Joy in a comicbook form – great to read, great to gift, two enthusiastic thumbs up.

The Lumberjanes fill me with so much joy it is hard to encapsulate on the page. I want to sing about it from the rooftops, and I just might do so, to get more people reading these powerful comics. I first heard of this delightful series from the Literary Disco podcast, my go to source for reading material. I don’t read a ton of comics/graphic novels, so I sort of put it out of my mind, and I am kicking myself squarely in the butt for waiting so long.

The Lumberjanes are scouts at the “Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet Camp for Hardcore Lady Types.” Yeah. Go ahead and read that again. Because it took me like 4 minutes to type that out spelled correctly. And also because when I first saw the words “hardcore lady types” I was like, “YEEEEES. SIGN ME UP. ALL IN.”

These are not your average scouts at not your average camp. Magic, hijinks, unexplained happenings and the underpinnings of strong female friendship. The artwork is gorgeous, the dialogue is clever. Catch phrases include, “What the junk?!” and “Friendship to the max!” And, when in trouble, the girls are fond of exclaiming the names of notable women, such as, “Holy Mae Jemison!” I’m a little embarrassed to say I had to Google to learn that she was the first black female astronaut in space. I’ve read the next few volumes, and they continue to educate me about women.

I picked it up mostly for me on a trip to Powell’s in Portland and, though I know he loves comics, didn’t know if my 9 year old stepson would be into it, but he has read each of the four volumes we have multiple times. AND HOW FRIGGIN GREAT IS THAT?! i think with wonder of what it would have been like to have such a thing to read when I was his age. Nancy Drew was great, but to have a band of fierce fearless females, braving the outdoors to look up to? I wonder what an impact that could have made on me.