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Crushing
written and illustrated by Sophie Burrows

From just the cover, the color red immediately suggests a strangers-to-not narrative; that floating heart in the title underscores what’s to come. But knowing what happens doesn’t diminish in any way Burrows’ poignant, timely, mostly wordless graphic debut.

Top of the List: 2021

Top of the List Read-alikes: And Now I Spill the Family Secrets
by Susan Maguire

​The 2021 Top of the List Graphic Novel pick is And Now I Spill the Family Secrets, written and illustrated by Margaret Kimball, an investigation into her family’s history of mental health issues and a childhood that was shrouded in silence. These books, including fiction and nonfiction, graphic novels and prose, share similar themes of family secrets, digging into a family’s past, and issues of mental health.

Shelf Care: The Podcast

In this episode of Shelf Care: The Podcast, Booklist’s editors look back on the year in reading and talk about some of their fave titles from the Editors’ Choice list.

Top of the List Read-alikes: The Sentence
by Donna Seaman

Louise Erdrich anchors her newest novel and Booklist’s Top of the List winner for Adult Fiction, The Sentence, to her bookstore in Minneapolis, Birchbark Books, during the COVID-19 pandemic. These novels each engage imaginatively with some aspect of Erdrich’s setting and themes. 

Top of the List Interview: Harmony Becker
by Sarah Hunter

Harmony Becker’s debut graphic novel, Himawari House, deftly balances an emotionally resonant story with impressive inventiveness of form. Read on for our conversation about her inspiration, her art style, and the in-between spaces that are the richest for storytelling.

Top of the List Read-alikes: Chasing Me to My Grace: An Artist’s Memoir of the Jim Crow South
by Donna Seaman

In Chasing Me to My Grave, a unique and powerful memoir in words and paintings and Booklist’s 2021 Top of the List Adult Nonfiction winner, Winfred Rembert tells the galvanizing story of his surviving racial tyranny and violence in Georgia to become an artist. The books below address various aspects of Rembert’s experiences and showcase the work of other seminal African American artists.