Raina is anxious about therapy, but her therapist is patient and understanding, often encouraging her to just "try," even when the words don't come easily. She is also the creator of Drama and Ghosts , and is the adapter and illustrator of the first four Baby-sitters Club graphic novels. Yet another graphic novel for older children/middle grades by rock star graphic novelist Raina Telgemeier, and this one is maybe her most serious and personal, dealing with her lifelong (and continuing! As always the art is cute and colorful, and in this installment the author does a deeper, more personal dive into these topics, without dumbing things down for kids. Where Smile is about Raina's insecurities about her braces, and Sisters is about her difficult relationship with her sister, Guts is about her anxiety.

The entire intro is devoted to Raina and her friends delighting in all things disgusting; farts, and scabs, and vomit. The therapist helps her to realize that her problems with her stomach are caused by severe stress brought on by fears of doing well in school, puberty, and trying new foods. Not only do I have IBS, and have had stomach aches and "nervous stomach" since childhood, but while I don't have anxiety, I do have depression, and I wish I had had books like this as a kid to show me that I was not alone, not a freak, and not about to die! From the popular manga "Berserk" comes a POP UP PARADE L figure of Guts wearing the Berserker Armor. A thoughtful, charming, and funny true story about growing up and gathering the courage to face — and eventually conquer — fear.

It is a topic that is not commonly discussed in a format for young readers - and I appreciated Telgemeier's candor. Her interactive journal, Share Your Smile, encourages budding creators to try their hand at making comics of their own.

While the feeling is difficult to explain in words, Raina does an apt job communicating the feeling through images of the character falling through the bathroom floor while struggling to stay above.It makes it all the sadder when Raina loses that sort of innocent fascination and sense of icky fun and has it replaced instead with fear. I manage well now, but even when I was a college student, I made sure to sit in the aisle seat in case I had to run out unexpectedly, at movies, at restaurants, at class; I avoided airplanes and buses where I would be trapped without an escape if I was sick; and I never talked about it to anybody. should not face so much scrutiny, secrecy and stigma) but I am going to lower my rating to three stars because to and for me, in particular how Michelle and Raina end up burying their hatchet and become if not friends then at least no longer enemies has felt more than a bit rushed and should have (in my humble opinion) been given a considerably longer textual treatment.