Be Prepared

Vera is the protagonist of Be Prepared and the character whose perspective frames each experience throughout the graphic novel. She is a young girl who is about to turn nine years old at the start of the graphic novel and is about to turn 10 at its conclusion. She is illustrated with dark hair, frequently pulled back in a low ponytail, and large round glasses. When drawn alongside the other girls in her camp, she looks much younger than them, with her small stature and soft, round face. She is also depicted as younger in other key ways, such as the fact that she doesn’t need to wear a bra yet and has not yet started her period. The other girls in her camp tease her about these facts, implying that she doesn’t know what a maxi pad is and referring to her as “cute” while patting her on the head. In spite of their patronizing behavior, Vera desperately wants to be accepted by the older girls. Although she had never given it much thought before, after the conversation about menstruation, Vera finds that she wants to have her period “more than anything” (113).