I, and it seems like many other readers, wonder whatever happened to Raina. The funny and charming relationship between the two could have been a very entertaining novel by itself. Thompson’s depiction of his relationship with his brother was definitely a jewel of this novel as well. It was interesting to see that drawing was something that he used to escape his reality as well as connect with his younger brother. He also admits to us that he wasn’t a good brother. We get to see how his family was not of substantial means.

Thompson shares his lackluster social status at school, even enduring bullying. This book was a very open look into Thompson’s young life. Thompson’s artwork of and around Raina truly gives a sense of how much he cared for her. Although brief in time, the amount of focus spent on this two week period shows how much this moment impacted Thompson. After meeting at a Christian summer camp, Craig and Raina, his first love, stay in contact and later, spend two weeks together. Thompson also spends a significant portion of this novel on his first romance, which only lasted for a brief period of time. Thompson seamlessly guides the reader through these two main aspects of his young life. As he matured, Thompson struggled to reconcile the differences between the beliefs he was raised with and his new understanding of the world. Fantasies were often what Thompson needed to get through his life growing up as an unpopular kid in Wisconsin in a working class and fundamentalist Christian household. Thompson doesn’t show traditional panels but excels in merging the fantasies of the characters with their realities. The book was published in 2003 and the artwork is hand drawn.

Blanketsī lanketsis Craig Thompson’s autobiographical coming of age story told as a graphic novel. On one list I found was Blankets by Cr aig Thompson. I decided to find some of the “best” graphic novels and read one or two from that list. I’ve been picking up more graphic novels recently.

Craig thompson books