Guts

Starred review from May 13, 2019
With disarming candor and in her now instantly recognizable panel artwork, Eisner Award–winner Telgemeier weaves a tangle of personal preadolescent traumas into another compelling graphic memoir. A bout of stomach flu and some unpleasant encounters with food create in young Raina’s mind a swirling miasma of fear that she’ll throw up. This anxiety blights her school days (she freezes during a class presentation with her best friend and lashes out at a bullying schoolmate) and extends into fears about sickness and schoolwork, and frustrations with her raucous household. Telgemeier frames the girl’s panic attacks accessibly as sickly circles of green crowded with big, blocky words (“pain drowning choking death bad at math”). Raina’s parents take her to see therapist Lauren, who helps her to ground her fears and gain enough emotional strength to reconcile herself to changing friend dynamics, and an IBS diagnosis clarifies the way that mind and body can intertwine. Moments of middle school drama are portrayed with credibility, and the story both normalizes therapy and shows a child developing useful coping mechanisms for anxiety in a way that will reassure, even inspire, readers. Ages 8–12.

Starred review from August 1, 2019

Gr 3-6-Telgemeier presents a new story from her childhood, which takes place when she was in the fourth and fifth grades. After her little sister brought home a case of stomach flu, young Raina woke up one night with an upset stomach and had to vomit. Then a boy in her class was made fun of for throwing up at school, and Raina worried about getting sick again. Her anxiety only led to more stomach troubles, and she also dealt with a school bully and a friend moving away. Raina's parents stayed supportive throughout, and they got her into therapy; eventually, she was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome. The subject matter is conveyed realistically but with humor-anxiety can be taken seriously, and farts can still be funny. Telgemeier's art is incredibly expressive, and the green circles that surround Raina will have readers feeling nauseous along with her as her panic intensifies. Especially important is a scene in which Raina's therapist talks her through a grounding technique and deep breathing exercise, giving readers a coping technique that they can use. VERDICT A must. Fans of Smile and Sisters will adore this new story starring Raina and her family, but newcomers to Telgemeier's work will also love Guts.-Kacy Helwick, New Orleans Public Library

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2019
Grades 3-6 After a particularly bad bout of the flu in fourth grade, Raina keeps having stomach aches and intense feelings about food and germs. The thought of being near a sick person sends her into a panic, and conflicts among her friends at school and embarrassment about bodily functions in general certainly don't help matters. In this third graphic memoir, Telgemeier describes her childhood anxiety in an approachable, nonjudgmental way and emphasizes how useful talk therapy can be. Her depiction of her spiraling anxious thoughts, often in noxious greens and crowded by negative self-talk in bulky fonts, nicely show both how isolating anxiety can feel and how physical it can be. Telgemeier's particular talent for rendering evocative facial expressions with only a few carefully placed marks makes the pain, worry, and panic in Raina's face and body language unmistakable. As in Smile (2009) and Sisters (2014), Telgemeier gets to the heart of middle-school experiences, from the playground jokes to the minefield of shifting friendships, and the many, many fans of her work will be enchanted by this as well.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Telgemeier is a force unto herself in kids graphic novels. Trust me, this will have a lengthy wait list.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2019
Color by Braden Lamb. In this graphic memoir chronicling her fourth-grade year, Telgemeier (Smile; Sisters) sensitively captures the traumas of anxiety. A stomach bug ushers in a fear of vomiting; as her phobia worsens, she starts missing school, limiting foods, and engaging in compulsive behaviors. Telgemeier expertly uses scale and perspective to animate the terror of panic attacks. She also addresses the insecurities of tween female friendships, the stigma of therapy, and the onset of puberty.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from September 1, 2019
In this graphic memoir chronicling her fourth-grade year, Telgemeier (Smile; Sisters, rev. 11/14) shares her childhood experiences with anxiety. A bout with a stomach bug ushers in emetophobia (fear of vomiting), leaving young Raina trembling and plagued by digestion issues during moments of insecurity, as when making a class presentation. As her phobia worsens, she starts missing school, limiting what she eats, and engaging in compulsive behaviors to self-soothe and manage her loss of self-control. Her parents take her to a therapist, who guides her in coping with her phobia and panic attacks. Sensitively capturing the traumas of anxiety ( Can you be sick even if you're not sick? Can you be healthy even if you hurt? Raina wonders), Telgemeier also addresses the insecurities of tween female friendships, the stigma of therapy, and the onset of puberty. She expertly uses scale and perspective to animate the terror of panic attacks; in one bile-colored spread, Raina falls through the very floor tiles, gasping and screaming. There's a fair amount of bodily-function humor?the book's last panel features a big FARRRRRT! ?but it's never at the expense of the book's serious subject matter. In a closing note, Telgemeier recommends that readers experiencing anxiety talk to a trusted adult and acknowledges that her own anxiety is ongoing but manageable, just part of who I am. julie Danielson

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

September 1, 2019
In this graphic memoir chronicling her fourth-grade year, Telgemeier (Smile; Sisters, rev. 11/14) shares her childhood experiences with anxiety. A bout with a stomach bug ushers in emetophobia (fear of vomiting), leaving young Raina trembling and plagued by digestion issues during moments of insecurity, as when making a class presentation. As her phobia worsens, she starts missing school, limiting what she eats, and engaging in compulsive behaviors to self-soothe and manage her loss of self-control. Her parents take her to a therapist, who guides her in coping with her phobia and panic attacks. Sensitively capturing the traumas of anxiety ( Can you be sick even if you're not sick? Can you be healthy even if you hurt? Raina wonders), Telgemeier also addresses the insecurities of tween female friendships, the stigma of therapy, and the onset of puberty. She expertly uses scale and perspective to animate the terror of panic attacks; in one bile-colored spread, Raina falls through the very floor tiles, gasping and screaming. There's a fair amount of bodily-function humor?the book's last panel features a big FARRRRRT! ?but it's never at the expense of the book's serious subject matter. In a closing note, Telgemeier recommends that readers experiencing anxiety talk to a trusted adult and acknowledges that her own anxiety is ongoing but manageable, just part of who I am. julie Danielson

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)