some reason this year she starts to have feelings for someone she didn't think she would and she spends the whole summer trying to understand her feelings and what she is suppose to do with them. That part of it was interesting and kept me reading. But once camp is over and we get to 3 years later, not much has changed. The book ends with no solution and no info. I know life is filled with many moments of things staying confused and unresolved so that should make this more authentic but unfortunately for me it left me feeling like I wish I hadn't put my time to read this book. The only form of an epilogue we get is where the author ended up going to college. 
This would probably be a good book for this who want a coming of age, learning about your sexual preference. But I really feel like readers should be warned that the ending will be unsatisfying .

Angelyna Mintz 

I really enjoyed this book!!! But the ending? Really? I wanted more, I get its a true story but I felt that it just kinda ended so suddenly!

b.andherbooks

Maggie gets a hard crush on one of the counselors at the Christian summer camp she attends every year. The feeling may be mutual, but age difference and prejudice are huge stumbling blocks.

Vaguely reminiscent of Craig Thompson's Blankets, I appreciate Thrash's honesty over a period in her younger life and the way she left you feeling at the end of the story.

Honor Girl

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