Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos

Description

If you work hard enough, if you want it enough, if you're smart and talented and "good enough," you can do anything. Except get pregnant. Her whole life, Lucy Knisley wanted to be a mother. But when it was finally the perfect time, conceiving turned out to be harder than anything she'd ever attempted. Fertility problems were followed by miscarriages, and her eventual successful pregnancy was plagued by health issues, up to a dramatic, near-death experience in labor and delivery. Kid Gloves follows Lucy's personal transition into motherhood, and it also illustrates the history and science of reproductive health from all angles, full of curious facts and inspiring (and notorious) figures in medicine and midwifery.

Lucy Knisley is the author and illustrator of beloved graphic novels about memory, identity, food, and family. She previously published the New York Times bestseller Relish: My Life in the Kitchen and Something New with First Second. She lives and works in Chicago, with her husband and child. lucyknisley.com

Knisley's personal journey can be compelling and quite funny... But the book, with its jaunty colors and friendly black art, works best as an extended public service announcement. The pages breathe easily, cleverly composed and uncluttered.--The New York Times Knisley's nuanced look at pregnancy and her message of bodily autonomy will resonate with teens, especially those who appreciated the graphic anthology Mine! -School Library Journal Lucy Knisley has a well-earned reputation for emotionally evocative, introspective, and intimate autobiographical work... Her art has become more refined and ambitious, eliciting specific feelings and reactions alongside telling a true story. --The A.V. Club In sharing her journey's bumps and switchbacks, Knisley assures that there's no perfect pregnancy story and that even a lot of strife won't dim the joy of a child's ecstatic arrival. --Booklist, starred review