Bad Kid (a Graphic Memoir) - by Sofia Szamosi

About the Book

"When she was just thirteen-years-old, Sofia was awakened in the night by unknown men who dragged her into a car and brought her to a "therapeutic wilderness program" three states away. It turns out her mother, worried about Sofia's behavior, had become one of many parents taken in by promises and slick marketing from "schools" purporting to help reform teens and teach them important life skills. Instead, Sofia ended up spending up to a year at a time in a total of three different facilities. In each of these, she experienced verbal and physical abuse and deprivation, and was allowed only limited contact with the outside world, including her mother. Sofia is one of the lucky ones-today she is happy and healthy, and a mother herself. But not everyone comes out of this experience so well. So Sofia is sharing her story, in the hopes that relating her own experiences will save others from having to repeat them"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

A searing personal account of the so-called troubled teen industry, this graphic memoir exposes and humanizes the harrowing experience of so many young people in behavioral correction facilities.

When she was just thirteen years old, Sofia was taken--by two people she had never seen before--to a "therapeutic wilderness program" three states away. Her own mother, terrified that Sofia was spiraling out of control, had enrolled her in an institution for "troubled teens." But instead of finding healing, Sofia found herself trapped. Trapped inside an unregulated industry that used promises of intervention and reform to prey upon panicking parents and kids with court orders.

Over the next two years, Sofia would cycle through four different residential programs. In these places, school hours were a privilege, not a right. Contact with the outside world, including her mother, was strictly monitored. Teenage inmates were encouraged to call one another out. Still a child--ripped from her home, stripped of basic freedoms, and severed from her family and friends--Sofia struggled to understand who she really was beneath the crushing weight of the label BAD KID.

A darkly funny and intimate coming-of-age tale, this graphic memoir exposes the harrowing realities of adolescence in and out of the "troubled teen" industry of the early 2000s. And in doing so, Bad Kid explores the lasting impact of the labels we're given--and how making art can help transmute them.

Review Quotes

"Szamosi's memoir explores how labels shape societal views, the struggle of shedding those brands, and the methods that can help break the cycle--a story that will resonate strongly with anyone who has been unfairly typified."--School Library Journal

About the Author

Sofia Szamosi is an artist from New York City. She makes graphic memoirs, zines and artists' books, paintings, and analog photobooth art.