Graphic Novels & Books

One! Hundred! Demons! is a semi-autobiographical genre-defying graphic novel by American cartoonist and pedagogue, Lynda Barry. Over the course of her career as a prominent cartoonist with nationally syndicated comic strips, published collections, and illustrated novels, Barry has received many national and state-wide awards for her work, including two Eisner awards and MacArthur Genius Grant.Originally published serially in Salon magazine, the collected cartoon chapters were collected and published by Sasquatch Books in 2002, and later... Read One! Hundred! Demons! Summary

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Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic memoir and coming-of-age tale about Satrapi’s experiences growing up in Tehran, Iran, before and after the revolution in 1979. Originally published in France to critical acclaim in four volumes between 2000-2003, it was translated into English in two volumes in 2003 and 2004 and explores themes of Coming of Age During Revolution, Civil Unrest, and War, Family Resistance and Heroism, Joy in Wartimen... Read Persepolis Summary

Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return is the sequel to Marjane Satrapi’s bestselling graphic memoir, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, which was published in four volumes between 2000 and 2003. The early memoir documents Marjane’s childhood in Iran during the transition to fundamentalist Islamic control and concludes in her departure at age 14 in 1984. Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return was released in 2004 and documents the author’s teenage years in... Read Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return Summary

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Smile by Raina Telgemeier is an autobiographical graphic novel and the winner of the 2011 Eisner Award for Best Publication for Teens. It originated as a weekly webcomic in 2004 before Telgemeier expanded it into a book in 2010. Telgemeier is the writer and illustrator, while Stephanie Yue is the colorist. Smile is a coming-of-age tale, set in a San Francisco suburb from 1989 to 1992, in which Telgemeier struggles with preteen life after losing... Read Smile Summary

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Steelheart, a 2013 young adult sci-fi/fantasy novel by Brandon Sanderson, is the first installment of The Reckoners trilogy. The story takes place in dystopian Chicago, dubbed “Newcago,” which is overrun by evil superhumans called Epics and ruled by a functionally invulnerable tyrant named Steelheart. David Charleston, an 18-year-old boy whose father Steelheart killed 10 years before, joins a rebel group called the Reckoners hoping that they will help him take revenge on Steelheart. Borrowing elements... Read Steelheart Summary

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“The Adventure of the Speckled Band” is one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous short stories. Doyle dabbled in several genres and forms, including historical fiction, plays, and poetry, but his Sherlock Holmes mysteries are the chief reason his writing has been beloved around the world for over a century. Doyle’s work has had a profound influence on the genre of detective fiction, and the author considered “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” the... Read The Adventure of the Speckled Band Summary

American writer Michael Chabon won the Pulitzer Prize, as well as the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, for his 2000 historical fiction novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. The story unfolds in the period leading up to World War II and continues through the war years and beyond. The main characters are two Jewish cousins living in New York City and seeking success in the emerging comic book industry. One is the artist Josef... Read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay Summary

Dinaw Mengestu’s 2007 debut novel, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, is a NYT Notable Book, a recipient of the Guardian First Book Award, and the LA Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. Originally published in the UK under the title Children of the Revolution, the story takes place across three days in the life of Sepha Stephanos, an Ethiopian refugee living in Washington, DC. In his New York Times review of the book... Read The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears Summary

The artist and writer Thi Bui published her autobiographical graphic memoir, The Best We Could Do, in 2017. Alternating her narrative between her present-day experiences as a new mother in New York City with her parents’ past growing up in and then escaping from Vietnam, Bui builds a complex web of intergenerational trauma and love. This is Bui’s first venture into comic book illustration. The artwork that accompanies her narrative is based on the black... Read The Best We Could Do Summary