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Graphic Novelist Maggie Thrash Tells Her Story

Graphic novelist Maggie Thrash recently visited multiple ninth-grade sections of Fundamentals in Literature and Composition to discuss her memoir “Honor Girl,” which tells the heartbreaking story of falling in love with her counselor at an all-girls’ camp at 15 years old.

Thrash answered questions from students ranging from the accuracy of memories to the difficulty of the teenage years to the power of sharing your story, despite how hard it may feel. Thrash told the class about the relief she felt while writing “Honor Girl”: “This summer was the beginning of my life. You have to figure out where your life begins, and that’s the first story you have to tell.”

The students mentioned the immediate gratification of reading a book about someone their age and then having the opportunity to ask the memoirist about her lived experience.

English teacher Jamie Biondi noted of the connection: “It really helps the text to feel alive and accessible. I joked with the students that it's not like we'll get to meet with Homer or Shakespeare anytime soon. But how cool to watch them relate to a character and then realize that because this is a memoir, that character is also a living, breathing person?”

One student thanked Thrash for telling the story of someone their age and giving them a voice. “A lot of the time, I don’t think the things that I experience have value because I’m younger and think that my life will start eventually,” the student said. Thrash encouraged them: “What you’re feeling and thinking is valid, and that’s the one thing I wish I could have told my 15-year-old self. This is your life.”

Biondi reiterated: “It was hugely validating for the students, whether they related to her queerness or her feelings of being an outsider or even just her understanding of the difficulty and beauty of being fifteen.”
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