Depicting a purple-haired girl standing in the hills,“Lost Soul be at Peace” by Maggie Thrash was recently added to the shelves of the CHS library. Shining a flashlight towards a white house, with a red sky fading to black from the sunset.

Thrash is best known for her previous graphic memoir, “Honor Girl,” which is critically acclaimed as an accurate depiction of the coming-of-age experience.

“Maggie Thrash’s memoir is agonizingly accurate about what it feels like to be a teenager—serious and ridiculous, confusing and profound,” said New York Times bestselling author Emma Straub. “I loved every page.” 

Thrash, who is both the author and the main character, learns her way around life as a gay teenager struggling with depression and her relationship with her parents. A year and a half after the summer that changed her life, she wishes she could change it all back.

In the book’s description, Maggie is described as trapped in a dark depression and flunking eleventh grade. She befuddles her patrician mother while going unnoticed by her father, a workaholic federal judge.

Alienation from her family causes a strange attachment to her car, Tommi, the only thing she’s ever truly connected to. So ultimately, when Tommi vanishes somewhere in the walls of her cavernous house, Maggie’s search isn’t just for her car—it’s for meaning, identity and a trace of who she was before.

“This is a little bit more introspective,” said Jeri Schneider, CHS librarian. “The girl is kind of dealing with figuring herself out, finding her way in the world. She’s dealing with some loss. She’s trying to understand her parents.”

With a queer main character, this book is part of CHS’s LGBTQ+ collection, identified by rainbow ribbons affixed to the book.

“I do know that we have a lot of interest in reading books, either with queer characters or by queer authors, so I put a lot of focus on that, and they’re easy to find in the library,” Schneider said. 

With its colored pencil-style drawings and its relatable stories about struggles with parents, mental health and identity, Thrash’s “Lost Soul Be At Peace” is an inciting novel that gives a voice to the challenges of adolescence.

Another new LGBTQ+ addition to the library is the graphic novel “The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich” by Deya Muniz.

Muniz was born in Brazil and raised on “Pride and Prejudice” and manga. Moving to the United States in 2017 to earn their master’s degree in sequential art, they found their current partner, who makes a mean grilled cheese sandwich.

The cover introduces the book as a romantic story between your stereotypical blonde princess and prince. The princess is covered in pink, and the prince is dapper in blue. Together they split a grilled cheese sandwich, but it’s more complex than that, more than what meets the eye.

In the book’s summary, Muniz writes that Lady Camembert wants to live life on her own terms—without marriage. Well, without marrying a man, that is. But the law of the land dictates that family fortunes cannot be passed down to women.

With this dilemma, Cambert disguises herself as a man and flees to the Kingdom of Fromage for a new beginning as Count Cambert. Struggling to keep her low profile, she meets Princess Brie, a beautiful activist and fashionista. Their connection continues to grow over time without Princess Brie knowing Cambert’s true identity.

“It’s actually very funny; there’s a lot of cheese references, and it turns into a romance.” Schneider says. “It’s kind of tongue-in-cheek humor, so you have to be looking for a quirky story.”

Muniz’s “The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich” is a playful story. It tackles self-identity, love and breaking societal norms while being cheesy and adorable. It’s a fun read for all ages.