YA Materials, Literature Log, Book #13: Honor Girl

Title: Honor Girl

Author: Maggie Thrash

Category: Graphic Novel


This graphic memoir follows Maggie, a fifteen-year-old girl, at an all-girls' summer camp in the mountains. Maggie isn't as boy-crazy as some of her fellow campers, and has never even kissed a boy, honestly. However, after a lice check performed by one of the counselors, Maggie finds herself startlingly attracted to the older girl - Erin. She tries to keep this to herself, but that's hard to do in an Appalachian summer camp in the 1990's, and Maggie finds herself watched by camp staff closer than she'd like.


I did not find the art in this graphic novel very engaging, personally, though the story was a good one to read. Thrash is a comic artist, but I found that hard to believe given the quality of art in Honor Girl. However, I will not deny that her story is important to young girls, especially those who, like Thrash, are from the south. She's honest in her depiction of that summer, and the confusion she felt at the time. I would use this book during Pride Month, I think, and emphasize the memoir aspect of Honor Girl, as a way of connecting to teens like Thrash.

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