Books › Tomboy
Tomboy
a graphic memoir
256 pages
A funny, heartfelt exploration of the messy middle ground between boyhood and girlhood, fueled by punk rock and adolescent angst.
What it feels like
Reading this graphic memoir feels like flipping through the sketchbook of your coolest, most honest friend. It moves at a brisk, engaging pace, balancing laugh-out-loud humor with moments of genuine heartbreak as it navigates the minefield of middle and high school. The mood is steeped in the rebellious, angsty energy of youth, capturing the specific isolation of not fitting into traditional gender roles. Through conversational text and expressive art, it tackles heavy themes like internalized misogyny and bullying without ever losing its poignant, self-aware charm. It is a deeply relatable read that will delight anyone who survived the awkwardness of adolescence by finding their own weird, wonderful community—proving that identity is ultimately whatever you make of it.
- Mood
- angsty
- rebellious
- nostalgic
- heartfelt
- Tone
- humorous
- honest
- poignant
- reflective
- self-aware
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- navigating gender identity · the awkwardness of adolescence · finding belonging in subcultures · unlearning internalized misogyny · the power of self-expression
- The writing
- Visually driven and conversational, blending sharp, self-deprecating humor with vulnerable, straightforward reflections.
- The arc
- Moves from the awkward isolation and rigid gender expectations of childhood to a liberated, self-defined identity found through community.
- Who it's for
- Anyone who ever felt like they didn't fit neatly into the gender boxes of their youth and found their true selves through alternative communities.
Content notes
- bullying
- internalized misogyny
- adolescent angst
About the book
A memoir about friendship, gender, bullies, growth, punk rock, and the power of the perfect outfit...
Growing up, Liz Prince wasn’t a girly girl, but she wasn’t exactly one of the guys either (as she learned when her little league baseball coach exiled her to the distant outfield). She was somewhere in between. But with the forces of middle school, high school, parents, friendship, and romance pulling her this way and that, the middle wasn't an easy place to be.
Tomboy follows award-winning author and artist Liz Prince through her early years and explores―with humor, honesty, and poignancy―what it means to "be a girl." From staunchly refuting "girliness" to the point of misogyny, to discovering through the punk community that your identity is whatever you make of it, Tomboy offers a sometimes hilarious, sometimes heartbreaking account of self-discovery in modern America.
Description from Open Library.
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