A childhood glimpsed poetically, poignantly, through the eyes of a young visionary.
Joni Mitchell comes of age on the prairie.
Mitchell is undeniably one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, capturing the ache, thrill, and wild majesty of life in every lyric and chord. Chronicling her Saskatchewan childhood, this graphic biography explores the settings that sparked young Joni’s sense of wonder—“listening to birdsong fill up the empty skies,” watching “the sun flashing deep pink against the grain elevators.” Corry also considers her subject’s formative feelings of artistic isolation: Her parents were bemused to see her painting on her bedroom wall; her piano teacher rapped her knuckles and scolded her for creating her own compositions. After contracting polio, Joni was hospitalized for months—a period captured here entirely in blue. The loneliness of her isolation ignited Joni’s inner strength, and her adolescent years grew increasingly colorful as she embraced poetry, fashion, and rock and roll. The final chapter of this flowing story swoops swiftly through Mitchell’s rise to fame—from Calgary to Laurel Canyon to Woodstock and beyond. Corry’s watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil artwork gestures gently toward Mitchell’s iconic album imagery, contrasting monochrome prairiescapes and psychedelic creative explosions to great effect. Readers previously familiar with Joni will tune right in and deeply appreciate textual and visual references to her work, while those less aware of her creative catalog will be intrigued by her quirky insistence.
A childhood glimpsed poetically, poignantly, through the eyes of a young visionary. (biographical background, discography, bibliography) (Graphic biography. 8-13)Pub Date: May 19, 2026
ISBN: 9781250362926
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Godwin Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2026
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy.
Through the author’s own childhood diary entries, a seventh grader details her inner life before and after 9/11.
Alyssa’s diary entries start in September 2000, in the first week of her seventh grade year. She’s 11 and dealing with typical preteen concerns—popularity and anxiety about grades—along with other things more particular to her own life. She’s shuffling between Queens and Manhattan to share time between her divorced parents and struggling with thick facial hair and classmates who make her feel like she’s “not a whole person” due to her mixed White and Puerto Rican heritage. Alyssa is endlessly earnest and awkward as she works up the courage to talk to her crush, Alejandro; gushes about her dreams of becoming a shoe designer; and tries to solve her burgeoning unibrow problem. The diaries also have a darker side, as a sense of impending doom builds as the entries approach 9/11, especially because Alyssa’s father works in finance in the World Trade Center. As a number of the diary entries are taken directly from the author’s originals, they effortlessly capture the loud, confusing feelings middle school brings out. The artwork, in its muted but effective periwinkle tones, lends a satisfying layer to the diary’s accessible and delightful format.
An authentic and moving time capsule of middle school angst, trauma, and joy. (author's note) (Graphic memoir. 8-13)Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-77427-9
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats.
Why should grown-ups get all the historical, scientific, athletic, cinematic, and artistic glory?
Choosing exemplars from both past and present, Mitchell includes but goes well beyond Alexander the Great, Anne Frank, and like usual suspects to introduce a host of lesser-known luminaries. These include Shapur II, who was formally crowned king of Persia before he was born, Indian dancer/professional architect Sheila Sri Prakash, transgender spokesperson Jazz Jennings, inventor Param Jaggi, and an international host of other teen or preteen activists and prodigies. The individual portraits range from one paragraph to several pages in length, and they are interspersed with group tributes to, for instance, the Nazi-resisting “Swingkinder,” the striking New York City newsboys, and the marchers of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade. Mitchell even offers would-be villains a role model in Elagabalus, “boy emperor of Rome,” though she notes that he, at least, came to an awful end: “Then, then! They dumped his remains in the Tiber River, to be nommed by fish for all eternity.” The entries are arranged in no evident order, and though the backmatter includes multiple booklists, a personality quiz, a glossary, and even a quick Braille primer (with Braille jokes to decode), there is no index. Still, for readers whose fires need lighting, there’s motivational kindling on nearly every page.
A breezy, bustling bucketful of courageous acts and eye-popping feats. (finished illustrations not seen) (Collective biography. 10-13)Pub Date: May 10, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-14-751813-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Puffin
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2015
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