Non-binary youngster, Tate, grapples with opening up to friends and family about insecurities related to their musical abilities and gender identity, while fellow non-binary musical prodigy, Eli, grapples with conversations surrounding mental health and being too hard on yourself in this EPICALLY CUTE young-reader graphic novel.
Camp Prodigy was an adorable young reader graphic novel that tackles issues of insecurity, setting boundaries, and finding yourself- both musically and regarding gender-identity. Tate, a contemplative youngster, wants to improve “his” musical abilities after overhearing a fellow child violist, Eli, practicing a beautiful piece. The two non-binary kids meet up again at a summer music camp and embark on a journey of friendship with each other and other campers. While forming tight-knit friendships, Tate opens up about THEIR gender identity questions, and Eli opens up about their struggles with stress, anxiety, and mental health related to being a child prodigy.
Along with colorful side-characters, endearing mentors, and a very cute plot, Camp Prodigy is a clear winner in my book. The characters felt like actual kids, not mini grown-ups facing crazy, over-the-top situations and acting like children. There doesn’t seem to be any sort of chosen-one-type trope, which is great to see since the title made me nervous that would be the case. Also, this was an overwhelmingly happy LGBTQ+ story, and so often in books with gender identity themes, young audiences are exposed to the negative situations surrounding a character’s self-expression- bullying, characters who make them feel bad for who they are, etc. In this book, any moments of hesitation or self-doubt are purely treated as any other part of a coming-of-age story. When do you tell your friends that you feel a certain way about yourself or want to change something big? What about your family? Why is something nerve-wracking to tell to the people you know love you the most? With such a genuine, positive story plot and outlook on the process of self-discovery, this is an EXCELLENT graphic novel for kids to read this June for Pride Month. Or if your kid has questions about non-binary individuals. A 5/5 for me!
And the art is so stinking cool. I was endlessly studying the details of characters' faces as they reacted to things and reminiscing about my Pokémon TV show days. It’s a great introduction for kids wanting to see more examples of that style of cartoon.
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