By Mandi & Hana Kujawa, Claude St. Aubin, Lovern Kindzierski, Taylor Esposito & various (Renegade Arts Entertainment)
ISBN: -978-1-98890-376-7 (TPB) eISBN: 978-1-98890-378-1
It’s not often that I get to identify with people in the books I review, but I can fully attest that – just like the mother and son in this fictionalised account of actual events – when you’re rushed into hospital and doctors don’t know what’s wrong, it hits really hard.
What mother and daughter Mandi & Hana Kujawa did was translate those tense times into a stunning and comforting graphic novel for kids, with youthful patient Hana morphed into thoughtful, slug-appreciating class outsider Marcus, whose early efforts to convert his elementary school circle into slime appreciators fell on deaf ears, blind eyes and grossed-out sensibilities. Marcus crystalized those days in a comic strip starring philosophical slug Sad Sid…
The response was crucial to his big realisation: despite all the adult platitudes about doing your best and daring to dream big, not everybody will or even can succeed. Most people only do what’s feasible with what fate deals them and have to adjust their hopes and dreams accordingly…
That comes terrifyingly true years later in high school after Marcus contracts a mystery virus that shreds his memory and generates seizures demanding hospitalization for months and extreme experimental treatments. Despite the attentions of his mom and clique of close school friends, prospects seem bleak and daunting, but thankfully, he befriends a girl in equally dire circumstances.
It appears that Marcus and Emily share a rather uncanny ability and together they revive Sad Sid for some artistically therapeutic self-help treatment…
Addressing important issues of health, opportunity and personal autonomy in a deliciously accessible yet sensible manner, this tale – available in paperback and digital editions – is delivered with joyous elan by celebrated illustrator Claude St Aubin, colourist Lovern Kindzierski and letterer Taylor Esposito, and provides a photo-feature Afterword documenting Hana Kujawa’s treatment and recovery thus far.
A deeply thoughtful tract on health and circumstance, A Slug Story is something every parent and kid should peruse in these uncertain times.
The story, characters and world of A Slug Story are copyright Mandi & Hana Kujawa © 2020.