Why Ali loves this book
James Spooner's High Desert is a seminal read. Being a graphic novel memoir aided my ability to sit inside the life of this young punk of color growing up in the barren lands of American suburbia, with all the menace and terror and determination that comes along with that experience on full, constant display. Intense, meaningful and aesthetically beautiful.
1 author picked The High Desert as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.
Winner of a 2022 ALA Alex Award
Winner of the 2023 Cartoonist Studio Prize for Print Comics
One of The Washington Post's 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2022 * One of NYPL's Best Books of 2022 *A Publishers Weekly "Best Book of 2022"
A formative coming-of-age graphic memoir by the creator of Afro-punk: a young man's immersive reckoning with identity, racism, clumsy teen love and belonging in an isolated California desert, and a search for salvation and community through punk.
Apple Valley, California, in the late eighties, a thirsty, miserable desert.
Teenage James Spooner hates that he and his mom…
- Coming soon!
