Be Prepared by Vera Brosgol was a entertaining story about the struggles of loneliness, sleepovers, and summer camp. As I read the story I could see many children connecting with the story for various reasons: single parent family, not as much money as everyone else, sibling rivalry, not quite digging in our knowing how, friendships or lack thereof, camp life, Russian heritage, and so much more. There was something for everyone in this graphic novel. Brosgol did an excellent job of giving her own history through this book. The end pages with photos and letters of her and her brother at camp made the book that much better. I am looking forward to sharing this story with students.

I enjoyed the book overall. It’s a nice exploration of isolation and a true coming of age story with a very different protagonist. I didn’t really enjoy the green color. I wish it had been more like some of the books by Raina Telgemeier... or Roller Girl. I got past the color, but I think it might be a turnoff for some readers. .

Be prepared was a great graphic novel to give students a look at someone who is their age and having a hard time during it. It is a bonus that this book talks about what is like to be from another country and how that makes it even harder to for in!

Engaging, relateable, and charming. This graphic novel memoir will appeal, I am sure, to both adult and young person audiences.

I sped through this book, I was enjoying it so much. The storytelling is so deft and pleasing you don't notice 200 pages have gone by. The themes of youthful isolation as an outcast, coming of age, identity, and power dynamics among tweens. It's so delicious to read a graphic novel, especially one for kids, that's so adept at showing, and not telling its story. I didn't even connect the dots that she is also the author of Anya's Ghost. Well done!

Being a kid is hard. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Being part of a single-parent, immigrant family with customs much different than those of your classmates? Well, for Vera that's a whole new level of difficult. Vera Brosgol has penned a heartwarming (and at times heartwrenching) story of time spent at summer camp, desperately trying to fit in and enjoy herself. As the back matter explains, the book is very much an amalgamation of true stories, fit into a shortened timeline. Readers will recognize a bounty of familiar and very real feelings and situations common to not just summer camps, but middle schools everywhere. Whether it's bugs in the bug juice, not understanding why the older, bully boy is "cute", getting bit by a rabid (maybe? aie!) chipmunk, or just feeling left out, Brosgol's words and illustrations pack a wallop of emotion. Not without it's fair share of humor, "Be Prepared" is a wonderful choice for tweens and young teens finding their way, navigating life changes, or, of course, heading off to camp. Highly recommended!

I had really enjoyed Vera Brosgol graphic novel, Anya's Ghost, so I was excited to read this one.
Be Prepared is a graphic memoir about the memorable summer young Vera spent at a Russian summer camp. She doesn't really feel like she fits in with all the girls at school but feels confident that she will find friends and happiness at camp. However, she quickly discovers that girl drama can happen in any and all settings, the great outdoors can be not so great, and sometimes the hardest thing you can do is to be true to yourself.
I love Brosgol's style of illustrations and I found that the story was one that can really resonate with the reader. Funny, relatable, and heartfelt, Be Prepared is a great middle grade choice for readers.

A splendid coming of age story for tweens. I didn't like the color of the illustrations and I hope that it will be either muted or changed in the final edition.

The illustrations were by far my favourite part of this book. By turns funny, sweet, and poignant, they really brought a depth to what might have otherwise been a fairly typical outsider story.

It was definitely intriguing to see a second generation Russian immigrant story, as that's not a sub-genre you see much of, and even though this was very 'slice of life' instead of what one might think of as a fully fleshed out story, the author's afterword really seals it as a book that deserves to be on library shelves everywhere.

It would be hard to top Anya's Ghost for any writer as that was such an amazing graphic novel. I enjoyed this one but I hope that the lime green color is not the final color for production as I found that slightly jarring throughout. There are many stories about tweens going to summer camp but I like that this one had the "Russian Camp" element to it so I can recommend this book to Russian speakers.

This book is phenomenal and a must-have for any library collection where books like "Smile" and "Lumberjanes" fly off the shelves!