Guts: A Graphic Novel by Raina Telgemeier

One Sentence Summary

Guts: A Graphic Novel by Raina Telgemeier is a funny and inspiring story about gaining courage to stand up to our fears and move forward with determination.

Book Genre

Guts: A Graphic Novel is a coming-of-age Story, a memoir, and a graphic novel.

Main Topic of the Book

Guts is an autobiographical story about Raina Telgemeier’s experiences growing up and finding the courage to confront her fears.

Key Ideas

• Fear shouldn’t stop us from living.
• It takes bravery to find our courage.
• We can find strength in even the most difficult of times.
• We all have something that triggers anxiety.

Main Parts of the Book and a Short Summary

Guts is broken into three main sections:

• Lights Out – This section follows Raina’s struggles with her anxiety, how it is affecting her daily life, and how she deals with it through changes in her routine and the support of her family.
• Dance Class – In this section, Raina starts taking dance lessons and learns to view her anxiety as both a weakness and strength.
• Sink or Swim – Here Raina has to face her fears during a school production and finds the courage to overcome them.

Key Takeaways

• Sometimes, we must go out of our comfort zone and take risks in order to achieve our goals.
• We can find strength in ourselves and in the support of our family.
• Like Raina, we can learn to use our anxious moments for good and achieve success.

Author’s Background and Qualifications

Raina Telgemeier is an acclaimed young American cartoonist and author. She has published several popular graphic novels, including Smile, Drama, and Sisters.

Target Audience

Guts: A Graphic Novel is best suited for readers aged 10 and up.

Publisher and First Publication Date

Guts: A Graphic Novel is published by Scholastic Press in 2019.

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