Book Review: Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol

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Be Prepared
Author: Vera Brosgol
Reading Level: Middle Grade
Genres: Graphic Novel | Sports & Outdoors
Released: April 24, 2018
Review Source: First Second

A gripping and hilarious middle-grade summer camp memoir from the author of Anya's Ghost.

All Vera wants to do is fit in—but that’s not easy for a Russian girl in the suburbs. Her friends live in fancy houses and their parents can afford to send them to the best summer camps. Vera’s single mother can’t afford that sort of luxury, but there's one summer camp in her price range—Russian summer camp.

Vera is sure she's found the one place she can fit in, but camp is far from what she imagined. And nothing could prepare her for all the "cool girl" drama, endless Russian history lessons, and outhouses straight out of nightmares!

Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier, Cece Bell, and Victoria Jamieson, Vera Brosgol's Be Prepared is a funny and relatable middle-grade graphic novel about navigating your own culture, struggling to belong, and the value of true friendship.

Be Prepared is a cute story about a girl named Vera, that all she has ever wanted is to fit in with her peers. Vera has a tough time doing so, which causes her to be sad a lot. She doesn't understand why the other girls don't want to hang out with her like she does with them. Vera knows she is different since she is Russian, her parents are divorced, they are poor and her mom is finishing school. While the other girls come from wealthy families and have everything they want.

So after the debacle of her sleep-over birthday party, Vera is excite that she will finally (after some begging) be able to attend a summer camp. Every summer, Vera and her brother end up being the only two kids in town that never go on a summer camp trip, so she is ecstatic that she is finally doing so for the first time.

What might be the problem you ask? Vera was not expecting that the O.R.R.A. (Organization of Russian Razvedchiki in America) camp to be how it was. The camp had no bathrooms, you had to use outhouses called Hollywood. This also meant no running water, they showered at a lake. They had church services outside (even if it rained). NO CANDY ALLOWED (gasp)! The girls were mean just like back home, and it was just a lot of hard work really. She began asking her mom to please pick her up from camp, she didn't think she could last 2 weeks. Funny thing is, Mom did visit and on that second week, she finds out, they get to stay another 2 weeks. Was Vera mad or happy?

Well that's all your getting from me, to know what happens to Vera at camp, you'll have to check Be Prepared out. I loved loved loved the illustrations. I like that the colors matched the whole camping theme. Be Prepared is now in book stores, so grab your copy today.