Best Graphic Novel Biographies & Memoirs

This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features more than fifty percent new content, with ten never-before-seen essays and one wholly revised and expanded piece as well as classics from the website like, “The God of Cake,” “Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving,” and her astonishing, “Adventures in Depression,” and “Depression Part Two,” which have been hailed as some of the most insightful meditations on the disease ever written. Pictures. Words. Stories about things that happened to me. Stories about things that happened to other people because of me. Eight billion dollars*. Stories about dogs. The secret to eternal happiness*. An Amazon Best Book of the Month, November 2013: Who among us has not, in moments that sometimes bleed through years, even decades, felt weird, desperate, and absurd--wishing we could turn all the lamest, most shameful episodes in our lives into hilarious illustrated anecdotes? If you just stumbled across Brosh and can't yet grasp the allure of a Web comic illustrated by rudimentary MS Paint figures, believe the hype. Brosh has a genius for allowing us to channel her weird childhood and the fits and starts of her adulthood through the manic eyes, gaping mouths, and stick-like arms in the panels that masterfully advance her stories, and she delivers her relentless commentary with deadpan hilarity. Today, Bill and Melinda Gates co-chair the charitable foundation bearing their names and are working together to give their wealth back to society. But Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things that Happened , by Allie Brosh, is an honest-to-goodness summer read. Brosh has quietly earned a big following even though, as her official bio puts it, she “lives as a recluse in her bedroom in Bend, Oregon.” The adventures she recounts are mostly inside her head, where we hear and see the kind of inner thoughts most of us are too timid to let out in public. Here’s a typical snippet: “To the simple dog, throwing up was like some magical power that she never knew she possessed—the ability to create infinite food. The mental illness she describes is profoundly isolating: “When you have to spend every social interaction consciously manipulating your face into shapes that are only approximately the right ones, alienating people is inevitable.” It must be empowering for those who have struggled with depression to read this book, see themselves, and know they’re far from alone. You explain it again, hoping they’ll try a less hope-centric approach, but re-explaining your total inability to experience joy inevitably sounds kind of negative, like maybe you WANT to be depressed. So the positivity starts coming out in a spray—a giant, desperate happiness sprinkler pointed directly at your face.”. It is no hyperbole to say I love her approach—looking, listening, and describing with the observational skills of a scientist, the creativity of an artist, and the wit of a comedian. The subjects run from light (cakes, dogs) to dark (the author’s own severe depression), and they foreground offbeat feeling and real intellect. Ms. Brosh’s inquisitive mind won me over, too.” (Dwight Garner New York Times). “In a culture that encourages people to carry mental illness as a secret burden . (Elizabeth Gilbert ). “One of the best things I’ve ever read in my life.” (Marc Maron ) "This book made me laugh, cry, and leak. (io9.com ) “ The whole blog is inspired.” (Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish (The Atlantic) ). “Anyone seeking an accessible look at someone suffering from depression or some really delightful dog drawings need search no further.” (Time Out New York ). "Both singular and familiar—the popularity of Brosh's blog and her absurd, exuberant voice meant that she started a lot of memes you might have come across— Hyperbole and a Half is a very funny reminder that it's normal to not have your shit together, and to know that it's okay to ask for help."

In what Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen calls “a book to break your heart and heal it,” The Best We Could Do brings to life Thi Bui’s journey of understanding, and provides inspiration to all of those who search for a better future while longing for a simpler past. ( Publishers Weekly (starred review) ). **STARRED REVIEW**. “A moving, visually stimulating account of the author's personal story and an insightful look at the refugee experience, juxtaposed against Vietnam's turbulent history. (Fae Myenne Ng author of Bone, a PEN/Faulkner Award Finalist, Steer Toward Rock, winner of the American Book Award ). “Thi Bui’s book took my breath away. The Best We Could Do expands one family’s personal story into a global, historic context, while condensing generations of war in Vietnam to intimate and human proportions. (Craig Thompson author and illustrator of Blankets and Habibi ). Thi Bui’s stark, compelling memoir is about an ordinary family, but her story delivers the painful truth that most Vietnamese of the 20th century know in an utterly personal fashion—that history is found in the marrow of one’s bones, ready to be passed on through blood, through generations, through feelings. (Leela Corman author and illustrator of Unterzakhn ). “By knowing our parents’ story we come to a better understanding of who we are; by living our own version of their story, that understanding is even deeper and more illuminating. (GB Tran author and illustrator of Vietnamerica: A Family’s Journey ) Thi Bui was born in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States as a child.

After the success of the Nashville sit-in campaign, John Lewis is more committed than ever to changing the world through nonviolence - but as he and his fellow Freedom Riders board a bus into the vicious heart of the deep south, they will be tested like never before. This insider's view of the civil rights movement should be required reading for young and old; not to be missed.—Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal "With March , Congressman John Lewis takes us behind the scenes of some of the most pivotal moments of the Civil Rights Movement. - The Washington Post "This memoir puts a human face on a struggle that many students will primarily know from textbooks... Visually stunning, the black-and-white illustrations convey the emotions of this turbulent time... "Heroism and steadiness of purpose continue to light up Lewis's frank, harrowing account of the civil rights movement's climactic days... Powell's dark, monochrome ink-and-wash scenes add further drama to already-dramatic events."

This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features more than fifty percent new content, with ten never-before-seen essays and one wholly revised and expanded piece as well as classics from the website like, “The God of Cake,” “Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving,” and her astonishing, “Adventures in Depression,” and “Depression Part Two,” which have been hailed as some of the most insightful meditations on the disease ever written. Pictures. Words. Stories about things that happened to me. Stories about things that happened to other people because of me. Eight billion dollars*. Stories about dogs. The secret to eternal happiness*. An Amazon Best Book of the Month, November 2013: Who among us has not, in moments that sometimes bleed through years, even decades, felt weird, desperate, and absurd--wishing we could turn all the lamest, most shameful episodes in our lives into hilarious illustrated anecdotes? If you just stumbled across Brosh and can't yet grasp the allure of a Web comic illustrated by rudimentary MS Paint figures, believe the hype. Brosh has a genius for allowing us to channel her weird childhood and the fits and starts of her adulthood through the manic eyes, gaping mouths, and stick-like arms in the panels that masterfully advance her stories, and she delivers her relentless commentary with deadpan hilarity. Today, Bill and Melinda Gates co-chair the charitable foundation bearing their names and are working together to give their wealth back to society. But Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things that Happened , by Allie Brosh, is an honest-to-goodness summer read. Brosh has quietly earned a big following even though, as her official bio puts it, she “lives as a recluse in her bedroom in Bend, Oregon.” The adventures she recounts are mostly inside her head, where we hear and see the kind of inner thoughts most of us are too timid to let out in public. Here’s a typical snippet: “To the simple dog, throwing up was like some magical power that she never knew she possessed—the ability to create infinite food. The mental illness she describes is profoundly isolating: “When you have to spend every social interaction consciously manipulating your face into shapes that are only approximately the right ones, alienating people is inevitable.” It must be empowering for those who have struggled with depression to read this book, see themselves, and know they’re far from alone. You explain it again, hoping they’ll try a less hope-centric approach, but re-explaining your total inability to experience joy inevitably sounds kind of negative, like maybe you WANT to be depressed. So the positivity starts coming out in a spray—a giant, desperate happiness sprinkler pointed directly at your face.”. It is no hyperbole to say I love her approach—looking, listening, and describing with the observational skills of a scientist, the creativity of an artist, and the wit of a comedian. The subjects run from light (cakes, dogs) to dark (the author’s own severe depression), and they foreground offbeat feeling and real intellect. Ms. Brosh’s inquisitive mind won me over, too.” (Dwight Garner New York Times). “In a culture that encourages people to carry mental illness as a secret burden . (Elizabeth Gilbert ). “One of the best things I’ve ever read in my life.” (Marc Maron ) "This book made me laugh, cry, and leak. (io9.com ) “ The whole blog is inspired.” (Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Dish (The Atlantic) ). “Anyone seeking an accessible look at someone suffering from depression or some really delightful dog drawings need search no further.” (Time Out New York ). "Both singular and familiar—the popularity of Brosh's blog and her absurd, exuberant voice meant that she started a lot of memes you might have come across— Hyperbole and a Half is a very funny reminder that it's normal to not have your shit together, and to know that it's okay to ask for help."

Plus, previously unpublished extras and bonus materials make this mighty tome one that's required reading for Scottaholics everywhere!

Now, in this beautifully illustrated graphic novel adaptation, Hosseini brings his compelling story to a new generation of readers. A Look Inside The Kite Runner Graphic Novel (Click on Images to Enlarge).