by Emil Ferris
Fantagraphics Books
2/14/2017, paperback
SKU: 9781606999592
Set against the tumultuous political backdrop of late '60s Chicago, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is the fictional graphic diary of 10-year-old Karen Reyes, filled with B-movie horror and pulp monster magazines iconography. Karen Reyes tries to solve the murder of her enigmatic upstairs neighbor, Anka Silverberg, a holocaust survivor, while the interconnected stories of those around her unfold. When Karen's investigation takes us back to Anka's life in Nazi Germany, the reader discovers how the personal, the political, the past, and the present converge.
Target age: 16 and up
Reviews:
"Emil Ferris is one of the most important comics artists of our time." -- Art Spiegelman, author of Maus
"This extraordinary book has instantly rocketed Ferris into the graphic novel elite alongside Art Spiegelman, Alison Bechdel and Chris Ware. You see, she's produced something rare, a page-turning story whose pages are so brilliantly drawn you don't want to turn them." --Terry Gross, NPR: Fresh Air
"The novel tackles race, gender, and what it means to be 'monstrous' in big and small ways. It could not be more relevant to today's climate." -- Mother Jones
About the Author:
Emil Ferris grew up Chicago during the turbulent 1960s, where she still lives, and is consequently a devotee of all things monstrous and horrific. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from The School of the Art Institute.