sappho's reviews
148 reviews

I thought this book was wonderful! I often feel as though most trans-focused comics and literature fall under one of two categories: hyper-specific personal memoirs or too-general-to really cover anything informative texts. You know the ones. That’s why I really liked this book, it felt new and fresh even though most of the interviews took place almost a decade ago!

I thought this was WONDERFUL!!! The diverse range of gender experiences discussed in this book were so enlightening, especially the ones from so many older interviewees. I feel like a lot of trans literature or gender-related comics (at least the ones I've read) tend to be memoirs that only cover one specific person's experience, or incredibly broad informative pieces

Thank you Netgalley for this advance copy!

[still working on writing this up, have patience with my sorry ass lol]

I found this really hard to get into, Yadriel’s internal monologue plods along at the best of times. Once Julian got introduced around 16% thru though, I started having fun as the book pivoted from being primarily thoughts to primarily dialogue. Ending wrapped up maybe quicker than I’d like, plot generally very fanficcy to me (he has to take the BAD BOY ghost to SCHOOL) but I had fun and I think other people would also have fun. 

I really like the quick and easy guide series; I think they do the damn thing. They're great resources to pull off the library shelves when people have questions because they are just so quick and easy. 80 pages maximum and full of pictures, it's such a simple thing to ask people to read and I think they really help communicate topics that I had to learn about in the trenches of Tumblr University to confused parents and teachers.

That being said, this one was probably one of my least favorite books in the series. Most of my other frustrations are covered in other reviews, like with the art style or the "are aces queer" section, so I won't go into those. For me, so many of the examples were frustratingly heteronormative and I know that they would not be helpful for figuring out if you're gay or ace or dabbling in both. Particularly pages 39-43, my experience as a (not-ace, probably-not-aro) lesbian is pretty identical to that, and I'm surprised there was never an acknowledgement of this overlap. It's just such an underutilized point of solidarity.

Honestly one of my main takeaways from this book is that like... it made me wish there was a book like this for aromanticism? Or something that talked ever about being aro but not ace? It's an identity that I feel like gets dunked on a lot in the service of standing up for aces who do want romance (noooo dont worry I can still be Normal^tm), and the way this book was written made me sad about it idk. They did say that they have a very specific scope at the start of the book, so how mad can I really be about my little niche complaints.

I don't know. I think my library is pretty likely to buy this, I can see it being very useful, but I will continue to have my little gripes about it.

I thought this was really cute! There were a few minor errors in the ARC (thank you netgalley!) but they oughta get fixed up in time. I wish all of the flags said who they were created by, or at least said that the creator was unknown, particularly for the gay man flag and the aromantic flag. There's some nuance to the lesbian flag's evolution and creation that I wish was mentioned, but this is a kids picture book so I understand that it'd probably be out of the scope of this project, haha! All in all, I think this is a really cute and effective way to teach people of all ages about all the different pride flags!

This is the first book I got to read for Netgalley and what a fun book to start out on! I've been following the Wash Day Diaries saga ever since the initial Kickstarter and what a treat it is to see how much it's grown! 

This book is a set of five vignettes into the lives of four friends in the Bronx and all the stories are tied to black hair care in one way or another. The first story is a remastered version of the initial mini-comic, now in full color instead of gray-scale. Comparing the two comics, it looks like the panels have been at least partially redrawn (the way the flags hang on page 15 is the main tell) and it looks stunning. The soft blues and purples coloring the scenes are so pretty and peaceful; it's reminiscent of soap bubbles really. Perfect for the framing device. Plot-wise, it's just a slice of life look at Kim washing her hair. I really like it, I think it's simple but not basic, and I think it's a really great setup for the rest of the stories. The other four stories are just as sweet to read, and I hope you'll give this book a chance and experience them for yourself! Love it love it love it, what a great book!

I really loved this book it surprised me! We read this for the book club I run at the library.

the VINDICATION i felt when i was right about who the skeleton artist was... iconic. I thought the bully "redemption" moment was a lot better done than most books I've read and the parallels between KFS/YP and YP/Julia and the significance of the skeleton graffiti once I knew about her eating disorder... MUCH 2 think abt

Writing style was incredibly dry and difficult to get into. I would've liked it more if maybe only the zombie pov character was dry and the werewolf's was vivid and poetic? I think that could've been an interesting artistic choice! But no it was just dry and unpleasant.

Mindnumbingly basic, maybe if you know nothing it’s useful but like. 

Wonderful wonderful book, beautiful art and I love the insightful way it talks about emotions. 

IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!!!!! The art style and the tone and the accent that everyone speaks in all mesh perfectly I really feel like this is such a career highpoint for Leyh. The poor rural setting feels so homey and I’ve never read a graphic novel about taxidermy and skeleton articulation!!!! It was so creative and not a career that tends to be of interest to indoor cartoonist kids which is probably why it came as such a surprise to me; there’s a lot of love here and I’m sure it took loads of research!!!

oh my goodness and I wasn’t expecting this degree of lgbt representation at all!!!!! My boss recommended this to me for the trans girl best friend who was sooooooo darling she was so sweet, and then I met jacks and I thought oh wouldn’t it be neat if she was a butch lesbian AND THEN SHE WAS!!!!  not just that but a butch lesbian in love with snap’s bisexual grandmother!!!!! I felt like I’d died and gone to heaven it was such a treat to be surprised by that!!!!!!!

oh my goodness I just feel like everyone should read this book. not everyone I suppose because the amount of dead animals can be a big turnoff but for everyone else: read snapdragon!