Two Reviews of Blankets

Blankets by Craig Thompson
Published by Top Shelf Productions, 2004. 

Genre: Graphic Novel, could be characterized as a coming-of-age novel. 

Main Characters: Craig, a young man with a creative talent for drawing which labels him a misfit at school, and puts him on the wrong side of his parents’ religious beliefs and wrath.; Raina, Craig’s first love, whom he meets at a Bible camp. She is a sensitive, likeable young girl who is going through her parents’ divorce. 

Plot: This is an autobiographical novel of the author’s childhood and adolescence. It takes us through Craig’s upbringing in rural Wisconsin, where he endures his disapproving parents and the cruelty of classmates, as he tries to realize his artistic talent, and find his place in the world. This, of course, is not new. This novel is unique, because the author has the ability to use drawing to render the raw and powerful emotions of a first love. In the end, Craig moves to the city, and on a visit home for the holidays, we see a character who has fully grown up and become comfortable with who he is. 

Comments: Coming in at around 600 hundred pages, I was a little put off by the prospect of reading this novel. That, and the fact that I am not a big fan of graphic novels (with a few wonderful exceptions) delayed my reading of this book. I wish I hadn’t. While I still feel that graphic novels take away somewhat from what I feel is the one of best parts of reading – imagining the world of words and letting them take shape in your mind through your own experience – Blankets, with its sensitive rendering of young love, achieves an honest and deep poignancy. Readers in grades ten to12 will be able to relate to this the most.  It is intended as an adult novel, but the subject matter is especially germane for older adolescents faced with life decisions and breaking away from home in their late teens and early twenties.  

It should be noted that graphic novels can work well in teaching reading to English Language Learners. For more on this see Going Graphic by Stephen Cary (Heinemann 2004). 

Touchy Areas: Readers with deep religious beliefs may not take to this novel since a large part of the novel focuses on Craig’s rejection of Christianity. There are some nude drawings that Craig makes. While these are mostly harmless and inexplicit, they are used to refute the shame religion places on the naked body; some parents may still object. 

Bottom Line: While it’s a graphic novel, or “illustrated novel” as the cover states, this work approaches the best qualities in literature – a moving and truthful account of an emotional journey. It’s a bit pricey, but a great addition to a classroom library. 

Review by: Bill Varner, Stenhouse Publishers. 

Genre: Fiction/adult comic book, Grades 11 and 12.

Characters: The main character is Craig, a lonely high-school kid from middle-of-nowhere Wisconsin, who is discovering himself through love and finding his religion. Raina is his girlfriend/”special friend,” a good-looking, friendly popular girl (the exact opposite of Craig) from Michigan. Phil is Craig’s little brother. Their dad is strict and loud while his mother is a sweet, but strict woman, who goes to church every Sunday. Raina’s family consists of her mentally challenged sister, Laura, brother Ben, parents who are extremely nice but going through a divorce; and her uptight sister and brother-in-law. They are also a church-going family like Craig’s.

Plot: Blankets is a story written and drawn comic-book style about a boy, Craig, who doesn’t really fit in anywhere and is basically a loner. The story begins with him telling how he and his brother Phil used to share a bed, which also explains his relationship with his brother when they were younger through the fighting over blankets or pretending their bed was a ship. The book then continues to tell how Craig got picked on a lot in elementary school and did not have very many friends.

Blankets then goes from Craig being in elementary school to high school, where he still gets teased (about his hair), doesn’t have a lot of friends, and loves to draw. He then goes to church camp, where he meets Raina. Craig and Raina form a strong friendship and write to each other very frequently after church camp. In one of her letters, Raina is distressed, because her parents are getting a divorce, and shortly after that Craig takes two weeks off of school to go stay with Raina in Michigan.  

In Michigan, Craig and Raina’s relationship turns from very close friends to “unofficial” boyfriend and girlfriend, and they fall in love. He struggles with his religion during this time, because of his temptation to want to be with Raina physically. But by visiting her, and seeing her with her siblings, Craig realizes the importance of his relationship with his brother and how he has been neglecting it.

In the end of the book, Craig has moved out of his house but comes back for Christmas. We learn through his conversation with Phil that he still believes in God, but has pretty much given up on religion. Craig is excited to participate in secular things, such as reading non-Christian books.

Touchy Areas: The book has some nudity of women and a graphic part (pp 146-148) where Craig is “self-gratifying” himself.

Related Titles: Summer Blonde (2003) by Adrian Tomine, David Boring (2002) by Daniel Clowes.

Movies: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) Jim Carrey, Freaks and Geeks – The Complete Series (1999)

Music: "Boulevard of Broken Dreams” by Green Day

Photos: a snowy forest http://www.1freewallpaper.com/Holiday-pictures/Winter-pictures3.jpg, sledding (Craig and Raina did at church camp) http://www.alaskapacific.edu/studentlife/images/sledding.jpg.

Related Websites: the artwork of Craig Thompson http://www.dootdootgarden.com/, Christian websites http://www.christianwebsites.org/

Art: Da Vinci’s painting of The Last Supper (religious) http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~lbianco/project/home.html,

Poem: “Birches” by Robert Frost http://www.bartleby.com/104/66.html, love poem about imperfections: http://www.best-love-poems.com/poems.php?id=272282,

Classic Work: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Evaluation: This book would be hard for a lot of people to read, especially if they had different religious beliefs than what is in the book; because they talk about heaven and hell, and many people have different views on the subject. However, I thought the storyline was an accurate one of a lonely teenage boy, although some of the pictures were a little too graphic. I would rate this book a 6 out of 10.

Reviewed by: Kari Boyer, University of Toledo