Guts by Raina Telgemeier

Summary from Goodreads:

A true story from Raina Telgemeier, the #1 New York
Times bestselling, multiple Eisner Award-winning author of
Smile, Sisters, Drama, and Ghosts!

Raina wakes up one night with a terrible upset stomach. Her mom has one, too, so it's probably just a bug. Raina eventually returns to school, where she's dealing with the usual highs and lows: friends, not-friends, and classmates who think the school year is just one long gross-out session. It soon becomes clear that Raina's tummy trouble isn't going away... and it coincides with her worries about food, school, and changing friendships. What's going on?

Raina Telgemeier once again brings us a thoughtful, charming, and funny true story about growing up and gathering the courage to face -- and conquer -- her fears.

Review:

So technically, this comes out in September. I snagged an ARC from a very friendly bookstore. I’m a huge fan of Raina Telgemeier. As a Youth Services Librarian, she’s one of those authors/artists I wish I could shake hands with and personally thank for inspiring so many young people to read. She made comic books cool, accessible, and fun for young girls. I feel like most graphic novels and comics were and still are aimed for boys. Smile was the first one I read, specifically speaking to girls. And I loved it. And so does every girl who reads it.

That all being said, this is probably my least favorite of all her books. This doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. I just didn’t’ enjoy it as much as her other graphic novels.  I still read it in one sitting. I still was transfixed by the art. I still can see many young girls loving and connecting with the story. I just didn’t connect to it as much.

Maybe a tiny bit of my issue with it is that I suffer from 2 GI disorders, and I was kind of hoping that’s what would be covered here. Instead, this is a story about anxiety. To be fair, more people probably suffer from anxiety than GI disorders, and the author herself has anxiety, so it makes sense. I was wrongly hoping it would be about what I had…And then one of the disorders I have was even mentioned as what Raina had…but it wasn’t taken seriously, and the author kind of made it sound like the disorder was part of anxiety…and it’s not. I guess some people can have both the disorder and anxiety, but not everyone. And it’s definitely not something that only exists in my head. I wish the GI disorder wasn’t mentioned at all, so this wouldn’t be an issue. And I get this is all personal for me in ways most young readers won’t comprehend. But, it bothered me.

I like that Raina is still going through all the normal friendship dramas and family dramas in the background. I feel like some of her friendship problems are ones I’ve definitely had. I also love watching Raina learn about who she is, accept the help of therapy, and learn that sharing things about herself can actually help her relate better to her friends. I also think it’s great that there is a book out there for young people that tackles the complications of anxiety in an easy-to-understand way. All in all I give this one a 7/10.