baylaurels's Reviews (304)

I did enjoy this book and thought that it had some good things to say about they/them pronouns, and the inclusion of the author's real-life story and experiences help strengthen their points. It does a good job of answering some of those basic questions, especially grammatical ones, to help take that burden off of nonbinary people in a theoretical reader's life.

However, I think the scope and tone if this book kind of limit the applicability to well-meaning liberal cis people who are just starting to research nonbinary identities and pronouns. (Though it's also probably the same self-selecting group who will be reading this book to begin with.) For this reason I feel like it may not work quite as well for the suggested purpose of required reading in scenarios such as the workplace, as the tone probably doesn't work as well for those more averse to the idea of changing their ways/language.

As an educational resource, I also thought there were a few notable exclusions. Namely, I think it would be valuable to spend a tiny bit more time talking about what nonbinary gender is - most people who are familiar with nb gender or they/them pronouns are familiar with both, and the same with those who are not. The book only touches extremely briefly on other nonbinary pronouns by mentioning ze/hir twice, and even just a brief list of other pronouns could be helpful, as well as the acknowledgement of those who use multiple pronouns (they/she, she/he/they, they/xe, etc.) and how to refer to those people grammatically and respectfully. 

They also only say that it is rude to ask someone why they use they/them pronouns - which is true in many cases, but from an educational standpoint this book would be a great avenue to include some of those basic answers (again, a brief explanation of what nonbinary means). It also follows the narrative of "ask pronouns when introducing yourself," and I wish they had touched on the fact that not everyone is always comfortable sharing their pronouns, and that asking directly can upset those who are still closeted. (Relatedly, when talking about how to advocate for friends who are misgendered, and how it can vary person to person/situation by situation, address the fact that sometimes a friend may ask you to let them be misgendered in order to stay closeted in a certain scenario).

Overall despite my nitpicks I think this is a fairly good resource for those who are just starting to learn about they/them pronouns, and hope it can help to educate and encourage those people to read more.

I ended up accidentally reading this series out of order, and began with the Beast Boy book instead. I had no prior familiarity with the Teen Titans beyond the surface level, and was able to follow both books fine despite the mix up and lack of other knowledge.

I enjoyed the art style and simple color palette!

The plot is a little predictable, thanks to the need to be an origin story and the younger target demographic. The side characters aren't terribly fleshed out, and I think this installment suffers from a lot of the problems as Beast Boy's story, in that the primary function is to have them discover their powers and leave home to meet each other. 

I'm a little hesitant about the inclusion of Louisiana Voodoo, and the way it is kind of lumped in with the superhero powers and Raven's supernatural heritage, given that I don't believe the author is from this background herself. I have been looking for own-voices reviews addressing this concern, and will edit this review to link any that I find.

Overall not a new favorite, but I'm still interested in continuing with future installments.

've been following this artist's work online for quite a while so it was very cool to read her published work! I'd seen many of her pigeon comics before, but I really appreciated their framing in this book, as they are divided into thematic sections and accompanied by longer written sections where Mullin explains her mental health journey and how her comics relate to her experiences.

I admire the honesty present throughout the book, as Mullin dives into her real life experiences and gives a frank look at how anxiety and depression have affected her life, and the ways she has worked to combat them. I actually especially enjoyed the written portions, and felt that her added context helped me appreciate where the comics were coming from.

This book also includes a good section on positivity, the importance of making active efforts to improve your mental health, and a discussion of how medication was able to help the author. I worry sometimes that mental health related works can focus a little too heavily on the negatives and "relatability" and encourage staying in that space of negativity, but felt that this book struck a healthy balance of acknowledging the difficulties and struggles of getting past that stage, while not glossing over or romanticizing anything.

Mullin's art style is also super cute and while the comics are in a simple square paneled format and follow a lot of the same themes throughout they never feel stale. The art feels thoughtful and unique from comic to comic, and I especially like the coloring.

Overall definitely among my favorites of the internet comics to be published as a book!