The Inflatable Woman by Rachael Ball

The Inflatable Woman by Rachael Ball
A Short Review.

Amazing graphic novel about one woman's journey through breast cancer and trying to find someone to love. The artwork is phenomenal, the storyline creative and heartfelt and imaginative. I can't imagine going through something like this and Iris's story is probably similar to the story of many woman who are shocked to find a lump in their breast in their 40's. The art is done in stark black and white with minimal panels or one panel per page. This book is full of dreams, magic, poetry and medical procedures. I highly recommend. I'm so glad this book found me.

Rachael Ball is herself a survivor of cancer.  The Inflatable woman is a fictionalized story about a woman named Iris who is looking for love through online chats and wakes up from a bad dream, with a lump in her breast.  

I love, love, love this huggable book.

Rachael appears at the Standard Issue UK to talk about cancer, anxiety, trauma, laughter and other cancer side effects.
http://standardissuemagazine.com/arts/blowing-up-cancer/utm_content=bufferb4830&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Book Review by the Irish Times:
http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/book-review-the-inflatable-woman-by-rachael-ball-1.2411452

Rachael's tumblr page:  http://rachaelball.tumblr.com/

Art Spiegalman is Amazing!

Art Spiegalman is Amazing!!

Art Spiegalman came to Minneapolis on Friday last week (April 25th) and spoke to a sold out crowd.  My teaching team and I brought our 9th grade students to see the iconic author and comic artist speak about Co-Mix as a part of the
Pen Pals Author Lecture series offered by the Hennepin County Library Friends.

He started his talk saying that "everything he knows he learned from comic books".  Art won the Pulitzer Prize for Maus. A Survivor's Tale.  My Father Bleeds History.  This is one of the texts my 9th grade world history students read in their English classes.

Art is quoted for saying, "Comics are a gateway drug to literacy".  I couldn't agree more.  I love comics/graphic novels and so my kids and students.  They literally gets reluctant kids reading, especially kids with Aspergers and ADHD.  I speak from experience.

His newest book is called CO-MIX.  A Retrospective of Comics, Graphics and Scraps.  Most of his speech was on this book and it details his life and features many of his comics including some of his New Yorker magazine covers.  He got his start working for Bazooka and he even drew Garbage Pail kids.  Remember those?

If you get a chance to see Art Spiegalman, you seriously need to go.  He is a genius and he is amazing.  I think I am his biggest fan.