The 2021 Eisner Award winners were announced on July 23rd, and one winner in particular stood out to me. Jillian Tamaki’s Our Little Kitchen, a beautiful picture book about neighbors cooking a meal in a community kitchen, won the Eisner for Best Publication for Early Readers. In an excited instagram post, Jillian Tamaki shared her…
Trust, Trauma, and Family in Caela Carter’s Forever, or a Long Long Time
Forever, or a Long Long Time Caela Carter Harper Collins March 7, 2017 Disclaimer: A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Trauma does not define a person, but it can cause seemingly endless aftershocks. Flora and Julian, a sister and brother who spent a considerable amount of…
Review: Train I Ride by Paul Mosier
Train I Ride Paul Mosier Harper Collins January 24, 2017 Train I Ride is a middle grade novel that takes place over a days-long Amtrak ride from California to Chicago. Rydr is 12, soon to be 13, and must move to Chicago to live with her only remaining family member: a mysterious uncle who she…
Like a Huge Sleepover: The Cursed Child Midnight Release Party
On Saturday, July 30, Harry Potter fans gathered around the world to celebrate the midnight release of The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany. As there are a number of Harry Potter fans here at Women Write About Comics we decided to check in and see what their release party experience was like and…
Dogears: The Power of Symbolism and Storytelling
Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation Edwidge Danticat & Leslie Staub Dial Books September 1, 2015 The complexity of immigration policy may be difficult to explain to a child, but many are affected by it. Saya’s mother is an undocumented Haitian immigrant who has been detained by ICE. To ease Saya’s suffering, her…
Picture This: Raggedy and the Cloud
This write-up is more personal than the other ones I’ve done so far, and I hope you will excuse me gushing for several minutes about some artists I love and admire. Sofia Prokofievna (b. 1928) is a Russian illustrator, poet, playwright, and, most importantly to me, the author of many original “fairy tales” for children….
Warriors: Everybody Wants to Be a Cat
On a normal day, there are three cats in my house causing trouble in their own unique ways, but since my 10-year old discovered Erin Hunter’s Warrior series, I sometimes have five to six felines to care for. Sometimes more. My eldest becomes Cinderleaf, a medicine cat, her friend is Lionpaw, an apprentice training to…
White Pine Awards & Toronto’s Reading Festivities
On May 17th, I got up early and made my way down to Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre for the first day of the Festival of Trees. It’s a two day literary festival, with a third day in French, and has expanded to satellite events in Sault Ste. Marie and London, Ontario. It’s put together by the…
YA? Y Not?! In Defense of the Love Triangle
Ah, the love triangle—one of YA’s most divisive tropes! Love it or hate it, the YA love triangle is here to stay. In “The Curse of the Love Triangle in YA Fiction” at Acculturated, Abby W. Schachter said, “Romance in YA fiction is fine; but love triangles are boring. Authors who have conjured entirely new…
Picture This: Gyo Fujikawa
I picked up my first Gyo Fujikawa book as a teenager in a used bookstore, because the cute, gentle artwork caught my eye. Titled simply Mother Goose, it was a hefty book containing many traditional folk and nursery rhymes and an equally impressive number of illustrations. The pages alternated between delicate pen-and-ink spots and cheerful…
Eleven Year Old Sasha Matthews Could Teach You A Thing Or Two About Making Comics
Want to make and publish your own comic? Eleven year old Sasha Matthews has all the answers. Well, maybe not all the answers, but this young lady certainly has a plan and, with the support of her parents, has already published two comics of her own and has her own publishing company, Rumble Comics. Her…
YA? Why Not?! What Does “YA” Mean Anyway?
If somehow you’ve emerged from a Cold War-esque bunker or have otherwise been under a rock for the last ten to fifteen, you may be wondering, “What is all of this ‘YA’ hullabaloo anyway and why would I care?” If you are, that’s okay! YA as a category has seen an “explosion of books” in…