What It Is

"Deliciously drawn (with fragments of collage worked into each page), insightful and bubbling with delight in the process of artistic creation. A+" -Salon

How do objects summon memories? What do real images feel like? For decades, these types of questions have permeated the pages of Lynda Barry's compositions, with words attracting pictures and conjuring places through a pen that first and foremost keeps on moving. What It Is demonstrates a tried-and-true creative method that is playful, powerful, and accessible to anyone with an inquisitive wish to write or to remember. Composed of completely new material, each page of Barry's first Drawn & Quarterly book is a full-color collage that is not only a gentle guide to this process but an invigorating example of exactly what it is: "The ordinary is extraordinary."

Publisher: Drawn & Quarterly
Published: 05/13/2008
Pages: 208
Weight: 2.4lbs
Size: 11.01h x 8.52w x 0.98d
ISBN: 9781897299357


Review Citation(s):
Vanity Fair 05/01/2008 pg. 100
Publishers Weekly 05/26/2008 pg. 45
Booklist 06/01/2008 pg. 61
Voice of Youth Advocates 08/01/2008 - Recommended - Hard To Beat
School Library Journal 09/01/2008 pg. 214
Publishers Weekly Best Books 11/03/2008 pg. 28
SLJ's Best Books 12/01/2008 pg. 46
Booklist Ed Choice Adu Bk YA's 01/01/2009 pg. 12
Library Journal 05/15/2009 pg. 55
ALA Best Books Young Adults 03/15/2009 pg. 8
Library Journal 12/01/2012 pg. 43

About the Author

Cartoonist, novelist, and playwright Lynda Barry is the creator behind the
syndicated strip Ernie Pook's Comeek, featuring the incomparable Marlys and Freddy. Her books include One Hundred Demons and The Good Times Are Killing Me.