Bog Myrtle

by Sid Sharp

Overview

Best Books of 2024 lists: NYPL, New York Magazine, Quill & Quire • JLG Gold Standard Selection • Moonbeam Children's Book Award Winner • Kids Indie Next Pick

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.

“I adore this book as much as I adore empowered spiders, poker-faced narrators, and cooperative bookstores. It’s wry, whip-smart, and freaking gorgeous. Sid Sharp is a maestro of comic timing and subversion.” —Kyo Maclear, author of It Began With a Page

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781773218922
Publisher:	Annick Press, Limited
Publication date:	10/08/2024
Pages:	156
Product dimensions:	7.50(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	600L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 11 Years

About the Author

SID SHARP is an artist from Toronto who makes drawings, paintings, and comics. Their debut comic The Wolf Suit was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and was featured in Best of the Year lists by the New York Public Library, School Library Journal, and The Globe and Mail. Sid’s interests include folklore, scary stories, mysterious and unknowable things, and finding good sticks for their stick collection.

Editorial Reviews

The 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.” —Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, 09/24 

“The sisters epitomize the classic fairytale binary of good and evil, and it’s 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.” —Kirkus Reviews, 08/24

“[A] lighthearted and surreal take on evergreen themes surrounding the benefits of kindness that’s more Brothers Grimm than classic Disney.” —Publishers Weekly, 07/27/24

“A perfect choice for fans of macabre takes on fairy tales.” —Booklist, 11/01/24

“The artwork is an interesting mix of eerie, suspenseful, and quirky . . . fun reading, with an amusing twist at the end.” School Library Journal, 10/24

“An unconventional graphic novel for the budding young activist with a sense of humor.” —The Horn Book, 01/25

“One of the loveliest twisted tales of the year.” —Betsy Bird, School Library Journal, 11/14/24

From the Publisher

2024-07-04
Two sisters’ fates are changed when one encounters a unique creature in the forest.

Living together in a drafty house, pale-skinned siblings Beatrice and Magnolia are opposites in many ways. Short, wide Beatrice is happy and curious, whereas lanky Magnolia is cranky and tyrannical. One day Beatrice ventures into the nearby forest and meets Bog Myrtle, a giant, gray-skinned spider woman who’s deeply committed to protecting the forest and is known for turning people into flies and eating them. She gives Beatrice some of her magic silk. With the help of the spiders that live in their home, Beatrice turns the silk into a soft, warm sweater for Magnolia. Greedy Magnolia sees an opportunity to make money by creating and selling more sweaters; she exploits Beatrice and the house spiders until her cruelty is no longer tolerated. With its short text and many simple, expressive, and attractive full-page illustrations, this book will entice young readers. Older kids, however, will likely have a better understanding of its sometimes challenging vocabulary and themes of sustainability and labor rights. These thought-provoking topics are smartly woven in as the story maintains a sharp humor and folktale feel throughout. The sisters epitomize the classic folktale binary of good and evil, and it’s wonderfully satisfying when they each 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.(Graphic fiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews