Sponsored by The Chaptr.
Welcome to the ultimate monthly book subscription box and book club experience in one. What makes The Chaptr different? We deliver a hand-selected book and connect readers for real-time discussions throughout the entire journey of reading a book, not just at the end. Our book app allows you to chat with book lovers anytime and anywhere. Plus, we host virtual book club meetings, so you can forget the planning and focus on enjoying the book. And with our themed cocktail and mocktail recipes, we’ve got you covered no matter what mood you’re in. Read. Sip. Chat. We’ll handle the rest.
Welcome to Read This Book, a newsletter where I recommend one book that should absolutely be put at the top of your TBR pile. Recommended books will vary across genre and age category and include shiny new books, older books you may have missed, and some classics I suggest finally getting around to. Make space for another pile of books on your floor because here we go!
Today’s pick is a graphic novel based on a webcomic which features gorgeous artwork made with colored pencils.
As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman
This Stonewall Honor Book is about Charlie, a Black, queer 13-year-old who is guilted by her parents into attending an all-white girls’ Christian youth backpacking camp. When Charlie’s parents drop her off, she is immediately apprehensive that there will be anything that caters to anyone who looks like and believes like her.
The head counselor is Bee and she co-facilitates with her daughter Penny. On top of the subtle micro-aggressions and sometimes clear ignorance on the part of the head camp counselor (and sometimes, even other campers), Charlie is also struggling with her faith in god.
The camp is part of a wider tradition in the area where one of the town colonizers settlers was Beatrice Tillson. Beatrice Tillson is referred to as a feminist who, once a year, would take all the women in the town on a week-long, 50-mile expedition to a place where they created a women-only shrine and they would spend a day of worship and do some kind of special ceremony at that point. What that ceremony entails, exactly, is kept a mystery. This camp that Charlie is at recreates this expedition for teenage girls.
We learn really early on that Charlie is not much of a hiker and on the first day, Charlie is paired up with another camper, Sydney, to be in charge of filling the water supply. In a private moment, Sydney shares with Charlie that she is trans, but no one else at the camp knows. It’s pretty clear that if this information was known, it would probably be even less of a welcoming space. Sydney and Charlie bond over the shared experience of being in a space that was never intended for either of them.
As the Crow Flies is not a complete story and it looks as though the creator is taking a hiatus from updating the webcomic so it’s unclear when more comics and subsequent volumes will be available. Still, I think this story is one worth getting into.
That’s it for now, book-lovers!
Patricia
Find me on Book Riot, the All the Books podcast, and Twitter.
Find more books by subscribing to Book Riot Newsletters.