Sunshine

Hey Kiddo is one of my favorite graphic novels, and Sunshine is its follow-up but it stands by itself. This book chronicles a week that Krosoczka spent at a camp for children with life-threatening conditions. He was one of six high school students chosen at random (and they are a motley bunch)

At Camp Sunshine, he is charged with helping out Diego, a 13-year-old who has a brain tumor and travels via wheelchair, and his family. He also meets a bunch of other children, notably young Eric, who is a bundle of energy and obsessed with Power Rangers. Instead of spending this time in sadness, instead he finds that this week is one of the rare and special times that these kids fit in, can relate to each other, and take time to enjoy themselves.

Many of these memories were captured by the video camera Jarrett brought with him, and the characters really come to life in their stories and the artwork. This book is very affecting, and the weighty subject matter comes off more as a celebration of life and a window into how individuals and their families deal with difficult life situations. There is much to smile at and cry about in this book, and I feel it does an excellent job of shedding light into areas that most people, especially those not involved, tend to shy away from. 

Jarrett Krosoczka is best known for his series of Lunch Lady graphic novels for younger readers, and he has also contributed to the Star Wars Jedi Academy series. His prior memoir Hey Kiddo won the 2019 Harvey Award for Best Book of the Year and also was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. He speaks about his work on Sunshine in this interview.

Most of the reviews I have read about this book have been positive. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly concluded, "Though the creator is unsparing in his raw depictions of the campers’ situations and his reverence when recalling these memories is palpable, he never condescends, always faithfully documenting the warmth and life-changing potential of confronting grief head-on and participating in communal care." Tahneer Oksman wrote, "Krosoczka has a talent for uncovering the bountifulness and grace that can emerge from harsh, and otherwise quotidian, realities." Kirkus Reviews summed up, "Loving and true but doesn’t always avoid cliché."

Sunshine was published by Scholastic Graphix, and they offer a preview and more information about it here. 

Sunflowers

Put simply, Sunflowers is an amazing comic, an autobiographical account of what it is like to being bipolar. It goes from hypomania to mania to a psychotic episode, telling a frank tale of what could happen and what it feels like. It then gets into how these conditions might be treated and ends with a bunch of resources for getting help. This book is terrifically brave, frank, and revealing, and I found it profoundly moving.

There have been excellent graphic novels that touch on similar areas, including ones by Ellen Forney and Daryl Cunningham, but what I feel sets this one apart is its accessibility. It is relatively short, in the form of  a mini-comic, inexpensive, and easy to share. Even in this day, I know that issues of mental health are often kept secret or not discussed, and the level of candor and honesty here are powerful and potentially very helpful to those in need of assistance. I don't think it's hyperbolic to say that this comic has great potential to save lives.

Sunflowers was created by Keezy Young. They prefer to draw short comics and graphic novels with  horror, supernatural, romance, LGBTQ+, and mental health themes. Their graphic novel work includes the forthcoming queer horror story Hello Sunshine and the award-winning supernatural romance Taproot. They speak about their career in comics in this in-depth interview. If you would like to read an interview specifically about Sunflowers, this one is great.

Sunflowers is a 2025 Eisner Award Nominee for Best Single Issue/One-Shot, and it has received many positive reviews. Chloe Horning wrote, "I appreciated the author’s commitment to depicting both the good and bad aspects of their disorder, while taking care not to romanticize those aspects that may seem appealing to someone on the outside looking in." Andy Oliver summed up, "Undoubtedly one of the finest comics to have come out from Silver Sprocket to date. And that is really saying something."

Sunflowers was published by Silver Sprocket, and they offer a preview and more information about it here. You can also read it for free from their website here. Trigger warning: this book deals with issues of mental health and potential self-harm.

Allergic

 

Allergic is a graphic novel that focuses on Maggie, a 10-year-old girl who is going through a rough patch. She is just about to start at a brand new school. Her mother is pregnant and due to deliver within a month, so she and her husband are very preoccupied. Her younger brothers Liam and Noah are twins who are always together, usually doing something rambunctious. She feels like the fifth wheel in her house, although all that is about to change, because she is going to get a dog for her birthday. But...

the catch is, she finds out that she's wildly allergic to dogs. And later on, after a doctor's visit, she learns that she is allergic to anything that has fur or feathers, and this news devastates her. She feels that her sole way of finding companionship is lost. She does try some other pets, like lizards and fish, but things do not really work out. Luckily, a girl a little older than her, Claire, moves in next door, and the two become fast friends. That is, until Claire gets a dog.

This graphic novel is aimed at tween or slightly older readers, and it touches on the ways that family and friendship dynamics shift. I like how it normalizes how people can isolate themselves, even unintentionally, and how they do not always know what others are thinking or feeling. Also, it has plenty of  information about how and why people have allergies, and how they need to deal with them. A big aspect of this book hinges on communication and how that is key to dealing with life. I can see this book being popular in the same way that The Babysitter Club graphic novels are.

This book was a collaboration between author Megan Wagner Lloyd and artist Michelle Mee Nutter. Lloyd has written a number of children's picture books, and Nutter does design work as well as commercial art. Both contribute to make a story that is relatable as well as full of bright, expressive, and colorful illustrations. They speak about their work on Allergic in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read of this book have been positive. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews summed it up as "a heartachingly enjoyable tale of resilience." Publishers Weekly called it a "warm and well-paced story." Avery Kaplan called it "a bright and welcoming middle grade graphic novel."

Allergic was published by Scholastic Graphix, and they offer a preview and more info about it here. 

A preview copy was provided by the publisher.

Sincerely, Harriet

Today, I feature another nominee for the Excellence in Graphic Literature Awards. Sometimes you read a book that defies categorization in a wonderful way. Sincerely, Harriet was that sort of book for me, a very pleasant surprise that did unexpected things with its characters and plot. The main protagonist here is Harriet, a teenage girl living in a new apartment in Chicago during the 1990s. Because of her medical history, she has to stay isolated there, with only her mother and downstairs neighbor, an older African-American woman named Pearl, as company. Cursed with an overactive imagination and lots of free time, Harriet begins to create all sorts of sinister backstories.

 

 

Harriet is also a writer, and she sends off lots of postcards to her friends from summer camp but does not get replies. She finds writing as an outlet though, and even begins to learn more about and from Pearl that both fires her imagination and gets her to explore the more mysterious parts of the building and her own psyche. I am being rather vague with my description of this book, because I found that it defied my expectations so much that I took great joy in seeing how things unfolded and how the various characters revealed things about themselves and their pasts.

This book contains lots of strong emotions, from the loneliness of dealing with seclusion, to the dread of having to treat a serious illness, to the demands of maintaining family relationships under difficult conditions. Harriet herself is very fleshed out in terms of characterization, as complex a character I've encountered in a graphic novel. I also think that the artwork is delicate and nuanced so much that it conveys subtle emotional moments in brilliant fashion.

This book's creator is Sarah W. Searle, and she has made a number of other comics, including the Victorian-era graphic novel romance Sparks. She also did the Hedy Lamarr entry in the recent Noisemakers anthology I reviewed last month. She speaks more about her work on Sincerely, Harriet in this interview.

All of the reviews I have read about this book have been positive. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews summed up, "Heartfelt and heartwarming, highlighting the power of story to both conceal and reveal." Johanna Draper Carlson wrote that it "isn’t a book to instantly fall in love with. It’s one that quietly paints a picture of an uncertain young woman whom many readers will sympathize with." Erin Partridge opined, "The story of Harriet & Pearl encourages us to think beyond our immediate family when seeking support for chronic or invisible illnesses. It also suggests several creative coping outlets that readers may find useful."

Sincerely, Harriet was published by Graphic Universe, and they offer a preview and more here.

Guts

For YA graphic novel fans, Raina Telgemeier is a superstar author. Her books like Smile and Drama are omnipresent in schools, bookstores, libraries, and book club catalogs. She is also a multiple award winner, and her works are consistently at the top of sales charts. Her two prior memoirs dealt with her relationships, mainly with friends and family. They have been some of her strongest and most well received books, and this third one Guts gets even more personal and insightful as she tackles a personal demon that many avoid discussing: dealing with anxiety.

It starts with a seeming bout of illness and nausea, but over time Raina gradually learns that her gastrointestinal and mental states have profound effects on each other. This manifests in bouts of self-doubt, confusion, and isolating herself, all of which form a negative feedback loop. Increasingly unsure of how to deal, and with some support from her parents, she eventually starts seeing a therapist who helps her recognize and deal with the circumstances,

Much of what makes this book successful is just how frank and candid it is about the issues, and it certainly benefits from Telgemeier's time getting perspective on her own life. Additionally, the clean and vibrant illustrations help convey the whole enterprise in a powerful and direct way. This is a book of powerful emotions and feelings, and it conveys them all seamlessly. Perhaps the best comparison I have seen for her style is with Lynn Johnston, the creator of the long-running comic strip For Better, For Worse. That strip could transition from drama to humor to poignant moments and still pack a wallop, just like Telgemeier's works can. Part of what I think makes Telgemeier's work so popular, in my opinion, is that she flat out makes high-octane comics.

All of the reviews I have seen about this book have been positive. Kirkus Reviews concluded, "With young readers diagnosed with anxiety in ever increasing numbers, this book offers a necessary mirror to many." Michael Cavna remarked that one of the big positives about this book was that it "should prove to be a conversation-starter between children and adults." Scott Stossel stated that "this book’s warmth, humanity and humor — it ends with a sonorous and well-earned fart — provides a balm more soul-soothing than any pill." Irene Velentzas wrote, "It is Telgemeier’s mastery of the comics form that lends work like Guts its universal appeal, its widespread popularity, and makes her work highly deserving of sustained attention and further critical inquiry."

Guts was published by Scholastic, and they offer a PDF preview and more here.

Kid Gloves

Lucy Knisley is one of my favorite graphic novel creators, and I am a big fan of her prior graphic memoirs Relish, about her love affair with food, and Something New, about getting married. This book follows the progression of the classic song: first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage. But Kid Gloves is a book that covers some wide ground, making it more than a simple graphic memoir. It contains a lot of medical information about pregnancy and pregnancy-adjacent topics like birth control and miscarriages, and those passages sit right alongside the biographical ones. In a way, it makes the book a little disjointed, as it hops from topic to topic, but it also makes it simultaneously useful, informative, evocative, and entertaining.

My wife and I have three children, and each one had a different story in terms of their birth. One of the things we've learned is that almost everyone who is a parent has a unique story about the conception and birth of a child, and those stories may or may not be instructive or informative. What I like about this book is that it talks frankly about having difficulties with conception, often accompanied by frustration and grief. It also delves deeply into the oft-stigmatized experience of miscarriages. It even shows how birthing can have its complications, and how the after-effects of childbirth can be varied and sometimes hazardous.

Knisley shares a lot about her life, and reading this book almost gives the feeling that the reader knows her, she is that intimate. I feel there is much here that can help a person or people struggling with aspects of becoming a parent in any number of ways. It shows that it is not always a simple, joyful, and easy path to parenthood. It does not sugar-coat the process, although it does tell its story with a lot of heart and humor.

The reviews of this book I have read leaned positive. Josh Kramer called it "a good read, full of pieces that work on their own while telling the story of Knisley’s pregnancy. It may be prone to tangents, but it’s very likely to have a real impact on readers." Publishers Weekly wrote, "Despite its tonal problems, the book is worth reading for Knisley’s fierce wit, strong point of view, and well-paced storytelling." Caitlin Rosberg opined, "While Knisley’s honesty about both the best and worst parts of pregnancy are compelling, what elevates the book to a must-read for those who want kids or love people who do is the context in which she places her personal experience."

Kid Gloves was published by First Second, and they offer a preview and much more here.