A raw, honest, and frequently hilarious account of becoming a parent in the worst possible year.
A cartoonist reflects on the birth of her first child and how it upends her life.
In this appealingly candid graphic memoir, Wertz (Impossible People: A Completely Average Recovery Story, 2023) returns with a very different kind of book: her pregnancy and entrée into motherhood. She opens in Petaluma, California, where she and her boyfriend, Oliver, are still adjusting to the quiet of small-town life. An unexpected pregnancy prompts a moment of self-reflection in Wertz. She wonders why she doesn’t feel more prepared, as her career is relatively stable and she and Oliver are on “the wrong side” of their mid-30s. A miscarriage at seven weeks renders the question moot but also clarifies things; she and Oliver try again, and, this time, the pregnancy results in the birth of their son, Felix. What distinguishes the book from the crowded shelf of new-parent memoirs is its unflinching catalog of everything else that goes wrong at once. The pregnancy unfolds against a backdrop of Northern California wildfires and, soon enough, a global pandemic, lending the book’s domestic anxieties an almost surreal scale. A life-altering accident, family trauma, and a hasty wedding round out what Wertz, with characteristic self-deprecation, presents as a perfectly ordinary disaster. The format is a happy mix: Cartoons, photographs, stick-figure doodles, and short prose essays sit side by side, toggling between slapstick and sincerity in a way that every parent will recognize. Wertz’s line work—spare, expressive, and very funny—carries as much emotional weight as the text. Her self-portrait as a wide-eyed, hapless protagonist navigating body horror and new parental love is, ultimately, a portrait of frazzled resilience.
A raw, honest, and frequently hilarious account of becoming a parent in the worst possible year.Pub Date: April 14, 2026
ISBN: 9780762468287
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal
Review Posted Online: June 1, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2026
An impassioned message of rage and hope.
The author of Persepolis returns with a collection about burgeoning activism in Iran.
In September 2022, the beating and death of Mahsa Jina Amini, an Iranian student arrested for not wearing her headscarf properly, incited a solidarity movement among women and men that spread around the world. To publicize and bear witness to this major uprising, Satrapi has gathered stories, cartoons, and essays from more than 20 artists, activists, journalists, and academics. The author has two aims: “to explain what’s going on in Iran, to decipher events in all their complexity and nuance for a non-Iranian readership, and to help you understand them as fully as possible”; and “to remind Iranians that they are not alone.” Setting the movement in context, Iranian American historian Abbas Milani offers an overview of the political upheavals and revolutions that have led to the current misogynist, repressive regime and the “resolute defiance” that has emerged in protest. As each contributor attests, life under a wrathful dictatorship is consistently frightening and dangerous: “The Islamic Republic ensures its own survival by murdering people. During the successive demonstrations” over Amini’s murder, “several hundred people were killed in an attempt to strike fear into the hearts of protesters. Young people were forced to confess under torture.” Women are especially vulnerable. Since November 2022, young students in schools across Iran have been poisoned by toxic gas as part of an attempt to force girls’ schools to close. Protecting the regime falls to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a paramilitary organization that answers directly to Khomeini, the Supreme Leader, and for the past four decades has carried out a reign of terror. This collection pays homage to victims and celebrates the dreams of Iran’s determined activists. Other contributors include Joanne Sfar, Lewis Trondheim, Paco Roca, and Mana Neyestani.
An impassioned message of rage and hope.Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781644214053
Page Count: 280
Publisher: Seven Stories
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
IN THE NEWS
A delightful exploration of navigating the bumpy road to adulthood.
A story of a long-overdue Sapphic coming-of-age.
Through an autobiographical graphic narrative that is at times hysterically funny and at times gut-wrenching, readers follow Mieri, a young Japanese woman living in the U.S. From the lesbian characters in anime that she crushed on to the first real girl Mieri was attracted to, she’s known for a while that she likes butch girls. The fact that she sees fewer butch x butch relationships won’t stop her from trying to find a girlfriend even though the path, in person and on dating apps, is fraught with challenges. After she goes to visit her grandparents, Mieri meets Ash, a White American teaching English in Japan who becomes her first girlfriend. It starts out great: College sophomore Mieri experiences the stress and rewards of making the first move and even has her first kiss. But a month later, Ash breaks up with her, Mieri’s parents get divorced, and her grandparents learn about and aren’t cool with her sexuality. Worst of all, she can’t stop thinking about Ash. As Mieri navigates the aftershocks of the breakup, she also grows into maturity. The book has impeccable pacing and is engaging from start to finish. The humorous art enhances the narrative in a meaningful way, especially in portraying Mieri’s own emotional journey.
A delightful exploration of navigating the bumpy road to adulthood. (extra panels, author’s note, creating a manga, Q&A, bonus gallery) (Manga. 14-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2023
ISBN: 9781974736591
Page Count: 208
Publisher: VIZ Media
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
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