Go with the Flow

OK, this one is I think a must for young peeps, the art style is so cute! I wish I had such good friends... It's soo diverse! I won't say more but it's a story about friendships, and periods...

I've not read in a few weeks because of the whole “global epidemic” thing and “not being able to stop reading the news” and “constantly checking in with loved ones” and “personally spiralling, on and off” etc, etc. But I'm back, baby! Reading hardcovers, which blessedly lack horrifying push notifications.


Go with the Flow is a graphic novel that straddles the line between middle grade and teen. It features a group of four girls frustrated by their school charging students for pads and tampons. Unlike toilet paper, another sanitary necessity, the pads and tampons are locked in dispensers with coin slots. To add insult to injury, they always seem to be empty.

This book is an accessible primer on period poverty and stigma, and how it's difficult to make change when the powers that be are dismissive and squeamish about even acknowledging something around half of all humans experience.

Go with the Flow is inclusive to trans men and gender nonconforming folks, reinforcing that girls and women are not the only ones who bleed. It considers how and why the topic of menstruation is surrounded with shame. The authors talk about how girls are ridiculed for unknowingly leaking. They discuss how debilitating cramps and other symptoms can be: the pain and fear some shoulder while expected to pretend nothing hurts, nothing is wrong, nothing is happening.

It's the type of book you wish you had growing up, and unlike many other sex ed-type books, contains powerful messages about how personal experiences can propel cultural changes. The writing is pretty direct, which isn't my favorite in fiction, but this has an educational element, and is geared toward an audience who might be hearing a lot of this for the first time. In all, I think it's equally cute and important.