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ENTRY TYPE: new
WORK TITLE: RIDE BESIDE ME
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.lucyknisley.com/
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: CANR 325
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born January 11, 1985, in New York, NY; married, husband’s name John; children: one son.
EDUCATION:School of the Art Institute of Chicago, B.F.A., 2007; Center for Cartoon Studies, M.F.A., 2009.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Comic artist, illustrator, and writer. Convention speaker and workshop leader.
AVOCATIONS:Bicycling.
AWARDS:Alex Award, American Library Association, 2014, for Relish.
WRITINGS
Also author of webcomic Stop Paying Attention and multiple self-published zines and mini-comics. Contributor to graphic anthologies and comics.
SIDELIGHTS
[open new]A comic artist who gained acclaim for the series of graphic memoirs that launched her career, Lucy Knisley has branched out into picture books and middle-grade graphic novels. Her mother was a chef, her father a literature professor, and she was first raised in New York City, where she reveled in reading comics like Calvin & Hobbes. In an interview with VoyageChicago, she quipped, “As a kid, I wanted to be an artist or a writer. Making comics was the brilliant solution that allowed me to do both.” Attending School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she created comics for the school’s newspaper, which she also edited. By the time she earned her bachelor of fine arts degree in 2007, she knew she wanted to forge a career as a comic artist and enrolled at Vermont’s Center for Cartoon Studies to earn a master’s degree. Knisley was already self-publishing zines and webcomics, and the occasion that formed the basis of her debut graphic memoir was a trip taken to Paris to celebrate her mother’s fiftieth birthday and her own twenty-second. At the end of every day, with events fresh in her memory, she spent hours illustrating her experiences—an effort that was challenging at first but developed into a travelogue-composing compulsion.
French Milk finds the author and her mother renting a flat in the fifth arrondissement and touring the famed city, from landmarks and museums to cafés and restaurants. Knisley found French milk, which is sweeter than American milk, to signify her mother’s nourishment and influence on her life. A Publishers Weekly reviewer observed that the set pieces that frame Knisley’s story “capture her childhood home and college life lovingly but with clear eyes.” The reviewer appreciated how the drawings vary from “pleasingly clean” to “tellingly detailed.”
With her second graphic memoir, Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, Knisley delves deeper into her adolescence. Her mother was a chef and her father a gourmand, positioning her for plenty of memorable culinary experiences. She started working with food as a young girl in her uncle Pete’s store. After her parents divorced when she was seven, she moved with her mother to a rural area where they grew vegetables and raised chickens to support the mother’s professional efforts. Voice of Youth Advocates reviewer KaaVonia Hinton appreciated the focus on “ambitious, conscious females,” with Knisley’s mother proving an “exceptional role model” who inspires her daughter to be “adventurous, goal-oriented, and generous.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer found Relish “nostalgic and funny,” as bolstered by “candid storytelling, deadpan humor, and clear-line cartooning.” The reviewer praised the book as one that “teenagers and parents will savor in equal measure.”
Knisley’s focus on reaching younger audiences began with illustration efforts. Dean Robbins’s Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing is about a woman whose computer programming skills proved essential to the Apollo 11 mission. A Kirkus Reviews writer declared that Knisley’s “cartoonish illustrations … perfectly capture [Margaret’s] inquisitive spirit while keeping the story light and child-friendly.” Joanne Rocklin’s middle-grade novel Love, Penelope is narrated by an Oakland youth worried about falsely claiming her adoptive mother’s Native ancestry for a school project. Laura Lutz of School Library Journal found that Knisley’s illustrations “add charm,” and Jennifer Barnes of Booklist observed that they “complement the lively text.”
You Are New is Knisley’s first self-illustrated picture book, aimed at the youngest audiences. Addressing children directly, the narration describes all the things they can do already, like nap and cry, and will be able to do in the coming years, like walk and go to school. In Horn Book, Elissa Gershowitz enjoyed the “lilting, lighthearted rhyme” and the “spare and colorful digital collage illustrations, with well-placed shadows for dimension.” A Kirkus Reviews affirmed that the inclusion of later-childhood activities “offers a welcome enrichment of a well-worn picture-book theme” and makes Knisley’s title “a new-baby book that feels new.”
Knisley began her “Peapod Farms” series of middle-grade graphic novels, which partly fictionalize her childhood, with Stepping Stones. Jen is disappointed when her parents’ divorce forces her to leave behind city comforts like comic-book shops and Chinese food for life on a farm. Having to make change at the farmer’s market, without a calculator, stresses Jen out. Her mother’s new partner, Walter, favors his own two daughters, little Reese and know-it-all Andy, who come on weekends to squeeze into Jen’s room. Jen flounders, but her perceptions shift as she find solace in creating art and gets to know who Reese and Andy are on the inside. A Publishers Weekly reviewer remarked that Knisley “balances humor and deeply felt emotion to capture the particular unfairness of being a child at the mercy of parental decisions.” A Kirkus Reviews writer echoed that the author “expertly renders the shame and frustration Jen feels at her lack of agency”—negativity balanced out by the “positive shift in her relationship with her new siblings.”
Apple Crush finds twelve-year-old Jen entering middle school alongside Andy. The girls are also both working for the two men who own Fisher Dairy Farm, where the fall pumpkin patch features a haunted hayride. Jen and Mr. Fisher’s nephew Eddy get along well, but Andy is the one interested in more than just friendship, as the whirlwind of attending a new school takes up all her attention. Creativity helps Jen make friends, and an opportunity to stick up for someone illuminates the meaning of family. A Kirkus Reviews writer found the artwork “energetic and engaging” and praised Apple Crush as “warm, fortifying, and cozy–like a drink of apple cider.”
Knisley’s next picture book, Ride Beside Me, celebrates one of her favorite pastimes, bicycling. A mother and her small child strap on helmets, climbg onto mom’s bike—with the child in a front-mounted passenger seat—and set off for their morning community ride through town. The child narrates in rhyming verse as they breathe in the fresh air and meet diverse neighbors on an assortment of cycles and self-propelled vehicles. A Publishers Weekly reviewer hailed the “flat, bright gouache illustrations” for “conveying a sense of community and civic unanimity.” A Kirkus Reviews writer affirmed that the “charming illustrations” and “upbeat verse” make Ride Beside Me “as pleasant and breezy as a bike ride.”[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 1, 2008, Francisca Goldsmith, review of French Milk, p. 34; March 1, 2013, Ian Chipman, review of Relish: My Life in the Kitchen, p. 40; September 15, 2014, Candice Mack, review of An Age of License: A Travelogue, p. 46; May 15, 2016, Annie Bostrom, review of Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride, p. 40; January 1, 2018, Jennifer Barnes, review of Love, Penelope, p. 98; January 1, 2019, Annie Bostrom, review of Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos, p. 53; April 15, 2020, Annie Bostrom, review of Go to Sleep (I Miss You): Cartoons from the Fog of New Parenthood, p. 36.
BookPage, March, 2019, “Meet Lucy Knisley,” p. 24.
Horn Book, May-June, 2019, Elissa Gershowitz, review of You Are New, p. 127.
Kirkus Reviews, December 1, 2014, review of Displacement: A Travelogue; March 1, 2016, review of Something New; February 15, 2017, review of Margaret and the Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing; February 1, 2019, review of You Are New; December 1, 2019, review of Go to Sleep (I Miss You); March 15, 2020, review of Stepping Stones; March 15, 2022, review of Apple Crush; December 15, 2023, review of Ride Beside Me; May 1, 2024, review of Woe: A Housecat’s Story of Despair.
Publishers Weekly, September 22, 2008, review of French Milk, p. 44; February 11, 2013, review of Relish, p. 67; July 28, 2014, review of An Age of License, p. 72; December 15, 2014, review of Displacement, p. 58; March 30, 2020, review of Stepping Stones, p. 69; November 6, 2023, review of Ride Beside Me, p. 48.
School Library Journal, February, 2018, Laura Lutz, review of Love, Penelope, p. 84; March, 2019, Anna Murphy, review of Kid Gloves, p. 123.
Voice of Youth Advocates vol. 36 no. 1 Apr., 2013. Hinton, KaaVonia. , “Knisley, Lucy. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen.”. p. 687.
Washington Post, June 29, 2016, Michael Cavna, “A New Graphic Novel Explains the Ridiculousness of the Marriage Industry.”
ONLINE
Absolute, https://theabsolutemag.com/ (August 18, 2024), Marie Anello, “A Life Illustrated: A Conversation with Lucy Knisley.”
CBR, https://www.cbr.com/ (June 14, 2013), Brigid Alverson, “Talking Food with ‘Relish’ Creator Lucy Knisley.”
Center for Cartoon Studies website, https://www.cartoonstudies.org/ (March 6, 2017), “Alum Spotlight: Lucy Knisley.”
Evanston RoundTable, https://evanstonroundtable.com/ (July 13, 2023), Kathy Routliffe, “Graphic Novelist Finds Her Evanston Journey ‘Inspiring.’”
Lucy Knisley website, https://www.lucyknisley.com (August 18, 2024).
NPR website, https://www.npr.org/ (April 8, 2015), Sam Briger, “‘Displacement’: The Frustrations, Fears and Absurdities of a Cruise Upended,” author interview.
Threadless, https://blog.threadless.com/ (February 3, 2016), Gina H. Prescott, “Women and Comics: An Interview with Lucy Knisley.”
VoyageChicago, http://voyagechicago.com/ (July 10, 2018), “Art & Life with Lucy Knisley.”
Lucy Knisley is a critically acclaimed and award-winning comic creator. She lives in Evanston, IL.
She specializes in personal, confessional graphic novels and travelogues.
Her last name is confusing and has a silent K. It's pronounced kind-of like "nigh-slee.”
She was born in 1985 and grew up in New York, reading comics despite her artistic and literary parents' mild objections. To Lucy, comics have always combined these two inherited loves: the written word and the drawn image.
The artist shown here circa 1994 in stylish leaf pants, competing for couch space with some cushions.
The artist shown here circa 1994 in stylish leaf pants, competing for couch space with some cushions.
She spent her formative years working for her mother in a catering kitchen, waiting tables and manning a booth at farmer's markets, which was the inspiration for her graphic novel, RELISH; My Life in the Kitchen.
She attended The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Merit Scholar, BFA 2007), followed by The Center for Cartoon Studies (Diamond in the Rough Scholar, MFA 2009).
She also teaches and lectures on comics at conventions, after-school programs, camps and workshops, to both adults and tiny, immature adults. Below is an illustrated talk she has given on travelogues, and how she constructs her own.
She has had the pleasure of appearing and speaking as a special guest at San Diego Comic Con, Toronto Comic Arts Festival, Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo, Renegade Crafts, Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, MoCCA Arts Fest, Small Press Expo, New York Comic Con, Webcomic Weekend, The Maine Comic Arts Festival, Raptus Fest, Stumptown Comics Fest, Brooklyn Book Fest, Miami Book Fest and more.
The artist shown here snort-laughing at her husband in front of a crowd of hundreds at San Diego Comic Con 2014, where she was a special guest. (Photo by Jamie Bressler)
The artist shown here snort-laughing at her partner in front of a crowd of hundreds at San Diego Comic Con 2014, where she was a special guest. (Photo by Jamie Bressler)
PUBLISHING HISTORY
Lucy has published more than a dozen books, with a number of fantastic publishers. These have included: Simon & Schuster, First Second Books, Fantagraphics, Chronicle, Random House Graphics, Knopf and Rocky Pond. She has also contributed to a number of collections and anthologies at various publishers, and made work for many periodicals and publications.
She specializes in graphic narratives, travelogues, stories about blended families, and rhapsodies about food. She has made comics for adult readers, middle-grade readers, and young readers, alike, and believes that comics are for everyone.
BIO.jpg
CURRENT PROJECTS
Lucy has two books coming out in 2024, including Ride Beside me (A picture book from Knopf) and Woe: A Housecat’s Tale of Despair (Random House Graphics). In between touring these two books across the country, she’ll be hard at work writing and drawing the third book in her Peapod Farms middle-grade graphic novel series, as well as also working on her fourth picture book for young readers.
Lucy enjoys playing with her partner and kiddo, eating yummy food, riding bikes, reading, and going to bed early. She’s a fan of tea, puzzles, cats, books, as well as tattoos, reproductive justice, and punk music.
Lucy Knisley is an illustrator, comic artist and author. I'll bet you're wondering how to pronounce her name (the K is silent).
Lucy is a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she went to study painting, and ended up making comics. She then studied at the Center for Cartoon Studies, where she received a scholarship to pursue her MFA (completed in June, 2009).
Beginning with a love for Archie comics, Tintin and Calvin and Hobbes, she has been making comics in some form or another since she could hold a pencil.
She lives in Chicago, where she makes comics, does freelance illustration, and teaches the occasional comics workshop. Check out her blog and web comic essay series on Lucyknisley.com!
Her Books:
French Milk, from Touchstone Publishing, is a drawn journal about living (and eating) in Paris with her mother. (From Touchstone Publishing from Simon and Schuster), August of 2008.
Relish, from First Second Books, is about growing up in the food industry. (First Second Books, April 2013.) It won an Alex Award from the American Librarian Association, was a NYT and Amazon bestseller, and a Goodreads top graphic novel of 2013.
An Age of License and Displacement are paired travelogues about youth and family, coming out this year (Fantagraphics Books, 2014).
She continues to work away on two more graphic novels, and is excited to bring more comics to share with readers.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lucy Knisley
Knisley eating mussels in Paris in 2009
Born Lucy Louise Knisley
January 11, 1985 (age 39)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Nationality American
Area(s) Writer, Artist
Notable works French Milk, Relish, Kid Gloves
http://www.lucyknisley.com
Lucy Knisley (born January 11, 1985) is an American comic artist and musician. Her work is often autobiographical, and food is a common theme.
Knisley's drawn travel journal French Milk was published through Simon & Schuster in October 2008. It received positive reviews in several publications, such as USA Today[1] and Salon.com.[2] Comics critic Douglas Wolk described it as "a keenly observed letter back home... the pleasure Knisley takes in food and company is infectious."[2]
Knisley holds a BFA ('07) from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. While there, she contributed to and edited the comics section of the school newspaper, FNews.[3] Knisley holds an MFA ('09) from the Center for Cartoon Studies. She was awarded the 2007 Diamond in the Rough scholarship[4] for her CCS application comic, Heart Seed Snow Circuit. She is a 2014 recipient of the Alex Awards.
Personal life
Knisley became engaged to designer John Horstman.[5] At the time of his proposal to her, they had been separated for three years after a five year relationship.[5] They married in September 2014.[6]
Knisley gave birth to her first child on June 13, 2016. She refers to him as "Pal" in her writing, short for Palindrome, for privacy reasons.[7][8]
Works
Biographical series
French Milk (2008, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 1-4165-7534-0)
Relish: My Life in the Kitchen (2013, First Second, ISBN 9781596436237)
An Age of License: A Travelogue (2014, Fantagraphics, ISBN 9781606997680)
Displacement: A Travelogue (2015, Fantagraphics, ISBN 9781606998106)
Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride (2016, First Second, ISBN 9781626722491)
Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos (2019, First Second, ISBN 9781626728080)[9]
Go to Sleep (I Miss You): Cartoons from the Fog of New Parenthood (2020, First Second, ISBN 9781250211491)
Baby books
You Are New (2019, Chronicle Books, ISBN 9781452161563)
Peapod Farms (series)
Stepping Stones (2020, Random House Graphic, ISBN 9780593125243)
Apple Crush (2022, Random House Graphic)
Anthology contributor
Trubble Club Vol. 1-4 (2008–09)
You Ain't No Dancer #3 (2008, New Reliable Press, ISBN 978-0-9738079-3-6)
Secrets & Lies (2008, Magic Inkwell Press)
Elephano the Magician (2008, ISBN 0-557-01798-X)
Side B: The Music Lover's Graphic Novel (2009, Poseur Ink, ISBN 978-0-615-22080-2)
I Saw You... (2009, Random House, ISBN 0-307-40853-1)
Marvel Comics:
Girl Comics Vol.2 #1 (May 2010) "Shop Doc"
I Am An Avenger Vol.1 #4 (February 2011) "Growing Pains"
Self-published
Heart Seed Snow Circuit (2007)
Searching For Cassady (2007)
Radiator Days (2008)
Pretty Little Book (2009)
Drawn To You (with Erika Moen, 2009)
Make Yourself Happy (2010)
Mini-comics
Letters from the Bottom of the Sea (with Hope Larson, 2005)
My Addiction (2006)
French Milk minis (2009)
The Fast (2009)
"Paris Journal" (2009)
"Salvaged Parts" (2010)
Albums
Sweet Violet (2006)
Pretty/Nerdy (2007)
Comics Tunes By and For Us Comics Goons (compilation, 2007)
Illustrations
Beautiful Cadavers by Liam Jennings (Cover art, 2010)
Margaret And The Moon: How Margaret Hamilton Saved the First Lunar Landing by Dean Robbins (Illustrations, 2017, Knopf Books for Young Readers, ISBN 9780399551857)
Love, Penelope: Letters from a big sister who knows about life by Joanne Rocklin (illustrations, 2018, Amulet Books, ISBN 9781419728617)
ALUM SPOTLIGHT: LUCY KNISLEY
March 6, 2017
LucyK3
Lucy Knisley graduated from The Center for Cartoon Studies in 2009. Since then she has created multiple graphic novels, with more already on the way. She gave me (Angela Boyle ′15) a brief interview.
Who was your advisor and why did you choose them?
Lynda Barry! I love her. I chose her for a number of reasons: First of all, she is amazing. I was pretty burnt out after two years of art high school, four years of art college, and a year of CCS, and I needed a lot of freedom and space to do my thesis, and she offered that. She was such a breath of fresh air—mental health and freedom over productivity and monetary value in work. Exactly what the doctor ordered.
SNpage
What do you try to accomplish with your comics, in sharing your experiences?
I think readers and artists exist in a wonderful symbiosis. The author tells their story, and it becomes something shared and understood, and the reader can feel understood and seen in the scope of what they read. I try to find that balance, and form that connection between myself and the reader. Working in comics gives me the ability to not only impart what I thought and felt, but how I see things– the visual metaphors and perspective that I’m working from. I love that multiple-level storytelling connection.
It’s quite apparent you love cheese, but which is your favorite?!
It changes all the time, but I’m very fond of Cantal, a french picnic cheese that melts beautifully and retains a perfect bounciness. Try it melted on toast with cornichon and maybe a smear of good mustard. The best.
Books
Something New
In Something New, she explores her views on marriage, the process and history, and how it came through in her own wedding.
Kirkus Reviews
Publishers Weekly
A. V. Club
Relish
In Relish, she thinks back about the place food has had in her life. It was a New York Times bestseller and won Publishers Weekly’s Best Children’s Book of 2013, NPR’s Best Book of 2013, and the American Library Association Alex Award in 2013.
NPR
Good OK Bad
New York Times
Comics Alliance
AgeofLicense
In An Age of License, Lucy explores the period in which we come into adulthood via a travel-expenses-paid trip to Europe and Scandanavia on a book tour.
Paste Magazine
Publisher’s Weekly
Comics Grinder
And coming soon, we can expect graphic novels on becoming a parent and going through high school.
Tags: An Age of License, Cartoon Studies, CCS Alumni, First Second, Graphic Novel, Lucy Knisley, Relish, Schulz Library, Something New
Talking food with 'Relish' creator Lucy Knisley
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Brigid Alverson
Published Jun 14, 2013
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Lucy Knisley's Relish: My Life in the Kitchen has been one of the most talked about graphic novels of the year since its debut in April at the MoCCA Arts Festival. That's not too surprising, as the emotional pull of food and the way it intermingles with family and other relationships often makes for compelling reading. In Relish, Knisley has put together a series of short stories about her foodie parents and her own experiences in and out of the kitchen and accompanied them with some favorite recipes, all illustrated in her loose, colorful style.
For a while it seemed like everyone in the world was interviewing Knisley, and as someone who enjoys a good food story, I didn't want to be left out.
Brigid Alverson: Obviously food is very important to your family, but why did you think it was a good theme for a memoir?
Lucy Knisley: Sense memory is a great connection to our past! I grew up with a family that cares a lot about food, and learned from them how to care about food. I have so many wonderful memories associated with foods, it makes perfect sense to tell these stories centered around the food I love.
In the prose world, food writing has become its own genre. Do you have any favorite food writers?
Lately I love David Lebovitz's food writing — he has a great (and hilarious) voice, and writes quite a bit about Paris (which I love) and chocolate (ditto).
Your first book French Milk came out five years ago. What have you been doing between now and then?
I've been working on Relish (it takes a while to make graphic novels) and working simultaneously as a freelance illustrator. I also like to travel and make travelogue comics, so I've done a few of those.
How was the experience of making this second book different from the first?
With travelogues, like French Milk, it's all very immediate. You work quickly and intensely, and come away with a book at the end of a fairly short period of time. With Relish, it was very different, because it was scripted and planned out, and I took my time to make it finished and pretty, working with my publisher to get the book ready.
As a former editor, I'm always interested in this question: How did working with an editor change the book (if at all)?
Yes! My editor was very helpful. The process involved a lot of back and forth about the chapters, and it was great to have an excellent sounding board in my editor who was able to lend her advice to the book.
A couple of times I have read your webcomics and thought "How did she know?" You seem to hit a resonant chord with a lot of your readers. How do you get your ideas, and what is your work process? How do you go from a thought to a finished comic?
I take my time and try to focus on thoughts that are true in way I hadn't before been able to articulate. It often takes a while, which is why I don't usually have fixed deadlines on the comic. Instead, I allow the ideas to come at their own pace. I usually talk through the topic with friends to clarify the content in my own mind, and then write it out and translate it into comic form.
How do your family and friends who appear in this book feel about being characters in a graphic novel, and how did you broach the subject with them to begin with?
I'm lucky that I have a very supportive family, who loves my work and enjoys appearing in my comics. My parents helped me with the stories, and were pleased with their depictions. Fortunately, this book doesn't have a lot of embarrassing parts to it (at least for them!) so they were happy to be a part!
What was the hardest part of making this graphic novel?
It's hard not to share work as I make it, as someone who is used to posting work online pretty immediately. I love the instant feedback of working online, so it was tough keeping the pages of Relish to myself for 3 years. But it was worth it, to share it now!
And what part of the process did you like best?
Getting the finished copies of the book in the mail, and getting to open those boxes and hold the book in my hands! Unfortunately, I live in a 5th floor walkup, so that feeling of joy was shortly followed by a feeling of exhaustion from having to lug a huge box of books all the way upstairs!
Your drawings are very detailed, which is one of the things I really enjoy about the book. Were you working from memory or did you have a lot of photos from those times?
I was working from memory. I have a pretty good visual memory, though, so it was a fun project for me, to delve into those memories and try to dredge up the details.
You wrote a lovely comic about leaving Chicago. Where do you live now, and what are your current favorite hangouts and foods?
I moved to New York, to be closer to my family. My dad and I go out to eat pretty much every week. We like trying new spots around the city together. Right now I'm very fond of Mas La Grillade, a wood-fired restaurant in my neighborhood that makes delicious food and also makes the whole neighborhood smell like woodsmoke!
A Life Illustrated: A Conversation With Lucy Knisley
Interview Longreads lucy knisley | By Marie Anello
As a critically acclaimed author, celebrated cartoonist, and comics wunderkind with nearly 10 years of published works under her belt, Lucy Knisley is a perennial favorite of this reviewer. Known for her witty, thoughtful, and deeply personal autobiographical works, Lucy has made a name for herself with books like French Milk, Relish, An Age of License, and most recently, Displacement. An Age of License and Displacement are companion travelogues, published through Fantagraphics Books, detailing the events of two separate trips taken several months apart. The first is an exploration of freedom, youth, and love, while the latter is a sobering glimpse into the realities of aging, memory-loss, and caring for the elderly. For further information about these books, you can read my reviews here and here.
Recently I had the chance to sit down with Lucy at The Strand Bookstore in Manhattan and interview her about Displacement, her new work, and her experiences as an graphic memoirist:
For those not familiar, could you describe how you make travelogues and what the experience is like?
My first published travelogue was called French Milk and I wrote it when I was twenty or so. I had set myself a challenge: I was about to graduate from art school and I wanted to see if I had it in me to bring my work into a storytelling realm. I was already making comics for my school newspaper, but I wanted to tell longer form stories. My mother was turning 50 and we were both at these turning points in our lives, and I had the sense that it would be something I wanted to memorialize in this way. So I began to keep a drawn journal.
I wrote every night and I would draw every night, which is something that is incredibly difficult to do in most travel situations? At the end of the day after walking around, eating and seeing the sites, you don’t want to spend three hours drawing about what you just experienced. It really took an effort of will to do it. But, while doing it, I started to develop an instinct and the muscle memory it takes to do this, and I kind of got addicted.
The travelogue thing really is an addiction of mine. I have the rare trip where I won’t keep one. I usually set myself a page limit, but for certain trips, like this one, I sort of let myself get a little out of control (this includes watercoloring every page by hand).
What’s nice about travelogues is that they can allow you to see it from a little bit of a distance while you’re experiencing it, especially if it’s something that’s difficult to undergo. In this particular instance, that was being in close proximity to my grandparents and watching their slow decline, which is very scary to face on your own in an ocean! It was really nice to give myself a little bit of distance and sort of process what I was going through at the time and to tell the story of this experience and try to find the humor in it.
drawing2
This book was written in February 2012 and deals a lot with fear of aging and the weight of responsibility. Do you feel that, three years later, the experience has changed the way you view these things?
It’s certainly changed the way I view the cruise ship industry! While I’d been to the Caribbean before, I’d never really experienced what it was like to go on a cruise ship. I found myself to be NOT a cruise person; it was terrifying! I was trapped on a ship that had been shut down twice due to Norovirus outbreaks. I was pretty sure we were gonna die.
It also changed the way I think of myself, and really in the end it was nice to spend some time one-on-one with my grandparents, to connect with them a bit. And as to aging, I just turned 30 yesterday and I was OK with it. So yeah, thumbs up to aging.
You frame each day of the journey with an excerpt of your grandfather’s war memorial. A lot of your work deals with the ability of stories to transcend time and space. Was the inclusion of the memoir something you were doing alongside your own travelogue or a decision you made later?
That happened really organically. I was rereading the memoir at the time because I thought that I would pry more information out of my grandfather over the course of the trip and talk to him about the details of his amazing stories. Both my grandparents are so grounded in this period of time, they have such vivid memories of their wartime experiences and yet they can’t remember what they ate for breakfast that morning.
It was interesting because something that can happen with memoir is that other characters become dehumanized a little bit, because you’re seeing everybody through the author’s point of view. I didn’t want that to happen with my grandparents, especially with my grandfather. I wanted people to see the loss of their identity as human beings, and to represent that somehow. And I thought this was a good way to show how my grandfather has gone from being the storyteller to being the subject of the story, and also to show how sad it can be to see that decline in loved ones, and to watch those memories just vanish.
You’re most well-known for your autobiographical works. What about autobio do you think is so engaging to readers and what about it for you as a storyteller makes you want to continue doing it?
A horrible sickness and compulsion? [laughter] No, I love autobio and I read a great deal of it. It’s great how so many people seem to be doing it…It’s interesting to see how much control the autobiographical memoirist has. A prose memoirist writes “Here’s how I remember it,” but with a graphic memoirist you get “Here’s how I remember it and here’s what it looked like.” It adds this extra layer of experiential reading where the reader gets to see through their eyes and see their interpretation fully.
I love that aspect of control–to be able to take these stories that can be difficult or that I want to memorialize by taking them outside of my body and sharing them with people. And then I can give that control away to the reader who can interpret it as much as they want to. They’re really encountering a past version of myself, who is basically a different person.
(Lucy proceeded to make a joke about comics being similar to horcruxes, and then admitted to being Lord Voldemort while I nearly had an aneurysm from laughing so hard.)
As a young professional who is making comics, what is your perspective on the industry and how it’s changing, and how specifically you and other young graphic memoirists like Liz Prince (Tomboy) and Jess Fink (We Can Fix It) are changing it?
I think this is also growing in other generations too, but I think that there’s a lot of power in younger women telling their personal stories as a voice that hasn’t been heard from in the past. For example though, Roz Chast’s book this year (Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant) is an older generational voice talking about the aging process (way better than I did in Displacement). It was dealing with the decline of her parents and her own place in that, and I found that I was writing, from a generational gap, the same story, which I think is so interesting.
There are all these great stories coming out. I love these personal stories and it’s so fun getting to meet the people that write them. Alison Bechdel has the most beautiful hands, and all of her characters in her books have the same hands! They have these really beautiful, elegant hands and it’s so cool to have this connection to the real person and then to see it reflected in their work in such a visual way. I’ve known Liz Prince for years and know the exact shirt she’s drawing herself in. Jess Fink and I were Livejournal buddies in high school, so to see her writing books about her past and seeing her work published is so exciting to me.
It is so great to see that. It felt like when I was coming of age, there were a lot of male voices in the personal comics and memoir field. It’s so great to me to see how many younger women are now telling their stories and gaining a voice in this regard. Especially considering the traditional male-dominated superhero comics field, it’s great that women have sort of taken over graphic memoir.
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I remember when French Milk came out I got this hilarious email. Keep in mind I was 20 and graduating from college, I was full of doubt and insecurity and fighting with my mom on the trip and getting my period everywhere. And I got this email from this woman who said, “I think it’s terrible that you’re depicting this character as such a weak female presence. You should be showing strong female characters.”
And I am a real person and a woman, and I think I should be allowed to get my period and fight with my mother and be a big baby, and STILL be considered a strong female character. But it’s also the fact that I’m telling the truth. I’m not trying to show myself saving the world or through a filter, I’m trying to show what it was like for myself at that time.
I think it’s easier for someone to see a character who’s a mess and still a strong character to then relate and reflect that in their own life. The most reassuring thing I realized in my twenties is that no one has their shit together, and it’s nice to see that it’s not the case and connect to readers who are feeling the same way.
Are there any places you’d like to go in the future or trips you’d like to see turned into travelogues?
I think the travel aspect of the travelogues is secondary to the periods of transition in my life when they were written. A trip is a very excellent way to memorialize that, and when you travel you have a little distance from your life and you can recognize the ways you are growing and changing.
In both An Age of License and Displacement there’s more going on than just the trip itself. I hope Displacement becomes meaningful to people who would need it, perhaps. And also warn them about the dangers of cruise ships!
Many Thanks to Lucy Knisley, Michael Chin, The Strand Bookstore, and Fantagraphics Books for making this interview possible.
Graphic novelist finds her Evanston journey ‘inspiring’
by Kathy Routliffe
July 13th, 2023
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Lucy Knisley has made many journeys in her life – to Evanston from New York, for one.
New York was where Knisley devoured comic books and comics like Calvin and Hobbes as she grew up. And it’s where she honed her persuasive skills by convincing her chef mother and literature professor father that comics were, in fact, a worthwhile passion. Now in Evanston, she delights in seeing her son take the same creative path.
Lucy Knisley, who grew up in New York, loved comics as a child. That set her on her path to become a comic and graphic novel creator. She now lives in Evanston with her husband and son. Credit: Kathy Routliffe
An award-winning comic artist and graphic novelist, Knisley also delights in other physical and metaphysical journeys. She believes the three years she’s lived in Evanston with her husband and son to be its own fruitful journey, replete with writing and illustrating well-received graphic books and web comics, visits to the Evanston Public Library, bike trips in Evanston and Chicago, and more.
Knisley also happily proselytizes for her art form as one that brings joy to adults and kids.
“My son and I go to the library twice a week and we camp out in the kids’ graphic novels area,” she says. “We hear parents sigh and say, ‘Oh, all right, you can pick one.’ But I think some of the best writing out now is in comics!”
Knisley, a 2020 nominee for the prestigious Eisner Award, which some consider the Oscar of the industry, and one of 10 winners of the 2014 American Library Association’s Alex Award, journeyed from loving comics, to self-publishing her own, to a full-time career in the field.
The books of artist Lucy Knisley. Credit: Kathryn Routliffe.
“I always loved to draw, and I loved to write, and I loved comics, but I didn’t put it all together at first. Comics seemed magical to me. I thought they just happened,” she says. “I thought it wasn’t a real job.”
When she studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, she found little support for comic art, although she says the Institute now has a good comics art program. But she edited and published her art in the school’s newspaper and made friends with other comic artists. By the time she graduated in 2007, she knew she wanted to make it her life’s work.
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She studied two more years at the Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont, following that with travel and attending events like the annual Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo, popularly known as C2E2. She published her own zines and on online sites like LiveJournal.
Eventually, Knisley says she was “burned out.” She also faced the economic realities of making comic art her career: “I thought, ‘Oh, no. I’ll have to work in the cheese store forever and just do art on the side.’” Instead, she and her mother traveled to Paris to experience French food; Knisley’s word and picture-filled diary from that trip eventually became French Milk (Simon and Schuster), her first professional publication in 2008.
Since then, she’s published more books, seen her work published in anthologies, done work for Marvel, and been a popular presence at conventions like San Diego Comic Con, although the birth of her son and the pandemic lessened such activity.
Knisley goes through art she’s created for her upcoming book, which came out of her love of bicycling. Credit: Kathy Routliffe
Since moving to Evanston, Knisley has kept busy. She’s a fan of Booked, the Main Street bookstore for which she’s designed a T-shirt. She’s online at her website, and she’s completed her most recent book, Ride Beside Me, an illustrated paean to bicycling. It comes out from Knopf next year. While she continues to create, she has also gotten to know her neighbors and says she wants to contribute to her new hometown.
Knisley says art evolves, and hers is no exception. As she’s become more plugged in to her Evanston life, she’s become more private in what she creates, she says. And some of her artistic aims have changed too.
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“I’m more about community … I want to use my skills to better my community,” she said. “I’m more about making art locally rather than globally. I think that’s because of Evanston. I know how inspiring Evanston has been for me.”
JULY 10, 2018Art & Life with Lucy Knisley
Avatar photoLOCAL STORIES
SHARETWEETPIN
Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucy Knisley.
Lucy, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
As a kid, I wanted to be an artist or a writer. Making comics was the brilliant solution that allowed me to do both. I started out making comics while studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, then went on to get my MFA at the Center for Cartoon Studies, and have been publishing graphic novels, children’s books and short comics since 2009. My first book, French Milk, was a starred book in Publisher’s Weekly, and my second, Relish, was a New York Times best-seller. My sixth graphic novel, Kid Gloves, is coming out in February of 2019, and focuses on women’s reproductive health, and my own calamitous journey to parenthood.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I make comics, which go by plenty of names; Graphic novels, cartoons, funnies, graphic narratives, sequential art– what have you. I focus my stories on personal narratives, travelogues, and issues of women’s health, motherhood and honesty.
Any advice for aspiring or new artists?
If you love your art enough to work for it waiting tables, then you really love it. If you refuse to wait tables to support your art, maybe you don’t really love it. It takes a long time to understand what you need to make art at a consistent, steady pace that will support you financially– much of that has nothing to do with talent and everything to do with study and practice and time.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My website is lucyknisley.com. You can also see my comic sketches on my Instagram page, which can be found at instagram.com/lucyknisley
Contact Info:
Website: www.lucyknisley.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucyknisley/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lucyknisley/
Women and Comics: An Interview with Lucy Knisley
Gina H. PrescottFebruary 3, 2016
Lucy Knisley is a geek. She’s a food lover, or as she’s been called by NPR, a “food nerd.” She’s a confident, candid, charmingly self-effacing and (at times) silly woman.
Even though Lucy doesn’t see herself as a productive writer (Her exact words when I referred to her as such were “Ha haaaaaa”), it’s hard as an outside viewer not to disagree with her. In the past few years, she has published a book a year. Her food memoir, Relish, which chronicles her relationship with food complete with fantastic infographics of her favorite recipes, was published in 2013. It was a NYT bestseller and an ALA Alex Award Winner. Her subsequent travelogue, The Age of License, is about her time in Europe, attending and teaching at conferences, having a romantic rendezvous, and looking towards the future after a breakup with her longtime boyfriend.
2-482x630Last year, Lucy published a new travelogue, Displacement, again to critical acclaim, about taking her 90-year-old grandparents on a cruise. In addition to her books, Lucy does commissioned art and illustrations, writes a web comic, Stop Paying Attention, worked on comics for Marvel, and has self-published five books, one of which is a travelogue of her visit to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter called Here at Hogwarts (Lucy also created eight posters of the Harry Potter movie plot lines, which she was kind enough to share with the world for free).
Lucy’s new book, Something New, about getting married will be released this May from First Second Books, so it seemed like a great time to chat with Lucy about some serious things, some silly things, and of course, a few geeky things.
211760_originalOne of the things that I love about your work is your openness. I think that intimate and loving moments take an amazing amount of guts to write and share with others. What do you think?
Excerpt from Age of License. Image courtesy of http://comicsgrinder.com/
Excerpt from Age of License.
I love to share those moments with people, because what readers find touching about them is their own connection to moments like that— I think that’s what makes writing so rewarding; to create that connection, that “oh, I know that feel” moment, and to make both myself and that reader feel less alone in their experiences and emotions. What I find most terrifying in terms of sharing content is fiction. Where I am confessional and honest about my experiences, I find this to be a natural storytelling format. To share the dark fantasies that nobody has ever experienced seems a much greater risk. Instead of “here is the world I know” it’s “here is my made up fantasy for your examination.” It terrifies me, but I hope to expand my storytelling to encompass fictional work someday.
0602-bks-WOLK-master675Continuing with the idea of challenging subject matters, your latest work, Displacement, is about the time you took your grandparents on a cruise. The book is a departure from your earlier work and about the not-often-discussed topic of aging and care-taking. Why did you decide to write about this subject?
My relationship with my grandparents has always been something I’ve wanted to understand better. There’s a lot of humor and a lot of sadness present in the love of an aging relative that is very universal, but my relationship with them is also very singular. That’s what makes this story compelling to me. I wanted to record this experience for myself, to try to better understand what was going on between us and how I related to them, but it was also a coping strategy when I started out thinking this might be a little funny and frustrating, and it turned out to also be sad and insane.
Excerpt from Displacement. Image courtesy of http://cupofjo.com/2015/05/great-new-book-2/
Excerpt from Displacement.
Going more specifically into how you work, can you describe your creative process?
Er, no. It’s a lot of sitting and staring and then sketching and messing around on the computer. Not very interesting.
Do you have a favorite part of the creative process?
Being finished with something and getting to rest on my laurels a bit.
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Every writer or artist experiences rejection, how do you deal with it?
Quietly, angrily. Then I do my best to forget it and move on.
222546_originalOk, now that you’ve been nice enough to answer some serious questions, let’s do some fun ones. Pie or cake?
Pie. I live down the street from Hoosier Mama Pie Company in Chicago, and it’s a dangerous, dangerous proximity.
In a fight between red and purple, who would win and why?
Red is primary, undiluted with blue, so it’s got a stronger foundation to build on and will be more likely to turn purple into a bluey red!
Periodic Table, A City Map, or Color Wheel?
Color wheel! I love them and use them frequently. I learned color theory when I tagged along with my mom to an adult art class as a kid, and I have been totally fascinated and underwater with it ever since.
A recipe infographic from Relish. Image courtesy of http://panels.net/2015/03/11/get-started-bff-lucy-knisley/
A recipe infographic from Relish.
Let’s get full geeky here. If you were going to Cosplay as any character, who would it be and why?
I’ve cosplayed as Doctor Girlfriend from The Venture Brothers, Carrie Kelley (Girl Robin), and Fionna from Adventure Time for a couple Halloweens, although I know cosplay pedants will argue that Halloween doesn’t technically count as cosplay. I rocked that Dr. G costume. I would do it again. I could do the voice and everything. My husband went as an AMAZING Monarch.
If you could design a t-shirt, what would you have on it?
I’ve designed a bunch of t-shirts, but usually only for me and my friend, Nora. We made one with Billie Jean from The Legend of Billie Jean on it, with “FAIR IS FAIR” beneath her. I love that shirt. I searched for ages for a Angriest Dog in the World shirt, because I couldn’t understand why such an amazing comic didn’t have merchandise I could plaster on my body, so I secretly screenprinted my own version of it. In truth, I’m not super-great with t-shirt designs. Actually, my favorite t-shirt is Emily Stackpole’s Knotty and Nice, which I bought from Threadless like six years ago and I’ve worn to paper thinness.
Lucy with her friend, Nora, wearing their Legend of Billie Jean t-shirt. Image courtesy of
Lucy with her friend, Nora, wearing their Legend of Billie Jean t-shirt.
Do you have a cooking project or obsession right now?
BAKING. Actually, when the weather cools, I go crazy for all kinds of cooking. I’ve been focusing on baking recently, though. It’s more foreign and challenging to me. I learned how to do a three layer cake last week, and it was okay.
What are five of your favorite books?
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood; Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris; Youth In Revolt by CD Payne (don’t judge it by the weird movie they made of it); Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings series; Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell; The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd; Eva by Peter Dickinson (it is this insane YA book about a girl who gets a chimpanzee brain transplant); The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster and Jules Feiffe; and Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man by the incomparable Fannie Flagg.
Okay that was nine, sorry not sorry.
Lucy reading as a child.
Lucy reading as a young girl.
Do you have a contemporary issue or cause that is particularly important to you?
I want Planned Parenthood to be the top-funded organization in the world, and I really don’t understand why it’s not. My friend, fellow cartoonist, Erika Moen, and I usually do an annual art auction or sale as a fundraiser for it. We’re cooking up a new one right now. Women’s’ health and reproductive rights are incredibly important, and I do my best to blather to all who will listen about period health and cool new birth control techniques.
Planned Parenthood flyer designed by Lucy and Erica
Planned Parenthood flyer designed by Lucy and Erika
Do you have a go-to doodle or doodles?
My whole career is based on the fact that I’ve always tried to get my self-portrait right. I think self-portraiture is very revealing and a constant attempt to know yourself and understand how the world perceives you, which is to understand what it’s like to be someone else. So my own doodles tend to be of myself, and I feel like they’re always changing.
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Lucy in front of a bunch of self-portraits
That answer is really surprising and interesting to me. Is there something that you continually struggle with in regards to your self-portrait?
I like to change my hair pretty frequently, so it always throws me when I have to adapt my drawing of myself to match newly short hair. But that’s all surface—the idea that a few lines can convey who a person is—that’s what really matters to me. That you can look at those lines and recognize an individual, and consistently so. It’s grounding, and self-exploratory, to know yourself as a character or an image. I think it’s why people like blogging and taking selfies so much.
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It’s not necessarily conceit or self-absorption. I see a lot of this attempt to reconcile your inner self with the way the world perceives you in the years of early adulthood, when you’re discovering who you are and want to be for the long-haul. Comparing the image of your outer self with your inner self is something that connects us to other people – trying to imagine how we’d be seen from the outside of our own private meat prison. It’s not new, though the internet and technology has given us new ways to do this. Ancient cave paintings depicted self-portraiture. Humans will always have their own special ways of trying to look into their own eyes to try to better understand themselves. Mine happens to be by compulsively doodling myself.
Can you tell us a little bit about your new book, Something New, that is slated to come out this May?
Something New book cover
I went from totally single to engaged in the space of a day. I had no expectations going into the massively structured wedding industrial complex, and I was totally thrown by the mysterious customs, history, and commerce of the thing. I began to amass insane stories from this process, a general “What is happening—this is crazy” collection from the nerdy, feminist, bridal front lines, and that became this new book.
Is this your boyfriend from Relish and the one you were broken up with for Age of License?
Yep! You can read about how we went from together/single/engaged in my comic on Stop Paying Attention, titled A Light That Never Goes Out.
Lucy and her husband, John. Image courtesy of http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/fashion/weddings/lucy-knisley-john-horstman.html
Lucy and her husband, John.
Lastly, do you have any advice for young wannabe writers or artists?
Don’t read reviews or measure yourself by them. “Likes” and reviews are impossibly addictive, and can confuse your own sense of self as an artist with a sense of “what the people want.”
Cultivate older and younger friends in the business. The spectrum of new talent and established talent will help to balance you in your own work and give you a connection to the work when it was new to you, and how it might be for you in the future.
Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s a great way to burn out and hate your work.
Byline: Michael Cavna
Are you married, or do you hope to be married, or have you ever watched someone close to you wrestle with the path toward being married? Or have you even just been amazed by the gazillion-dollar industry that feeds off those planning to get married?
Then "Something New" may be just the book for you, especially during summer wedding season.
The graphic-novel memoir from First Second Books follows Lucy Knisley's own decade-long saga toward the altar, as well as her own keen and amusing observations on the marital industry she curated along the way.
"Marriage is the greatest experiment of your life," Knisley tells The Washington Post of her insightful personal reportage, "so I try to tell the story of this process."
Knisley, who wrote the bestselling food memoir "Relish," hopes to appeal to a wide audience by sharing the deeply human details of how she and husband John marched over many years to this threshold - "the good and the bad and the ugly."
"I think that's something people can appreciate at any stage of any life," says Knisley, whose visual avatar throughout the tale is both internalizing and intellectualizing the experiences sparked by long-term romantic relationships and socially encouraged institutions. This awareness creates a duality within the memoir, as Lucy is both committed actor and commentating narrator.
Lucy and John meet and fall in love in Chicago, when she is in college. They eventually split and live in separate cities before they reunite and then marry in September 2014.
"It was a 10-year relationship before we got married, and I was having the time and faith to think about these things," Knisley says. "This wasn't this sudden decision that we rushed. ... That would be a very different book."
Time and personal growth and new experiences allow her and John to more fully consider the implications of marriage, says Knisley, from their careers to their family of origin templates (his parents are married; hers are divorced).
And to capture this maze of emotions, Knisley did not want to allow the passage of time to fuzz her feelings. Instead, she wrote the memoir as the nuptials neared, in real time.
"It's a very immediate book," Knisley says. "In some ways, it's more honest when you're telling a story as you're experiencing it." And a memoir like this, she notes, relies "definitely in the emotion that you're trying to convey rather than the faded wisdom of age."
From cake frostings to seating charts to The Dress, Knisley has a winningly wry eye when sizing up the decisions great and small that can weigh on brides and their attentive circles of support. And when studying "the craziness" of such cottage industries fueled by big life changes, she says, "I am amazed by the pressure that they can exert. You have to do this and have to get this and have to spend on this."
Lucy wrote most of the book prior to her wedding, but her chapter introductions were created later, so she could frame each chapter's "broader themes." She also used her husband as a sounding board, and even asked him to write the book's afterword.
"That's one of the benefits of this process -- John put it in a different light," says Knisley, who is Eisner-nominated this year for "Displacement: A Travelogue." "And I wanted some kind of voice at the end, and I (had been asked): 'What does think John think about all this?' So it was good to get his side of the story."
So after artistically documenting her long and studied route to the altar, does Knisley have any advice for people currently considering marriage?
"Yes," she says of the process. "Give yourself a break."
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Source Citation
Source Citation
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Cavna, Michael. "A new graphic novel explains the ridiculousness of the marriage industry." Washington Post, 29 June 2016. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A456495921/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c8ba5afa. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Relish: My Life in the Kitchen Lucy Knisley. First Second, $17.99 paper (192p) ISBN 978-1-59643-623-7
"When we eat, we take in more than just sustenance," writes Knisley (French Milk) in this nostalgic and funny food-centric memoir, and it's a fitting motto for the book and for anyone who takes even the slightest pleasure in cooking and, more importantly, eating. Having grown up surrounded by delicious food, thanks to her gourmand father and earthy superchef mother, Knisley looks back on her childhood and adolescence through her roving palette and voracious appetite for new tastes and experiences. With each memory Knisley shares, she shows that life, like a good meal, should be savored and that all food--even junk food--is more than "just fuel." For those uninitiated in the mysterious art of pickling, the nuance of cheese, or making sangria (yes, a couple cocktail recipes appear), Knisley's candid storytelling, deadpan humor, and clear-line cartooning make the book entirely accessible, extinguishing the pretensions that sometimes predominate the culinary world. Like a giant bowl of spaghetti carbonara or tower of huevos rancheros (recipes included), this is a book that teenagers and parents will savor in equal measure. Ages 15-up. Agent: Holly Bemiss, Susan Rabiner Literary Agency. (Apr.)
Bemiss, Holly
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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Bemiss, Holly. "Relish: My Life in the Kitchen." Publishers Weekly, vol. 260, no. 6, 11 Feb. 2013, p. 67. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A318901729/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=6d609b96. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Knisley, Lucy. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen. First Second/Macmillan, 2013. 192p. $17.99 Trade pb. 978-1-59643-623-7. Photos.
For most of us, a sudden whiff of something or the notes of a melodic tune are enough to conjure up memories from long ago. For the author of this graphic memoir, it is food that jogs her memory, shapes how she views the world, and comforts her while she is on her life's journey. Inspired by her parents and other family members, Knisley began working around food in her Uncle Pete's store at an early age. After her parent's divorced when she was seven, she moved to the country with her mother, a business woman who grew vegetables, raised chickens, and cooked. It was there that her mother encouraged her to be adventurous, goal-oriented, and generous.
Eating, cooking, and serving are featured prominently in the text and drawings. Readers interested in cooking and the fine art of eating will appreciate the recipes and the food-filled anecdotes, such as when Knisley finds croissants in Venice that are so delicious she scoffs down five before she knows it. When she returns to the states, she becomes obsessed with trying to make similar ones that rival those eaten abroad. The book closes with a bonus: an afterword filled with frill-color family photos. It is refreshing to see graphic novels with ambitious, conscious females. Just as the author acknowledges that her mother was an exceptional role model, so might young readers.--KaaVonia Hinton.
Hinton, KaaVonia
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2013 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
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Hinton, KaaVonia. "Knisley, Lucy. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 36, no. 1, Apr. 2013, p. 687. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A342468563/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3915662e. Accessed 14 June 2024.
An Age of License
Lucy Knisley. Fantagraphics, $19.99 trade paper (208p) ISBN 978-1-60699-768-0
Knisley (French Milk, Relish) continues to own the travelogue/graphic novel genre by bringing her characteristic humor and heart to this memoir of a summer in Europe. Created during a journey from a comics convention in Norway to the vineyards of Burgundy and a lover's loft in Montmartre, the in-process method of writing and drawing her adventures as they happen gives a vibrant immediacy to situations and sensations. Belying her relatively simple but charming cartooning style, Knisley pages are a cornucopia of information and detail: oversized seagulls, bilingual schoolchildren, and lying sat-navs populate her travels. Her observations are frequently laugh-out-loud funny (for instance, on her new Swedish boyfriend: "They should sell these at Ikea!"). It's easy to excuse a temporary lapse in keeping up her illustrated journal when she falls in love--a sequence evocatively drawn with much emotional impact. Knisley's already established passion for foreign foods is highlighted: Norwegian pastries, mustard in a tube, the French milk of her previous memoir, and that punch line to so many Scandinavian jokes, lutefisk. The title comes from the French Page licence--the freedom to explore, experiment, and feel joy, all feelings beautifully captured here. (Sept.)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2014 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
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"An Age of License." Publishers Weekly, vol. 261, no. 30, 28 July 2014, p. 72. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A376680775/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d1dfcc5d. Accessed 14 June 2024.
An Age of License. By Lucy Knisley. Illus. by the author. Sept. 2014. 208p. Fantagraphics, paper, $19.99 (9781606997680). 741.5.
When acclaimed comics-artist Knisley (Relish, 2013) is invited to attend a comics convention in Norway--travel expenses paid--she enthusiastically agrees and adds a few more stops to her itinerary, in Sweden, Germany, and France. In her classic travelogue style and interspersed with lovely, contemplative watercolor sketches, she offers glimpses of her journey--feeling disoriented and jet-lagged, enjoying strange and wonderful new foods, enduring language barriers, discovering the delights of a new place, and indulging in an intense, romantic, and ill-fated love affair. Her trip also elicits a bit of an existential crisis, epitomized by the phrase Page license, or "license to experience, mess up, license to fail, license to do ... whatever, before you're settled." It's a useful concept for Knisley as she observes her life from the distance of travel, and her simple lines, lively illustrations, and patchwork of moments she chooses to include artfully capture her introspective mood. Fans of Knisley's earlier works, particularly older teens or young adults, will appreciate this honest, charming, and gently paced travel journal.--Candice Mack
YA/M: Older teens worried about their futures will appreciate Knisleys honest take on the freedom to occasionally mess up and how important that can be. SH.
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Mack, Candice. "An Age of License." Booklist, vol. 111, no. 2, 15 Sept. 2014, p. 46. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A385404354/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7b14e21d. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Knisley, Lucy DISPLACEMENT Fantagraphics Books (Adult Nonfiction) $19.99 2, 8 ISBN: 978-1-60699-810-6
A 20-something cartoonist with a unique sense of humor sets off on a cruise to the Caribbean with her nonagenarian grandparents.In this follow-up to her graphic memoir An Age of License (2014), the talented Knisley offers a pointed juxtaposition to her earlier travelogue set in Europe. When her grandparents Phyllis and Allen decided to take a cruise ship to the Caribbean, the author (recovering from a recent breakup) accompanied them on the 10-day journey. And she worried--a lot. Among Knisley's concerns were her grandparents' progressive dementia, their physical limitations, the potential for norovirus ("puking/pooping virus"), her own insomnia and anxiety, and the virulent rudeness of the thousands of other passengers. "This is not at all like my last trip," writes the author. "I traveled around Europe on my own, drinking wine, learning languages, and having a passionate love affair. That trip was about independence, sex, youth, and adventure. This trip is about patience, care, mortality, respect, sympathy and love." In between her amusing drawings depicting life on the ship and the strange comedy that came with taking care of her elders, Knisley offers excerpts from her grandfather's World War II memoir. This inclusion lends the book an interesting contrast between her grandparents' worldview when they were her age and Knisley's frenetic, impatient, all-too-busy inner self. It's also worth noting that the narrative storytelling is delightful, combining easy-to-follow layouts with the artist's unique visual style, vivid watercolors and quirky sense of humor. The result is an impressive high-wire act that balances observational humor and a highly tuned sense of self with a moving portrait of the ways compassion can affect even the most self-aware among us. Knisley says these books lock into place a certain time in her memory. Readers are fortunate she brought her notebooks with her on these unusual journeys. A moving but also very funny meditation on time, age and grace.
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"Knisley, Lucy: DISPLACEMENT." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2014. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A391851635/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=662409af. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Displacement
Lucy Knisley. Fantagraphics, $19.99 trade paper (168p) ISBN 978-1-60699-810-6
After her acclaimed travelogues French Milk and An Age of License, Knisley returns with a new travel memoir, this one focusing on duty rather than adventure. Lucy accompanies her aging grandparents on a Caribbean cruise. She ends up dealing with more than she expected, however, as her grandparents are no longer very mobile and have high demands on her attention. Her grandmother is dipping into dementia, packing numerous toothbrushes and combs, and insisting on buying even more at the ship's store. Not a seasoned caretaker, Lucy struggles with cleaning up her grandfather's soiled pants and guarding her grandparents' cabin door so they don't wander off. She brings her grandfather's World War II memoir along with her, and segments of the memoir are interspersed within the text, giving us a glimpse into her grandfather's young life. His observations are insightful and detailed--even more could have been mixed into the book. Lucy's own private journey about being confused, lost, and lonely for love at her stage of life is balanced with the humorous mishaps and heartbreaking deterioration of her grandparents, all told with a mix of comics, illustrations without text, and hand-lettered journal entries. Knisley's experiences are a reminder of the fragility of age and fleeting nature of youth, but there's no real knockout revelation here. (Feb.)
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"Displacement." Publishers Weekly, vol. 261, no. 52, 15 Dec. 2014, p. 58. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A395846340/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c7a1b326. Accessed 14 June 2024.
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GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. When Lucy Knisley offered to accompany her grandparents on the Caribbean cruise they'd signed up for through their senior living facility, she had no idea what she was getting herself into. Her grandparents live in a different city than Lucy does. So the cruise seemed like a nice opportunity to spend more time with them, while escaping winter for a few days. But her grandparents' health was worse than her visits had revealed. They were suffering from dementia, incontinence, asthma and more. Rather than spending some quality time with her grandparents, she basically spent 10 days keeping them alive. That trip is the subject of Knisley's new cartoon memoir "Displacement." It's the second travel memoir she's published in the last year. The first, "An Age Of License," was about Knisley's trip to Europe in her mid-20s and the romance she had while traveling. As Knisley says, the trip to Europe was about independence, sex, youth and adventure. The cruise was about patience, care, mortality, respect, sympathy and love. Lucy Knisley spoke with FRESH AIR producer Sam Briger.
BRIGER: Lucy Knisley, welcome to FRESH AIR.
KNISLEY: Thank you.
BRIGER: So how much time had you'd been spending with your grandparents before this? Did you have a real sense of what their condition was mentally and physically?
KNISLEY: My grandparents lived in Ohio for the past 70 years or so. And I had gone for visits regularly to see them in Ohio, but my grandfather is one of those people that into his late 90s would be sort of up on the roof shoveling snow off of the roof in midwinter. And one time, he was doing this, much to my family's displeasure, and fell on his head.
BRIGER: Wow.
KNISLEY: So (laughter)...
BRIGER: How old was he?
KNISLEY: He was in - I think he was 95 or 96 at that point.
BRIGER: Wow.
KNISLEY: And he sort of just, like, took a tumble onto his head. And so, you know, sort of everybody kind of mutually made the decision to try and sort of relocate them to an assisted living facility a couple years ago. And they made this transition, and it was really, really hard on them. And they went from being pretty capable, nonagenarian people to suddenly taking a real downturn. And I've read that this happens very frequently with sort of big life changes like this, with moves. But I sort of - I wasn't aware of how much their condition had deteriorated; nobody in my family was. And we - in order to kind of soften the blow of this move, we thought oh, we'll do something really nice. We'll send them on vacation. We'll send them on this cruise ship. And then everybody kind of realized oh, this is not a good idea. They're not in any shape to do this on their own.
BRIGER: Right, and your grandmother has dementia. And she didn't even know who you were. She - I think she kept calling you Jeanne (ph). Was it hard for you that she didn't recognize you?
KNISLEY: You know, it was difficult as it always is with sort of relations who develop dementia. But my grandmother, as I said, is a retired schoolteacher, and she was very a strict, sort of tightlipped, stern schoolmarm type. And growing up, I was a little afraid of her. She and I always had a little bit of a tense relationship. And now that she doesn't recognize me and doesn't know exactly who I am, she's a lot nicer to me, actually, which is a nice change of pace from the usual what you hear about people sort of turning on you. I actually had the experience where she thinks I'm a stranger, so she's very polite and very sort of cordial to me now.
BRIGER: So you're a pretty experienced traveler. You describe yourself in the book as an airport ninja. Like, you pack light. You make sure you have the right shoes on, so when you go through security you don't have any trouble. When you went to your grandparents' home, what was the condition of their packing?
KNISLEY: That was sort of the first moment when I realized that my grandparents had, you know, progressed to a point where this was going to be a really difficult trip. We showed up at their home having repeatedly explained the whole you have to take your shoes off. You can't have any liquids in your bags. You know, you have to pack light for the flight. And we showed up and they had, you know, 14 carry-on bags and, you know, they were all full of liquids. It was just all liquids and just, like, tie-on shoes. And so we had to go through their luggage and kind of edit out what they had done here. And it started to be clearer from my grandmother's packing, especially, that, you know, she had packed things like a one lone sock and, like, a piece of hardware from the cabinetry. And it just - it was very unnerving.
BRIGER: Like, four thermal shirts for a Caribbean cruise and...
KNISLEY: Yeah, well, she never...
BRIGER: A bunch of umbrellas or...
KNISLEY: Oh, many umbrellas, many thermal shirts, many wool socks.
BRIGER: So even the trip to the boat seemed pretty hard for you guys. I mean, you had to take a plane to the boat and you had to spend the - overnight at a hotel before you got on the plane. And in that process, your grandfather had two accidents. He soiled his pants and he didn't seem to really notice or care that much. And you get on the boat and you show your grandparents to their room. And you say, OK, you unpack. I'm going to go unpack. And then you go back to their room and their stuff is just, like, everywhere. I mean, like - from the drawing, it looks like the clothes have just been strewn all over the place.
KNISLEY: Oh, yeah, it was a murder scene.
BRIGER: Yeah, your grandfather can't find his eye drops, though. I think from the packing it looked like he had at least four boxes of eye drops. And your grandmother's crying 'cause she thinks that you and your grandfather think she stole the eye drops. And that's really the moment, I think, where, like, you step up and take charge, is that right?
KNISLEY: Welcome to your dream vacation.
(LAUGHTER)
KNISLEY: I mean, it was just descending into complete chaos, and I had this week stretching ahead of me of realizing that I had to keep these two people afloat, literally, on the sea. And, you know, I wasn't going to do that by retaining this old relationship that we used to have of sort of cordial obedient granddaughter and grandparents. I had to kind of step up and take a different role with them.
BRIGER: So this book is a travel log and in between the sort of your own entries, you intersperse excerpts from your grandfather's memoir that he gave - he wrote and just gave to his family - his children and his grandchildren. And it's all about his time in World War II when he was a sky pilot. So why did you add those parts of his memoir in yours?
KNISLEY: Well, something I've really noticed about the act of writing memoir, or the act of writing autobiographical stories, is that the other people in the stories become characters. And it somewhat robs them of this central character aspect that everybody has in their own life. And, you know, you always want to be careful with that. You know, you never want to step on anybody's sense of self. So much of that happens when people get to that age, get to that point, where they're sort of out of control of their own life. And I wanted to underscore this idea of my grandfather as the storyteller of his own stories. And also point out how much of that is lost because he doesn't remember much of that stuff anymore. And I wanted to reread these stories while we were traveling to kind of talk to them about it. They're great stories. My grandfather has really good war stories. And I wanted to bring that up with them and sort of mine the stories a little bit and find out some more details from them. And also sort of place my grandfather back into this role of storyteller.
BRIGER: When you were reading the memoir on the boat, did you compare a lot about how your grandfather was at the present moment and what he was like in World War II?
KNISLEY: Certainly. And, you know, he's this very placid, sweet, kindhearted person, and still is. You know, he wrote these stories about when he was this really vibrant young man, and a lot of the stories are a little bit, like, lascivious and, you know, make allusions to, you know, various brothel kind of doings. And it's - you know, it's something that's always really appealed to me, this idea of this really sweet, kind, family man who also has this sort of mean wife. I mean, I love my grandmother, but their relationship has always fascinated me. They've been married for almost 70 years, and they're sort of opposites in personality. It's so interesting because they're this symbiotic force. It's impossible to kind of separate the two figures.
BRIGER: So you have the book separated into chapters in terms of the days that you were on your trip, and each chapter has a page break. On the top it says day one, day two, and there's this image of a horizon line on the ocean. At first, I thought they were all the same, but as I looked at the book again, I had noticed that each day the water keeps rising, and it's a little higher and it's a little higher. And by day 10, like, the whole page was just this wall of water. It's almost like you were drowning. What were you conveying with those?
KNISLEY: Well, part of it was the idea of displacement, which is the title of the book. I liked the double meaning of sort of the way that my grandparents were displaced from their home in Ohio and the way that they were displaced aboard this cruise ship, which is very unlikely place for them. And the nautical terminology of the weight of water that is displaced by a boat, which is a measurement of the ship's weight and things like that. So part of it is this sort of, like, more and more they're in a foreign situation and more and more we're sort of, like, finding ourselves aware of their mortality, of the progression of their dementia, of their health. And little by little, you sort of start to feel underwater by - or I do. I certainly did start to feel underwater. And, you know, we sort of found equilibrium, but by the end of the trip, I - you know, I had such a new appreciation for caregivers, for nurses and people who take care of the elderly.
GROSS: We're listening to the interview that FRESH AIR producer Sam Briger recorded with Lucy Knisley, whose new illustrated memoir about her cruise with her grandparents is called "Displacement." We'll hear more of that interview after a break. This is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. Let's get back to the interview that our producer Sam Briger recorded with Lucy Knisley, whose new illustrated memoir is called "Displacement." It's about escorting her elderly grandparents on a cruise they never should've signed up for.
BRIGER: So one of the problems with the cruise is that there's not many activities that your grandparents seem like they can enjoy. And as you said, you know, they're not going to gamble. They can't sit and read. They can't sit for very long. So you finally find something for them to do that your grandmother, who's a pretty tough customer, really enjoys. What was it?
KNISLEY: Yeah. We were - you know, it was really warm and beautiful out, and I thought, you know, there's not a lot of stuff they can do physically. But my grandmother, you know, she's in pretty good shape, physically, at least. So you know, I kind of snapped at one point. There was, you know, too much sitting around doing nothing. And I said OK, we're, you know, we're here. It's warm. It's beautiful. Put your bathing suits on. Let's go swimming.
And you know, it was like pulling teeth at first, of course, to get them there and get them to the pool. And I sort of figured that they would hate it just like they sort of hated everything else and that we would be, you know, slinking back soaking wet and miserable. But once they got into the pool - my grandmother especially really enjoyed herself, and you know, I think it probably freed her up a little bit. And she sort of paddled around and relaxed.
And you know, we had really lovely moments of sort of me holding her in the water and her kicking her legs. And she stayed in for much longer than we thought she would. And my grandfather and I were kind of looking at her like she'd grown another head. She was actually enjoying herself (laughter) at a certain pastime. And so it was really nice to sort of have this somewhat authentic experience aboard this ship of inauthentic experiences.
BRIGER: I think that you felt pretty frustrated with your family. I mean, here you are. You're a generation removed from your grandparents. You're not the person who's, you know, primarily in charge of their care, and yet, they send you on this trip. You call them a couple times, I think, exasperated, and you ask, you know, we're on, like - we have a stopover flight on the way back. Can you get us a nonstop flight there? I mean, this was hard on them, and they don't change the flight. I mean, were you frustrated with your family?
KNISLEY: Yeah, I was really frustrated. Like I said, the, you know, the Knisley family is a little reserved. And my Uncle Michael and Aunt Jean are very good. They live close to the assisted living facility that my grandparents live in, and they take really good care of my grandparents. But they also work full-time jobs. And I had only recently moved to New York City. And I'd just finished my book after, you know, a long sprint of drawing and writing and editing, so I was the one with the free time. And I was the one that volunteered to go on this trip.
And you know, I wanted - I didn't want to have to tell them, you guys can't go on this trip that we've bought the tickets for, signed you up for. You're not allowed to. So I wanted to kind of give them this and sort of give it to myself as well. And in that, I wanted to be the good, doting granddaughter who did this for them and had this connection to them. But yeah, my family should've known better. I think they should've known better.
BRIGER: Yeah.
KNISLEY: I shouldn't have been on my own with my grandparents. I think somebody should've come with me. My father, perhaps, would've been a nice addition, just somebody else to kind of help shoulder the - shoulder my grandparents in helping them get through this trip.
BRIGER: So a lot of the trip was really hard, and a lot of it was just, you know, keeping your grandparents alive. But were there some nice moments where you just sort of enjoyed spending time with them?
KNISLEY: Certainly - my grandfather especially, and I had a really lovely connection throughout the trip. I had, as I mentioned, been reading his war memoir and sort of trying to find stories that I wanted more details from. And so every day, I would kind of ply him with various stories and try and draw him out. And a lot of it, he didn't remember, so I had to sort of go about other ways of finding these stories and sort of finding more details about it. And one of the ways that I did that is - he was stationed in Britain when he was being trained. He was stationed in the U.K. when he was being trained for being a scout pilot, and he spent, you know, a year or so there.
And so I found out that they were doing, like, a British pub lunch on the ship, and I brought my grandparents to the British pub lunch to try and jog some memories of that time. And through that experience, he remembered a bunch of war songs that he used to sing when he was in the pubs in Warminster. And so there were really nice moments where I got kind of some insight, I got some lovely individual moments with them.
BRIGER: Well, Lucy Knisley, thanks so much for being with us.
KNISLEY: It's my pleasure. Thank you, Sam.
GROSS: Lucy Knisley spoke with FRESH AIR producer Sam Briger. Knisley's illustrated memoir is called "Displacement." Coming up, our TV critic, David Bianculli, reviews the return of Louis C.K.'s series "Louie" and the premiere of the new series "The Comedians" starring Billy Crystal and Josh Gad. This is FRESH AIR.
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"'Displacement': The Frustrations, Fears And Absurdities Of A Cruise Upended." Fresh Air, 8 Apr. 2015. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A409651449/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=dd737231. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride. By Lucy Knisley. Illus. by the author. May 2016.304p. First Second, paper, $19.99 (9781626722491). 741.5.
Knisley has documented episodes from her life in four previous graphic novels, and here she recounts her recent nuptials as well as the romantic turmoil, followed by months of preparation, that preceded them. A long game of will-they-or-won't-they played out before the author found herself suddenly, blissfully, and utterly cluelessly on the precipice of a tradition she'd long been somewhat wary of--the wedding. Wanting to create a resource for other newlyweds-to-be, Knisley wrote this graphic novel while she planned for--and DIYed the heck out of--her big day. Spreads of wedding myths and traditions punctuate the book's chapters, with many of the author's own photos scattered throughout. Whether she's sharing moments that are sensitive, silly, or enraging, Knisley's full-color comics are clever, precise, and appealing as ever. All couples pondering potential lifelong partnerships and any celebrations thereof will find affirmation, recognition, and reassurance here. While the subject matter might limit her audience, Knisley keeps her voice and style true to their beloved forms. Sure to please her many enthusiastic fans.--Annie Bostrom
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association
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Bostrom, Annie. "Something New: Tales from a Makeshift Bride." Booklist, vol. 112, no. 18, 15 May 2016, p. 40. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A453913638/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b8149e43. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Knisley, Lucy SOMETHING NEW First Second (Adult Nonfiction) $19.99 5, 3 ISBN: 978-1-62672-249-1
A newly wedded comic artist shares her experience, by turns hesitant and enthusiastic, planning the big event. Alex Award winner Knisley (Relish, 2013, etc.) offers another genial and creative graphic memoir. This one chronicles her handmade--down to the veil and groomsman's pocket square--wedding. After what feels like an irreconcilable difference of opinion concerning procreation, a complicated separation, some time in relationship limbo, and a wholehearted subway sob, Knisley finds herself engaged to John, a kind and sincere man whom she loves deeply. With this engagement comes a breadth of unexpected feelings--excitement, reluctance, confusion--a tumult which Knisley terms "emotion sickness." She asks herself hard questions about participating in what she has previously felt is a sexist and antiquated ritual which promotes exclusion, wondering "How can something so universal and ubiquitous as a wedding alter a person's perception of herself so much?" With honesty and humor, Knisley tackles such difficult topics as overbearing mothers-of-the-bride, the misery of the "dress safari," the "bridal weight loss imperative," making the wedding her own artistic accomplishment, and dead squirrels. She documents in a self-expressive and clever style as she learns the compromise that comes with weddings, marriage, and love. Like her wedding, Knisley's book is introspective and inventive; the illustrations are charming, the language clear, and the sequence coherent. At once universal and deeply personal, this book is a visual and emotional achievement. Open, original, and at times amusing narrative of being a "makeshift bride."
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"Knisley, Lucy: SOMETHING NEW." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2016. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A444420910/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=45d59683. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Robbins, Dean MARGARET AND THE MOON Knopf (Children's Picture Books) $17.99 5, 16 ISBN: 978-0-399-55185-7
Margaret Hamilton was a curious girl who grew up to be a pioneer in software programming Margaret loves mathematics; in fact, she loves knowing about everything--art, music, the night sky. And she wonders, "Why didn't more girls grow up to be doctors? Or scientists? Or anything else they wanted?" Her father encourages her to ask questions, be curious, shoot for the moon. Computers are still brand-new in the 1950s and '60s, so when Margaret discovers them, she experiments to figure out what they might do: simple mathematics, tracking airplanes, predicting the weather. As the director of software programming for an MIT laboratory working for NASA, she helps Apollo 8 orbit the moon and Apollo 10 get within 9 miles of the moon's surface. When Apollo 11 runs into problems, Margaret and her computer codes get them out of trouble and onto the moon. Robbins successfully translates a complicated subject into an engaging text, with just the right amount of scientific information for young readers. Knisley's cartoonish illustrations, reminiscent of Megan McCarthy's, especially in Margaret's bespectacled eyes, perfectly capture the young white woman's inquisitive spirit while keeping the story light and child-friendly. A superb introduction to the life of one girl whose dreams were out-of-this-world. (author's note, bibliography, additional reading) (Picture book/biography. 5-9)
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"Robbins, Dean: MARGARET AND THE MOON." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A480921896/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9ddfb90a. Accessed 14 June 2024.
ROCKLIN, Joanne. Love, Penelope. illus. by Lucy Knisley. 240p. Abrams/Amulet. Mar. 2018. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781419728617.
Gr 4-6--Penelope loves a lot of things: her best friend Gabby; the Golden State Warriors; her hometown of Oakland, CA; her favorite teacher, Mr. Chen; her two moms, Mama and Sammy; her soon-to-be-born sibling. But there are a lot of things in Penny's world that are stressing her out: the new girl, Hazel, who is changing her dynamic with Gabby; the Warriors' chances of winning the NBA Finals; whether the Supreme Court will rule on marriage equality; tire lie she has told about her nonexistent Ohlone ancestry. It's overwhelming for the 10-year-old. In charming, illustrated journal entries addressed to her future sibling, Penny spills all of her fears, insecurities, and joys. There is a lot to unpack here; in addition to all the issues previously mentioned, Penny is also dealing with a crush on Gabby's older brother, an estranged grandfather, homophobic reactions to her family unit, and a classmate's incarcerated father. While it's commendable to address such topical issues, the story would have been served better without some of the underdeveloped plot threads. Additionally, Penny goes on ad nauseam about her love of Oakland, yet the story lacks a rich sense of place. However, Penny's voice is precocious and compassionate, and the way in which she reacts to the events around her rings true. Knisley's illustrations add charm and authenticity to the story; Rocklin adds back matter, including resources about the Ohlone, LGBT families, Bay Area history, and the stages of pregnancy. VERDICT Not entirely successful but recommended for its strong and positive portrayal of a blended family, and an easy-buy for Bay Area libraries.--Laura Lutz, Convent of the Sacred Heart, New York City
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Lutz, Laura. "ROCKLIN, Joanne. Love, Penelope." School Library Journal, vol. 64, no. 2, Feb. 2018, p. 84. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A526734058/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=eef77b04. Accessed 14 June 2024.
* Love, Penelope.
By Joanne Rocklin. Illus. by Lucy Knisley.
Mar. 2018. 240p. Abrams/Amulet, $16.99 (9781419728617). Gr. 3-6.
For many Americans, June 2015 was a momentous month in history, but that's especially true for 10-year-old Penelope, an avid fan of her home team, the Golden State Warriors, and daughter of two moms. (Spoiler alert: gay marriage is legalized, and the Warriors win it all.) In letters to her still-unnamed, soon-to-be-born sister, You, Penny chronicles the ups and downs of nine months in her own life leading up to her sister's birth. One source of particular anguish is Penny's year-long school project, Your Family's History in California. Since Penny's birth father is deceased, and her mom is an orphan, Penny claims her adoptive mother Sammy's Ohlone ancestry as her own. But what will her teacher, Mr. Chen, say when he discovers her entire project is a fabrication? Penny's letters are brimming with discoveries large and small: evolving friendships, tiny crushes, the love and loss of an urban goat, the Ohlone fight to protect their burial sites, Oakland's secret stairwells, racism, Cesar Chavez, and even long-lost family members. Knisley's illustrations make the impending arrival of Penny's little sister even more palpable and complement the lively text. Rocklin captures a lesser-seen slice of contemporary American urban life: how the more troubling parts of our world trickle down to and effect upper-elementary students as they encounter prejudice in its many forms. Penny's optimism and resolve is a joyous testament to our complicated world.--Jennifer Barnes
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Barnes, Jennifer. "Love, Penelope." Booklist, vol. 114, no. 9-10, 1 Jan. 2018, pp. 98+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A525185769/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9ac1f2ce. Accessed 14 June 2024.
KNISLEY, Lucy. Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos, illus. by Lucy Knisley. 256p. further reading, photos. First Second. Feb. 2019. pap. $19.99. ISBN 9781626728080.
The subtitle to Knisley's latest autobiographical comic is "Nine Months of Careful Chaos." But her experiences with reproductive health began in high school. As a teen, Lucy volunteered at a Planned Parenthood peer-to-peer educator program and tried numerous birth control methods. Fast-forward nearly a decade later, and she and her husband John are ready to have a kid, but are finding it much harder than her younger self might have thought. After her first miscarriage and laparoscopic surgery to adjust the shape of her uterus, she finally gets pregnant. Next comes intense nausea, unsolicited advice from strangers, and fears that motherhood will affect her work. Finally, while Lucy is in labor, previously undiagnosed eclampsia leaves her unconscious for two days. As always, Knisley's illustrations are cheerful and colorful and her writing witty, but this powerful narrative doesn't shy away from bleak and terrifying moments. In one especially moving scene, John describes seeing his wife ailing in the hospital. As Lucy regains consciousness, the colors fade in from black-and-white sketches to a color frame of a recovering Lucy holding her new baby. The author also explores the often disturbing treatment that pregnant women have endured throughout history, stressing that all women should have control over their bodies. VERDICT Knisley's nuanced look at pregnancy and her message of bodily autonomy will resonate with teens, especially those who appreciated the graphic anthology Minel--Anna Murphy, Berkeley Carroll School, Brooklyn
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Murphy, Anna. "KNISLEY, Lucy. Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos." School Library Journal, vol. 65, no. 2, Mar. 2019, p. 123. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A576210373/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=068801f4. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Kid Gloves. By Lucy Knisley. Illus. by the author. Feb. 2019. 256p. First Second, paper, $19.99 (9781626728080). 741.5.
Covering her childhood, traveling abroad, coming of age, and getting married, Knisley's hearty handful of previous graphic memoirs (the latest of which is Something New, 2016) are standouts in the genre. In this recollection of getting pregnant and giving birth to her son, Knisley once again writes and illustrates her life with an introspective transparency that, even for a topic as not-new as having a baby, feels totally novel. Knisley interrupts her narrative with enlightening interludes that share facts and historical oddities of pregnancy--a topic she found fascinating since she was a kid. Even in her signature neat and bright cartooning style, Knisley relays the despair of miscarriage in dark squiggles and visual metaphors, the yucky first trimester in a desperately green-faced Lucy, and the terror of her son's birth in a spare black and white section narrated by her husband, John. The book's title contains perhaps its greatest takeaway--that the unexpected difficulties of becoming a mom taught Knisley to be a little gentler with herself, to handle herself with kid gloves. In sharing her journey's bumps and switchbacks, Knisley assures that there's no perfect pregnancy story and that even a lot of strife won't dim the joy of a child's ecstatic arrival.--Annie Bostrom
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 American Library Association
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Bostrom, Annie. "Kid Gloves." Booklist, vol. 115, no. 9-10, 1 Jan. 2019, p. 53. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A573094069/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c5039122. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Describe your book in one sentence.
MAKING A BABY IS COMPLETELY BONKERS
If you could dismantle one myth about women's health, what would it be?
THERE'S SO MUCH ABOUT REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH YOU WON'T LEARN IN SCHOOOOOOOL
Of all the many 1980s and '90s movies about babies, which is your favorite and why?
I MUST'VE WATCHED LOOK WHO'S TALKING ABOUT 50 TIMES AS A KID.
I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, LADY, BUT I'M BEAT.
SOMETHING ABOUT BRUCE WILLIS VOICING A NEWBORN APPEALS TO THE CARTOONIST IN ME.
What do you wish you could tell your younger self about pregnancy?
YOU START TO WALK SUPER SLOW!
What did you enjoy most about being pregnant?
Kicks!
Words to live by?
WE ALL WENT THROUGH THE RINGER TO GET HERE, SO BE KIND!
Bestselling author and illustrator Lucy Knisley shares the emotional, often astonishing experience of becoming a mother in her intimate graphic memoir Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos (First Second, $19.99, 256 pages, 9781626728080), which is as delightful and heartwarming as it is informative about motherhood and pregnancy. Knisley lives in Chicago with her husband and child.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 BookPage
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"meet LUCY KNISLEY." BookPage, Mar. 2019, p. 24. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A574178570/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ad937d22. Accessed 14 June 2024.
You Are New
by Lucy Knisley; illus. by the author
Preschool Chronicle 48 pp.
3/19 978-1-4521-6156-3 $17.99
Knisley chronicled her wedding in her 2016 adult graphic-novel memoir Something New; her latest, Kid Gloves (2019), is about pregnancy; and concurrently she has authored her first picture book--about a newborn baby. In lilting, lighthearted rhyme, the direct-address text describes the things a new baby can do: "You can doze and nap and snooze. / It makes you sleepy, being new ... You can open wide and yell. / Sometimes you make funny smells." The block-letter font, with occasional words in different colors for emphasis or humor, is easy on the eyes--a plus for tired parents. Spare and colorful digital collage illustrations, with well-placed shadows for dimension, show cute blob-shaped babies with a variety of skin tones against clean white backgrounds, their actions and emotions easy to read as they grow and learn throughout toddlerhood, big-sibling-dom, new-school-age, and more. Their accomplishments may be small-seeming, but they're monumental for young ones (and their grownups) and reassuringly portrayed for all: "You might not know just what to do ... / That's okay when you are new."
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Sources, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Gershowitz, Elissa. "You Are New." The Horn Book Magazine, vol. 95, no. 3, May-June 2019, p. 127. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A585800669/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d6d3a0cd. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Knisley, Lucy YOU ARE NEW Chronicle (Children's Fiction) $17.99 3, 12 ISBN: 978-1-4521-6156-3
A bookish, warm welcome to a new baby, and more.
Knisley's colorful, digital collage illustrations depict diverse babies with different skin tones and hair colors, although framing scenes in the opening and closing spreads center on a pink-skinned, blond baby coded as male with a blue outfit. These babies, and occasional adults and children, are all depicted against the stark white of the page. Some skin and hair colors, like the first child's very pink skin and some green coifs, are decidedly unnatural, but the overall impact is one of a broad range of humanity so that the direct address of the text can aim for universal resonance. "You can fit in tiny spots. / You get carried quite a lot! // You wear little baby shoes. / It's very cute when you are new," reads representative text, printed in full caps, with selected words highlighted in colors that appear in illustrations. A twist partway through the book saves it from being just another baby-shower gift by acknowledging the ways people continue to be "new" after babyhood--when we "try new things," go to "new places," and meet "new folks," for example. This offers a welcome enrichment of a well-worn picture-book theme, concluding with the affirming notion that "when you love... / and you're loved, too... // just like that, you are new."
A new-baby book that feels new. (Picture book. 0-4)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Knisley, Lucy: YOU ARE NEW." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A571549150/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=43d0e69e. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Stepping Stones (Peapod Farm #1)
Lucy Knisley. Random House Graphic, $20.99
(224p) ISBN 978-0-593-12524-3; $12.99 paper
ISBN 978-1-984896-84-1
Knisley's autobiographical comics chops are on full display in her first graphic novel for kids, a fictionalized telling of her childhood experiences. When Jen moves to the country with her mother after her parents' divorce, she is less than thrilled to trade urban comic book shops and Chinese takeout for chicken coop-related chores and her mother's disagreeable new boyfriend, Walter. Resentment deepens as Jen helps her mom at the farmers market--left alone to handle sales though math isn't her strong suit--and Walter's two daughters, Andy and Reese, begin arriving each weekend to share her room. Missing her old life and feeling unfavorably compared to know-it-all Andy, Jen tries to adjust, finding expression and self-worth in her art as she comes to love her "part-time sisters" and navigates Walter's seeming inability to treat her as equal to them. With specificity that lends itself to universality, Knisley balances humor and deeply felt emotion to capture the particular unfairness of being a child at the mercy of parental decisions. Art centers around the gentle realism of Knisley's established style, augmented with pencil drawings in the young protagonist's developing hand. Age 8-12. (May)
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"Stepping Stones (Peapod Farm #1)." Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 13, 30 Mar. 2020, p. 69. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A622904662/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f409a2ab. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Knisley, Lucy STEPPING STONES RH Graphic (Children's None) $20.99 5, 5 ISBN: 978-0-593-12524-3
In her first graphic novel for kids, Knisley explores the struggles and joys of blending families.
Jen is not happy about the newest change to her life: She and her mother are moving from the city to the country, where her mom and her mom’s boyfriend, Walter, are starting a farm. This is her mom’s dream, but it’s certainly not Jen’s. Forced to help out at the farmers market, an uncertain Jen is left to independently run the till (without a calculator) even though she’s anxious about making change. Everything gets even worse when her new stepsisters arrive. While little Reese mostly stays out of the way, Andy is a confident know-it-all who completely gets on Jen’s nerves, just like Andy’s father, who ignores others’ feelings and commands space in a way that some readers may recognize as abusive. Knisley expertly renders the shame and frustration Jen feels at her lack of agency, balancing it with a positive shift in her relationship with her new siblings as they begin to reveal their own vulnerabilities. Although Jen’s stepsisters come around to see his behavior is hurtful, Walter is never held accountable. In her author’s note, Knisley references “My ‘Walter’ ” with some fondness and further explores the parallels between her own childhood and her semiautobiographical story. All characters seem white; the setting seems to be the 1990s.
Painfully realistic, this is a strong addition to the middle-grade shelf. (Graphic historical fiction. 8-12)
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"Knisley, Lucy: STEPPING STONES." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A617192881/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=4929b9f6. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Knisley, Lucy GO TO SLEEP (I MISS YOU) First Second (Adult Nonfiction) $14.99 2, 25 ISBN: 978-1-250-21149-1
A celebration of new motherhood, for new mothers, by a graphic artist who was then a new mother.
Knisley (Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos, 2019, etc.) admits that she "spent much of my pregnancy worried that having a baby would derail my work." Instead, it gave her work a new focus and fresh meaning as well as some occasional respite from the overwhelming duties of motherhood. The author calls her latest a "baby book" and a "sketchbook," and it is very much a work accommodating the pace and demands of having a baby. The sketches have an on-the-fly immediacy, and there's little attempt to sustain a narrative beyond a one-page panel. Who has the time? Or the concentration? Whether she's "running on (baby) fumes" or admitting that "some days it feels like there's nothing left," Knisley captures the exhilaration and exhaustion that a newborn brings to a household and its established routines. She explores "Some Unexpected Aspects of Mommification"--"you cannot think about anything bad happening to a kid without getting messed up for days"--demonstrating how motherhood changed her perspective and behavior in ways she hadn't anticipated even though she had likely given the upcoming changes plenty of thought. For example, "I expected breastfeeding to be hard, but I had NO IDEA." Throughout, the drawings and text capture the frenzied pace, the love and humor, the experience of feeling depleted and having nothing more to give--but then having to give some more. For all of the immediacy of the sketches, there's also a recognition of passing through stages and enjoying what you can while you can--because "Sleeplessness, Screaming & Teething Are Fleeting!" (drawn in a manner that could serve as a tattoo).
A volume that will serve as a cherished keepsake for mother and son and will resonate strongly with other mothers.
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"Knisley, Lucy: GO TO SLEEP (I MISS YOU)." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A606964538/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8a0fabff. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Go to Sleep (I Miss You): Cartoons from the Fog of New Parenthood. By Lucy Knisley. Illus. by the author. 2020. 192p. First Second, $14.99 (9781250211491). 741.5.
The author of several beloved graphic memoirs, Knisley (Kid Gloves, 2019) is also a lifelong sketchbooker. Here she shares diary-cartoons (that fans may recognize from her popular Instagram account) from her son's first months on Earth, which were her "effort to feel less alone and crazy at a time when most people feel alone and crazy." Organized into chapters like "Parents Are People" and "Bodily Fluids," more than 150 black-and-white, one-page comics offer up just what new parents will relate to--the good, the bad, and the funny--with exactly the right time commitment (as in under a minute, if need be). Beyond the title comic's sweet sentiment, the confusion and contradiction within new parenthood are on display: one page shows Knisley and her husband reading in bed, her book on "parenting advice" and his on "parenting advice that says the exact opposite." A few pages of Knisley's wished-for baby inventions, like a "baby car seat removal spatula" and a trampoline that sends back dropped coys, will have weary parents wishing with her. A highly cheering exercise in love and solidarity.--Annie Bostrom
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 American Library Association
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Bostrom, Annie. "Go to Sleep (I Miss You): Cartoons from the Fog of New Parenthood." Booklist, vol. 116, no. 16, 15 Apr. 2020, p. 36. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A623790311/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=3e37d363. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Knisley, Lucy APPLE CRUSH Random House Graphic (Children's None) $20.99 5, 3 ISBN: 978-0-593-12538-0
A 12-year-old girl adjusts to her first year of middle school in this sequel to Stepping Stones (2020).
Fall has come to Peapod Farm, where Jen lives with her mom and her mom's boyfriend, Walter, whose daughters, Andy and Reese, spend weekends on the farm. Andy and Jen have gotten jobs helping their neighbors (two White men whose relationship is undefined) at Fisher Dairy Farm run their annual pumpkin patch, complete with haunted hayride. Jen and Mr. Fisher's nephew Eddie share interests, but it's Andy who has a crush on Eddie; Jen is busy dreading the transition to a new school and is not yet interested in romance. Knisley does a stellar job capturing the confusion of middle school and exploring how children grapple with challenges like divorce and blended families. School is tough for Jen, but her artistic talents help her make friends, and when she sticks up for herself and her sort-of stepsister, she realizes she's not the only one struggling. The graphic-novel format allows the characters to display a full range of emotions without sacrificing plot. The full-color artwork is energetic and engaging, though an illustration of a structure that resembles a Native American wigwam being used as a play fort may be a questionable choice. The book portrays a diverse community without race being an issue; the main cast is White, and some secondary and background characters are brown skinned.
Warm, fortifying, and cozy--like a drink of apple cider. (author's note) (Graphic novel. 8-14)
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"Knisley, Lucy: APPLE CRUSH." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Mar. 2022, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A696498560/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=84e5c29e. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Ride Beside Me
Lucy Knisley. Knopf, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-9848-9719-0
"My helmet is on, and/ the morning is bright"--and it seems like everybody the child narrator knows is riding some kind of cycle in this on-the-move chronicle of a largely self-propelled public. Setting out with Mom pedaling, a child in a bike seat notices a neighbor on a tall cycle and a mail carrier on a recumbent number. A pal waves from a bike pulled by a crowded tandem bicycle ("There's Petunia, my classmate. She's one kid of four./ They all ride the same bike, and there's room for one more"). As a variety of cycles take to the streets, ridden by individuals of various skin tones, text lightly thumbs its nose at various internal combustion vehicles and their rather grim drivers ("I bet they wish they / could be going this fast!"). Throughout, flat, bright gouache illustrations by Knisley (You Are New) largely focus on the growing, zooming group, conveying a sense of community and civic unanimity shown through handlebars, pedals, and wheels. "It's like we're a club,/or a party... a sea!" says the exhilarated narrator, "an ocean of bicycles,/ all around me." Ages 3-6. Agent: Holly Bemiss, Susan Rabiner Literary. (Feb.)
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"Ride Beside Me." Publishers Weekly, vol. 270, no. 45, 6 Nov. 2023, p. 48. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A773694921/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9d654df3. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Knisley, Lucy RIDE BESIDE ME Knopf (Children's None) $18.99 2, 20 ISBN: 9781984897190
A mother and child bike with a community of fellow riders.
As they set off for their morning ride, both are equipped with helmets and snacks, ready for an adventure through their town. Along the way, they meet up with neighbors and community members on different types of bicycles, from an extra-tall ride to a recumbent bike. The rhyming text is narrated by the child, who rides on a special seat on the front of Mom's bike. The book's title page includes a small flyer announcing "Group Ride, Saturday 9-5, up the hill and back down!" though the text doesn't make explicit mention of this group ride. As the pair pedal through town, they join forces with a slowly building wave of riders who move together safely. The young narrator comments how fresh the air smells when the road is empty of cars, a nod to the positive environmental impact of biking. With their bright, flat colors, the charming illustrations depict riders of various ages, skin colors, and sizes, and the endpapers are packed with examples of bicycles and riders. The child and mother are light-skinned. Upbeat verse highlights the benefits and joys of biking, and though it's clear that cycling is a more environmentally friendly transportation option compared with driving, the book never verges on didacticism.
As pleasant and breezy as a bike ride. (Picture book. 3-5)
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"Knisley, Lucy: RIDE BESIDE ME." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Dec. 2023, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A776005296/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=1038c8ea. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Knisley, Lucy WOE Random House Graphic (Teen None) $16.99 7, 2 ISBN: 9780593177631
A compilation of Knisley's webcomics about the life of her orange house cat, Linney.
Linney, "a glorious apricot-hued cloud of softness," loves to yowl about the tragic woes that befall her: She experiences despair over empty food dishes, irritatingly persistent devotion from dog friend Flora, and the aggravations of life with Knisley's "human kitten." Linney's "torrid past" (unknown to her humans, since she was adopted from a shelter as an adult) has left her with a single fang, and she melodramatically expresses her displeasure ("Woe. Woe. Woe.") whenever she's forced to undergo horrible inconveniences. Bestselling comic creator Knisley draws Linney's exaggerated facial expressions and body language in a minimalist way that allows the cat to express a broad range of emotions, from self-important dismay to indulgent contentment. Linney's magnificent fluffiness is shown to great effect, particularly after a humiliating haircut, and the ever-present fang stands out as part of her "Signature SneerTM" when Linney complains. The author's skillful rendering of her devoted attachment to her cat sets this graphic novel apart, giving it an added layer of depth as a mature look at the arc of a cat's life and relationships with her two- and four-legged family members. The clean, attractively colored scenes appear against a plain white background without solid panel outlines, making Linney's expressive green eyes and orange fur pop. The story is conveyed through speech bubbles with fluid, dynamic lettering.
An amusing, heartfelt, and bittersweet read that will resonate deeply with pet lovers. (Graphic fiction. 12-18)
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"Knisley, Lucy: WOE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A791876933/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c4080d19. Accessed 14 June 2024.