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‘When I was thirteen I was sent away... Maybe dragged away is a better way to put it.’ A powerful and unflinching graphic memoir about what really happens inside America’s secretive ‘troubled teen’ correctional facilities – told from the inside with raw honesty and dark humour. Bad Kid tells the story of Sofia’s turbulent teenhood, including her experience of being taken away (‘kidnapped’) to a residential treatment centre aimed at ‘troubled teens’.¿
Wise, funny and heartbreaking all at once, it presents – in a series of flashbacks – the unforgettable portrait¿of life in a US 'teenage boot camp' and offers
YA readers a glimpse into the harmful effects that labels can have on us.
Powerfully told in
black and white comic strips accented with
vivid pops of red,¿
Bad Kid is the
coming-of-age story of Sofia’s late childhood, and¿how her once-happy relationship with her mother sours irreparably when she marries Sofia’s stepfather.
It follows¿her early teenage rebellion years in which she meets Marigold –
‘AKA the coolest girl I’d ever met’ – and together¿they set about finding themselves through the traditional teen pursuits of rule breaking, smoking, dodgy hook ups¿and bright red booty shorts . . . until the day when she is bundled into a car by total strangers and driven 400 miles¿to a teenage correction camp based deep in the woodlands of Virginia, US . . .
This
powerful and challenging memoir covers themes and ideas that are universal to teenagers everywhere –
being misunderstood, mis-labelled and rejected, and speaks to relationship and mental health issues experienced by teens today.
A striking coming-of-age story for YA and adult readers alike, Bad Kid reminds us that no one is beyond redemption – and that reclaiming your story can be the most powerful act of all.
Über den Autor / die Autorin
Sofia Szamosi is the author and illustrator of the graphic novel Unretouchable and forthcoming title Bad Kid (March 2026). Sofia's work has been displayed in university library collections and her fine art has been shown in group and solo shows in New York City, Chicago and Detroit. Her illustrations have also been featured in publications such as Loose Threads, Sleek Magazine and Vice. She received her BA (Hons) from NYU's Gallatin School for Individualised Study in 2017.
