Graphic Medicine

1) Holler: a graphic memoir of rural resistance

Author

Notes

Topic(s): Environmental Justice

Description

"Drawing from original interviews with the author, Holler is an illustrated look at six inspiring changemakers. Denali Nalamalapu, a climate organizer in their own right, introduces readers to the ordinary people who became resisters of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a project that spans approximately 300 miles from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia--a teacher, a single mother, a nurse, an organizer, a photographer, and a seed keeper....

2) Precious rubbish

Author

E., Kayla

Notes

Topic(s): Child Abuse, Dysfunctional Families, Sexual Abuse

Formats:

eComic, Graphic Novel

Description

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"If an exorcism can ever be slow and quiet, then every panel I've finished has felt something like an exorcism. The gutters give me space to make sense of things: to connect dots and close gaps. To remember." Kayla E.'s Precious Rubbish is an experimental graphic memoir drawn in a style that references the aesthetics of mid-century children's comics and tells the story of a childhood shaped by maternal emotional dysregulation, rural poverty, and incest....

3) Remember us to life: a graphic memoir

Author

Rubin Dranger, Joanna

Notes

Topic(s): Generational Trauma, Jewish Family History

Description

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"Told through a genre-defying blend of illustrations, photography, and found objects, Remember Us to Life chronicles Joanna Rubin Dranger's investigation into her Jewish family's history, spanning time, space, and three continents in search of her lost relatives. As discolored photos are retrieved from half-forgotten moth-eaten boxes, Joanna discovers the startling modernity and vibrancy of the lives her family never spoke about--and the devastating...

4) Bald

Author

Čechová, Tereza

Notes

Topic(s): Alopecia

Description

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"An autobiographical account in graphic novel format that explores the trauma of alopecia through humor and self-reflection"--Provided by publisher. "Even the most imperfect journey can lead to beauty. Tereza never thought she would go bald before her boyfriend did. She couldn't imagine being unable to sweep her hair up in a ponytail or to style it in other ways. But when she lost all her hair in just a couple of months due to alopecia, her perspective...

5) Cry when the baby cries

Author

Barnicoat, Becky

Notes

Topic(s): Maternal Health, Motherhood, Parenthood

Description

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With the wit of a comedian and the observational skills of a sociologist surveying a new subculture, Becky Barnicoat writes about her first few years of parenthood with warmth, sharp insight, and uproarious humor in her debut graphic memoir Cry When the Baby Cries. Barnicoat's prose is always relatable, smart, and so funny while discussing everything from how ignoring women's pain is baked into the practice of obstetrics to the impossibility of putting...

6) Something, not nothing: a story of grief and love

Author

Leavitt, Sarah

Notes

Topic(s): Grief

Description

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"In April 2020, cartoonist Sarah Leavitt's partner of twenty-two years, Donimo, died with medical assistance after years of severe chronic pain and a rapid decline at the end of her life. About a month after Donimo's death, Sarah began making comics again as a way to deal with her profound sense of grief and loss. The comics started as small sketches but quickly transformed into something totally unfamiliar to her. Abstract images, textures, poetic...

7) Good luck to us all: a graphic memoir of sorts

Author

Vermeulen, Karen

Description

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"Trust her--Karen is trying really hard to be an adult. Harder than she should probably have to, as a forty-something with a cat, a flat, and a job. She would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling influencers, always raising the bar of what it means to be a proper woman. Brandishing her trademark quirky artwork and signature wit, Karen pokes fun at her attempts to 'grow up': whether that's becoming a meditation girlie, getting...

8) The mother: a graphic memoir

Author

Deutsch, Rachel

Notes

Topic(s): Motherhood

Description

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"A raw and honest, harrowing and humorous journey into the dualities of modern motherhood in graphic memoir form. New Yorker cartoonist Rachel Deutsch desperately wanted a baby, yet she was fearful of actually being pregnant and having one. She lurched into a new identity and then missed her old one. She loved her new baby fiercely, but yearned for her previous relationship with her partner, as sleepless nights revealed the cracks below the surface...

9) Everything is fine, I'll just work harder: confessions of a former badass

Author

Gormally, Cara

Notes

Topic(s): Sexual Assault, Therapy, Trauma

Description

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One queer person bravely and creatively uses therapy to navigate the healing from the trauma of a past sexual assault. One day, during an ordinary early-morning run, Cara's watch dinged with a Facebook friend request. But when they checked the message, the photo slammed them backward in time and froze them in fear. Their rapist wanted to "friend" them. Cara always had a long to-do list; always had many projects; always was busy. But as their rapist...

10) Feeding ghosts: a graphic memoir

Author

Hulls, Tessa

Notes

Topic(s): Generational Trauma, Mental Health, Mental Illness Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Memoir 2025, Winner of the National Books Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, Winner of the 2025 Anisfield Wolf Prize, and Eisner nominated for Best Reality-Based Work

Description

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"Tessa Hulls delves into her own family history and the intergenerational trauma caused by mental illness and political strife"-- Provided by publisher.

11) A Fox in My Brain

Notes

Topic(s): Cyclothymia, Mental Health, Mental Illness Honorable Mention for 2025 Graphic Medicine International Collective Award for Long Form Comic

Description

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A Fox In My Brain is a graphic memoir about a young womans emotional journey struggling to understand and control a disease that has plagued her, her entire life. After many troubled years, Lou finally discovers what's causing the chaos in her brain: her Cyclothymia, a Bipolar Disorder that appears to her in the form of a fox. Join Lou as she learns to tame the fox within, and learns to cope with her condition, all with a bit of charm, humor, and...

12) Traces of madness

Author

Balius, Fernando

Notes

Topic(s): Mental Health, Mental Illness Shortlisted for 2025 Graphic Medicine International Collective Award for Best Long Form Comic

Description

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"A portrayal in graphic novel format of the author's battle with auditory hallucinations, depicted as a monster, and his journey to understand and cope with his illness"-- Provided by publisher.

13) The heart that fed: a father, a son, and the long shadow of war

Author

Sciacchitano, Carl

Notes

Topic(s): Generational Trauma Shortlisted for 2025 Graphic Medicine International Collective Award for Best Long Form Comic

Description

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"A brilliant graphic memoir debut, this is a loving son’s exploration of his tumultuous relationship with his father, told through the lens of the Vietnam War and its lasting effects long after returning home."--Amazon.

14) Here I am, I am me: an illustrated guide to mental health

Author

Bean, Cara

Notes

Topic(s): Mental Health Shortlisted for 2025 Graphic Medicine International Collective Award for Best Long Form Comic

Description

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"Join author-illustrator Cara Bean as she takes readers on an illustrated journey to the center of the brain. Each chapter explores a different aspect of mental health, from the brain and the mind, to feelings and emotions. By portraying complex neuroscience concepts with a cast of illustrated brain part characters, the book explains what is really going on in the reader's head in an accessible, approachable way that ultimately serves to empower the...

15) Sunflowers

Author

Young, Keezy

Notes

Topic(s): Bipolar Disorder Shortlisted for 2025 Graphic Medicine International Collective Best Short Form Comic

Description

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An autobiographical comic about one person's experience living with bipolar I disorder. From mania to depression to the balance beam of the everyday, Sunflowers explores the human complexity of an often misunderstood disorder with honesty and vulnerability.

16) Abortion Pill Zine: A Community Guide to Misoprostol and Mifepristone

Author

Rotman, Isabella

Notes

Topic(s): Abortion Shortlisted for 2025 Graphic Medicine International Collective Award for Educational Comic

Formats:

e-Comic, eComic

Description

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Access to safe abortion is a human right! This short zine explains one kind of abortion: with the use of pills misoprostol and mifepristone. Abortion is vital healthcare and part of comprehensive sexual health. This zine aims to provide readers with accessible information about the pill's mifepristone and misoprostol as options to manage abortion. Created by pro-choice community members, it covers the medical abortion process step-by-step, including...

17) Hey, kiddo

Author

Krosoczka, Jarrett

Notes

Topic(s): Addiction, Childhood Trauma

Formats:

eAudiobook, Graphic Novel

Description

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"In kindergarten, Jarrett Krosoczka's teacher asks him to draw his family, with a mommy and a daddy. But Jarrett's family is much more complicated than that. His mom is an addict, in and out of rehab, and in and out of Jarrett's life. His father is a mystery -- Jarrett doesn't know where to find him, or even what his name is. Jarrett lives with his grandparents -- two very loud, very loving, very opinionated people who had thought they were through...

18) Past tense: facing family secrets and finding myself in therapy

Author

Mardou

Notes

Topic(s): Childhood Trauma, Generational Trauma, Mental Health

Description

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When Sacha Mardou turned forty-years-old, she was leading a life that looked perfect on the outside: happily married to the love of her life, enjoying motherhood and her six-year-old daughter, and her first book had just been published. But for reasons she couldn't explain, the anxiety that had always plagued her only seemed to be getting worse. The product of a stoic, working-class British family, Sacha had a deeply seeded distrust of mental health...

19) Brittle joints

Author

Sweeney, Maria

Notes

Topic(s): Bruck Syndrome, Chronic Pain, Progressive Disability

Description

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An evocative and heartfelt graphic memoir about the challenges of living with a progressive disability. --from Amazon.

20) How to baby: a no-advice-given guide to motherhood

Author

Finck, Liana

Notes

Topic(s): Motherhood, Pregnancy

Description

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"How do you know if you're ready to have a baby? How do you know if you might be pregnant? And how do you deal with peeing all the time and being hungry all the time and fielding well-meaning but kind of insulting advice and finding a doula and being dropped by your old friends and learning why it's called mom brain and not dad brain and spending half your life on hold with your insurance company and the tyranny of the milestones you're not meeting...