Spinning
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- USD 9.99
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- USD 9.99
Publisher Description
For ten years, figure skating was Tillie Walden’s life.
She woke before dawn for morning lessons, went straight to group practice after school, and spent weekends competing in glitter and tights. It was a central piece of her identity, her safe haven from the stress of school, bullies, and family.
But over time, as she switched schools, got into art, and fell in love with her first girlfriend, she began to question how the closed-minded world of figure skating fit in with the rest of her life.
Poignant and captivating, Ignatz Award–winner Tillie Walden’s powerful graphic memoir captures what it’s like to come of age, come out, and come to terms with leaving behind everything you used to know.
“With Walden, no matter the story, you’re in safe hands.” —The Guardian
NOMINEE – Best Digital Comic, EISNER AWARDS 2017
For On a Sunbeam
WINNER – Best New Talent, IGNATZ AWARDS 2016
For I Love this Part
WINNER – Outstanding Artist, IGNATZ AWARDS 2016
For The End of Summer
About the author:
Tillie Walden is a cartoonist and illustrator. Born in 1996, she grew up in Texas and loves cats, architecture, and going to bed at eight o’clock every night.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In an elegant, contemplative, and somber graphic memoir, Walden (The End of Summer) immerses readers in an adolescence dominated by competitive figure skating. The story stretches over several years, during which time Walden vacillates between embracing the routine of early morning practices and the rush of competition, and a near-constant feeling of otherness, due in large part to her attraction to girls, which she hides from her family and peers. "It wasn't the thrill or freedom I felt that I remember," she notes after making a romantic connection with a friend. "It was the fear." Chapters open with illustrations of spins and jumps, the movements delicately mapped, paired with commentary that, at times, gives insight into Walden's personal life; of the frustrating axel, she writes, "As I would turn to go into it I would wish and hope with everything I had that this time it would work." A palette of deep purple, splashed with yellow, underscores the loneliness that permeates Walden's story, and her careful attention to facial expressions and body language makes readers intimately aware of what she is feeling. A haunting and resonant coming-of-age story. Ages 14 up.
