Guts: A Graphic Novel

by Raina Telgemeier

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545852500
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	09/17/2019
Series:	Smile and Sisters Series
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	5,687
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	GN480L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Raina Telgemeier is the #1 New York Times bestselling, multiple Eisner Award–winning creator of Smile, Sisters, and Guts, which are all graphic memoirs based on her childhood. She is also the creator of Drama and Ghosts, and is the adapter and illustrator of the first four Baby-sitters Club graphic novels. Raina lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. To learn more, visit her online at goraina.com.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Guts:

#1 USA Today Bestseller

#1 New York Times Bestseller

New York Times Best Comic of 2019

New York Times Best Children's Book of 2019

Washington Post Best Graphic Novel of the Year

Forbes Best Graphic Novel of 2019, Honorable Mention

NPR Best Book/Book Concierge

TIME Best Book of the Year

Amazon Top 20 Children's Book of 2019

Today.com Best Kids' Book of 2019

Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best

School Library Journal Best Book of the Year

School Library Journal Best Graphic Novel of the Year

A 2020 CBC Children’s & Teen Choice Book Award Winner

* "The story both normalizes therapy and shows a child developing useful coping mechanisms for anxiety in a way that will reassure, even inspire, readers." — Publishers Weekly, starred review

* "A must." — School Library Journal, starred review

"A compassionate and accessible look at one girl's struggles with anxiety." — The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Praise for Smile:

#1 New York Times Bestseller

Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Winner

Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book

"Irresistible, funny, and touching." — Kirkus Reviews

"One of the most widely loved kids' graphic novels in recent history." — Booklist

"It hits home partly because there is nothing else out there like it." — The New York Times Book Review

Praise for Sisters:

#1 New York Times Bestseller

Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Winner

* "A wonderfully charming tale of family and sisters that anyone can bond with." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "Poignant and laugh-out-loud funny." — Publishers Weekly, starred review

* "Utterly relatable for anyone with siblings." — School Library Journal, starred review

Praise for Drama:

#1 New York Times Bestseller

An ALA Stonewall Honor Book

* "Telgemeier is prodigiously talented at telling cheerful stories with realistic portrayals of middle-school characters." — Booklist, starred review

* "Pitch-perfect." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "Another dead-on look at the confusing world of middle school." — Publishers Weekly, starred review

* "An entertaining and enlightening read." — School Library Journal, starred review

Praise for Ghosts:

#1 New York Times Bestseller

* "Telgemeier has her finger on the pulse of middle-grade readers, and this might be her best yet." — Booklist, starred review

* "Superior visual storytelling." — Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "Telgemeier nudges readers toward the edge of their comfort zone, but she never leaves them alone there." — Publishers Weekly, starred review

From the Publisher

★ 08/01/2019

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

School Library Journal

No other book I have read on [anxiety]…has captured with such brilliant economy and psychological acuity what a severe phobia or panic attack is like. So spot on is her portrayal that I wondered if Telgemeier had somehow taken up residence in my amygdala…Though Telgemeier's drawing style owes more to the exaggerated caricatures of newspaper comic strips—the bright colors and the simple features—than to the straight realism or stylized grittiness of graphic novels aimed at older readers, her images convey emotional depth and resonance that belie their cartoony aesthetic…If Judy Blume wrote graphic novels, this is what they would look like…This books's warmth, humanity and humor…provides a balm more soul-soothing than any pill.

The New York Times Book Review - Scott Stossel

★ 05/13/2019

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 elementary 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. (Sept.)

Correction: A previous version of this review misstated the characters as being in middle school.

Publishers Weekly

2019-05-12
Young Raina is 9 when she throws up for the first time that she remembers, due to a stomach bug. Even a year later, when she is in fifth grade, she fears getting sick.

Raina begins having regular stomachaches that keep her home from school. She worries about sharing food with her friends and eating certain kinds of foods, afraid of getting sick or food poisoning. Raina's mother enrolls her in therapy. At first Raina isn't sure about seeing a therapist, but over time she develops healthy coping mechanisms to deal with her stress and anxiety. Her therapist helps her learn to ground herself and relax, and in turn she teaches her classmates for a school project. Amping up the green, wavy lines to evoke Raina's nausea, Telgemeier brilliantly produces extremely accurate visual representations of stress and anxiety. Thought bubbles surround Raina in some panels, crowding her with anxious "what if"s, while in others her negative self-talk appears to be literally crushing her. Even as she copes with anxiety disorder and what is eventually diagnosed as mild irritable bowel syndrome, she experiences the typical stresses of school life, going from cheer to panic in the blink of an eye. Raina is white, and her classmates are diverse; one best friend is Korean American.

With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many. (Graphic memoir. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews