Craig Thompson's Blanket

Blankets is an autobiographical graphic novel that tells the story of Craig Thompson. The graphic novel shows the very real and often sad events of his childhood, family, first love, and religious environment. It takes place in the mid 80's and early 90's in rural Wisconsin and also in Michigan.
The story starts off with Craig as a young boy and describes the horrors and traumatic events associated with being an evangelical Christian. Craig is a frail boy, unsure of himself and often bullied by his peers. He is a loner all the way through high school. He is sent every winter to Christian camp but feels inferior to the others because he is poor. During his senior year he meets a few other misfits and a girl in the camp, Raina. He soon becomes infatuated with her and they begin a friendly relationship where they send letters to each other. Eventually Craig convinces his parents to let him stay with Raina and her family for a few weeks. Raina's family is dysfunctional in some ways. Her parents are in the process of a divorce, she has two mentally handicapped siblings, and her sister is married to jerk. Craig and Raina still manage to spend time together and fall in love. When Craig has to go back home he is distraught and depressed. He wants nothing else but to be with her but Raina needs her space because she is dealing with many difficulties. Craig realizes that he is harming himself with this fascination and cuts off contact with her altogether. He then faces other problems in is life like his faith, community, parents, family, and future. The story ends in an optimistic way with Craig growing and realizing whats really important.
The novel is full of metaphors and connections from biblical scripture and philosophy. It is a very well written and drawn, in-depth look at very important subjects such as childhood and adolescence, first love, religion, sex, and family.
What i like most about Blankets was how personal it is and how much you feel like you know Craig by the end of it. His past and present help develop the story and in it his characteristics. Many teens growing up face many of the same issues with themselves like questioning your faith, not fitting in, and family problems, which is why it is so easy to put yourself in his shoes and relate to him.