Bog Myrtle
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Description
Best Books of the Year, New York Magazine
Moonbeam Children's Book Award Gold Winner
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
From the acclaimed author of The Wolf Suit comes another weirdly hilarious, masterfully thought-provoking, and lushly painted early reader graphic novel.
Two sisters, one stubbornly cheerful (Beatrice) and one relentlessly grumpy (Magnolia), live in a drafty old house with a family of helpful spiders. When Beatrice is gifted magic yarn from a giant forest spider obsessed with sustainability named Bog Myrtle, she and the spiders set to work knitting up a perfectly warm sweater.
But greedy Magnolia sees only the opportunity for profit, and quickly converts the old house into a magic sweater factory. The exhausted spiders are driven to strike, and Bog Myrtle is not pleased . . .
Bog Myrtle is a witty modern folktale that touches on themes of capitalism, environmentalism, labor rights, and being a nice person.
鈥淚 adore this book as much as I adore empowered spiders, poker-faced narrators, and cooperative bookstores. It鈥檚 wry, whip-smart, and freaking gorgeous. Sid Sharp is a maestro of comic timing and subversion.鈥� 鈥擪yo Maclear, author of It Began With a Page
Awards
- Winner, Moonbeam Children鈥檚 Book Awards 2024
Reviews
鈥淚 adore this book as much as I adore empowered spiders, poker-faced narrators, and cooperative bookstores. It鈥檚 wry, whip-smart, and freaking gorgeous. Sid Sharp is a maestro of comic timing and subversion. (I can鈥檛 wait for the musical!)鈥�
- Kyo Maclear, author of It Began With a Page
鈥淭he oddity of the story carries over well to the quirky, exaggerated illustrations, with Beatrice a lively, vaguely triangle-like figure bouncing through the pages, with the beanpole, sour-faced Magnolia as a perfect foil. A timely bit of humor is added as the spiders go on strike and march through the pages with signs demanding fair pay and justice.鈥�
- Bulletin of the Center for Children鈥檚 Books, 09/24
鈥淭he sisters epitomize the classic fairytale binary of good and evil, and it鈥檚 wonderfully satisfying when they both get what they deserve at the end, all infused with a slightly twisted sense of humor. Kindness is key in this droll and charming tale.鈥�
- Kirkus Reviews, 08/24
鈥淸A] lighthearted and surreal take on evergreen themes surrounding the benefits of kindness that鈥檚 more Brothers Grimm than classic Disney.鈥�
- Publishers Weekly, 07/27/24