Be Prepared, by Vera Brosgol

Oh, just look at those huge, magnified Tragic Eyes behind her glasses on the cover there. This poor kid.

I TOTALLY FEEL THE SAME WAY ABOUT CAMPING, FRIEND.

Ahem. So, yes, I think that Vera Brosgol’s Be Prepared is the first book I’ve read about summer camp that really, really spoke to my personal experience, which was… NOT GREAT? And, like our protagonist, it was due to regular growing up stuff AND to a bad fit, personality- and interest-wise, not to Horrible Counselors or whatever.

Sometimes, it’s really nice to read something that affirms the idea that not every activity or Beloved Childhood Experience is going to be a great fit for everyone, and that THAT’S OKAY.

Obviously, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Be Prepared is a graphic novel/memoir—Brosgol includes an Author’s Note at the end that explains how MANY of the events and ALL of the emotions in the book are based on her own experience, BUT that she condensed things & changed timelines & so on to make for a stronger, more satisfying read—about Brosgol’s own time at summer camp.

In opens with eight-year-old Vera—whose family only immigrated from Russia a few years ago—struggling to fit in with her peers at home. Her family has less money, and they have different traditions. She feels like a square peg trying to jam into a round hole, but she’s still super lonely when her sort-of friends all scatter off to various camps for the summer.

But then! She finds out that there’s a summer camp for kids just like her! It’s Russian! It’s Orthodox! She’s determined to go there next year and make a million friends and get to know kids just! like! her! and it’s going to be amazing!

…or not. Turns out that when you’re a nine-year-old first-time camper and you get slotted into a tent with 14-year-olds who’ve been camp besties for years, that doesn’t make for a fantastic summer.

It’s funny, it’s heartbreaking—it will be more so, I think, for adult readers, as I think the target audience is more likely to feel seen—and, most importantly (to me), it’s HONEST. It portrays growing up—and life in general—as messy and confusing and sometimes lonely and full of ups and downs and it doesn’t offer up platitudes. It just… tells it like it was (and is).

It’s honest, in particular, about some of those ugly moments from childhood that we look back on with shame. Those moments where we did NOT do the right thing? Those moments in which we lashed out at the wrong person, in which we joined in on bullying instead of standing up for the target? Those moments, in Be Prepared, aren’t the focus—it’s largely an easy-going reading experience—but they’re very, very true to life, and all the points to Brosgol for including them, because they’re not flattering.

But, again, the reason they resonate is because I suspect that most of us can absolutely look back and think of similar moments in our own lives.

Let’s not end this on that note, though—instead, let’s end with the moment that encapsulates MY TRUE INNER SELF: