Anya’s Ghost ~Vera Brosgol
–published 2011
–First Second Books
–221 pages
–9/10
Navigating the tumultuous waters of adolescence is difficult enough in a typical American high school. For Russian-born Anya Borzakovskaya those difficulties are compounded by a last name and a culture that she works hard to distance herself from. What successes she has gained in the battle to “fit in” are put in daily peril by body image issues, poor school performance, and the presence of another Russian student, Dima, a prototypical nerd with a thick Russian accent who regularly tries to befriend her. One day when familial and school obligations threaten to overwhelm her, Anya decides to take a walk in the park, wherein she discovers, quite by accident, an old well. Things go from bad to worse when she discovers the bones of the last person to stumble across the well and with them, a ghost.
In her debut book, Anya’s Ghost, author/artist Vera Brosgol combines clean lines and subtle retro-styling with tight prose to tell a compelling and sometimes mysterious tale about a young girl’s journey towards becoming herself.
