Someday Perfect

Gr 7 Up–Summer camp becomes a quiet stage for cautious self-discovery in this thoughtful, gently drawn graphic novel. Introspective, occasionally moody Meg arrives at the camp she’s attended for much of her childhood, where she’ll spend the summer waitressing in the camp’s dining hall. Along with many of her fellow teenage staff, she’s started to daydream about the possibility of romantic ­attraction and soon finds herself crushing on a ­soft-­spoken, helpful boy named Danny. ­Between stolen glances, surreptitious ­texting, and occasional encounters near the camp’s lake, there might be a spark there. But Meg is uneasy—the camp is staunchly conservative Christian. Dress codes, behavioral rules, and compulsory common worship are enforced by camp leadership, while her peers observe and rebel against those expectations to differing degrees. Though adolescence in storytelling is often framed as an opportunity for iconoclastic rebellion, this subtle story offers a fresh, specific viewpoint. Meg’s desire to preserve her faith-informed view of relationships and sexuality, while coming to terms with her belief system’s many discontents, will be an achingly prescient ­portrait for readers wrestling with questions of faith. Where some might seek to explicitly excoriate ­religion in a similar story, Schneider’s patient, intentional pacing exquisitely captures the twin feelings of heartbreak and relief that growing up and away from a particular mode of belief can bring. ­