Constitution Illustrated

Constitution Illustrated gives the reader the entire text of the U. S. Constitution. It is a graphic novel with drawings done in the iconic styles of over one hundred different classic and contemporary American comic artists. The characters are well known cartoon characters. This book was published in 2020. 

The publisher's summary:

Among Sikoryak’s spot-on unions of government articles and amendments with famous comic-book characters: the Eighteenth Amendment that instituted prohibition is articulated with Homer Simpson running from Chief Wiggum; the Fourteenth Amendment that solidifies citizenship to all people born and naturalized in the United States is personified by Ms. Marvel; and, of course, the Nineteenth Amendment offering women the right to vote is a glorious depiction of Wonder Woman breaking free from her chains. American artists from George Herriman (Krazy Kat) and Charles Schulz (Peanuts) to Raina Telgemeier (Sisters) and Alison Bechdel (Dykes to Watch Out For) are homaged, with their characters reimagined in historical costumes and situations. We the People has never been more apt.

 

This is a short graphic novel; just 132 pages. The "dialogue" or text in this book consists solely of the words of the Constitution. The characters are from TV shows or cartoons. Donald Duck, Dennis the Menace, Charlie Brown, Lucy and Dagwood Bumstead are some of the characters. 

I like that there is background material at the end of the document. There is a Comics Index, Notes on the Constitution itself, amendments made to the original language by Congress, a Chronology of the drafting of the document and the Selected Bibliography. After Congress approved the final draft of the Constitution it was sent to the states for ratification.

There were some amendments that I forgot about so I had a nice learning experience. With the recent decision of the U. S. Supreme Court confirming birth right citizenship, the Fourteenth Amendment was fascinating to read. This book is an entertaining way of learning American history. It is fun and easy to read. I highly recommend it to readers of all ages.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Declaration of Independence 250th Anniversary Guide

This 100 page pamphlet is a full-color guide to the document that made a nation, the Declaration of Independence: what the Founding Fathers wrote, what they really meant, the wording that Congress changed, and the full story of America’s founding.

The publisher's summary:

250 years ago, 56 men from the 13 British colonies in North America pledged their lives for freedom in a document that would change the world. This illustrated anniversary book is the ideal Independence Day gift for history buffs, patriots, students and teachers alike ... anyone who wants to rediscover the full story of the Declaration that gave birth to America.

The complete text, with detailed analysis — Read the Declaration of Independence in full, with page-by-page annotations, unpacking exactly what the Founding Fathers meant by every word and phrase.

Examine how Congress altered Jefferson’s draft — The original rough draft alongside Congress’s detailed edits, in full color — the passages removed, the compromises inserted, and how those changes helped define the nation that emerged.

The men who made America — Biographies of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman ... and fascinating facts about many of the other 56 signers. Plus: Jefferson’s eye-witness account of the events of 1776, taken directly from his autobiography.

A full visual history of 1776 — A timeline of the American Revolution from its origins in 1763 to July 4, 1776, with full-color images throughout, completes this essential reference book for America’s semiquincentennial.

Whether you are rediscovering the Declaration of Independence or exploring it for the first time, this is your ideal companion guide for the July 4, 2026 celebrations – an engaging addition to your home library or classroom, and a thoughtful gift for any citizen keen to delve into the origins of America’s lasting values.

I loved reading about the history of the document's drafting and the roles of some of the signers, as well as those who were opposed to it. South Carolina and Georgia balked at accusing the King of beginning slavery in the then colonies and that slavery was inhumane so that paragraph was deleted ftom the original text. The book also has maps and fine art commemorating the events surrounding the signing of the document as well as portraits of the signers. There is a listing all the signers and their occupations. I liked that the occupations were presented.

In the two years before the Declaration was signed most of the signers wanted to remain part of Britain. After several attempts at negotiating with King George III had failed, they decided that independence was the only option. These were brave men. They signed the Declaration of Independence without any idea of being successful at separation from Britain. Their lives were on the line as the Declaration was treason to the King. 

I read an electronic version of the book but I would like to own a hard copy. I will definitely buy a physical copy of it. This small book is a great resource for information on how the U. S. came into existence and I highly, highly recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars.

Declaration Illustrated

Declaration/Emancipation Illustrated is a unique, double-sided graphic novel by cartoonist R. Sikoryak. It pairs the unabridged text of the Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Gettysburg Address with visuals rendered in the iconic styles of over 100 different classic and contemporary American comic artists.

The publisher's summary:

The severing of colonial ties to Great Britain and the critical turning points in American history that followed have never been more vividly manifested than in the skillful hands of Sikoryak, who doesn't hesitate to dream up Jeffy from Family Circus as Thomas Jefferson and Mr. Magoo as a British loyalist. King George III is deliciously portrayed as pop culture’s most famous villains, such as Thanos, The Joker, Scar from The Lion King, and many more. Sikoryak also skillfully adopts the styles of such comic artists as Will Eisner of The Spirit, Allie Brosh of Solutions and Other Problems, Morrie Turner of Wee Pals, Mark Beyer of Amy and Jordan, and Floyd Gottfredson of Mickey Mouse. The Civil War era pays homage to Black Panther, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, Steenz’s Heart of the City, Justice League, and many more.

The comic is short; just 134 pages. The Declaration part of the book is on one side of the book. Turn it over and you find the Emancipation Proclamation and the Gettysburg Address. The verbage is exclusively the words of the Declaration, the Proclamation and the Address. At the end of each of these three documents is a chronology of events that brought us the documents and a bibliography. The illustrations use characters ftom comic strips and TV series including The Simpsons, Black Panther and the Powerpuff Girls.

The author stated in an online interview that he had a rule to only use American characters in this book. Also, his reason for putting the Emancipation Proclamation as the second side of this book was because 

"someone, Abraham Lincoln, took what was in the Declaration and said, ‘This is important, this part at the beginning about “All men are created equal,” because he references the Declaration in the Gettysburg Address and in the Emancipation Proclamation. 

“Four score and seven years ago,” that’s referring directly to the Declaration, so you can take these documents and you can think about what they’re saying to you, and you can act on them."

I had no idea that that the Gettysburg Address referred to the Declaration. I always wondered what "four score and seven years ago" referenced. 

I agree with the publisher's blurb that this book is an entertaining trip through American history.  It is a fun, easy to read history of three of the U. S.'s foundational documents and I highly recommend it to readers of all ages.

5 out of 5 stars.

Remember Us to Life

Remember Us to Life is a graphic memoir by Joanna Rubin Dranger. She is a descendant of Holocaust survivors as well as from ancestors who fled Germany and Russia in time to save themselves from danger. The story was written in Swedish and translated into English by Maura Tavares. The title of the book comes from a prayer recited every day from Rosh Hashana to Yom Kippur. The English translation of the book was published in 2025. Author Dranger showcases her search for her own identity while she slowly uncovers the truth about how her Jewish relatives "disappeared" during WWII. She does this through illustrations and photographs of documents on her relatives. Suffice to say this is an emotional story.

The publiaher's summary:  "Remember Us to Life recounts Joanna’s family’s immigration from Poland and Russia to Sweden and Israel, where her relatives found work, marriage, and community, blissfully unaware of the horrors to come. Interweaving these anecdotes and stories are historical accounts of the persecution of Jewish people in Germany, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia prior to and during World War II, as well as the antisemitic policies and actions of the supposedly neutral government of Sweden, Joanna’s home country. Joanna’s unflinchingly brave and intimate portrayal of one of history’s greatest tragedies will capture and break readers’ hearts."

Deciding how to review the book was difficult. There is no way I can give all the details presented by the author. Too many of them are poignant and I could not pick one over another to be discussed here. Frankly, there was poignancy on every page. I was surprised, though, that her Swedish relatives were counted and documented during WWII by the Swedish government. Some of these documents were discovered in the 1970s and the rest were found in the 1990s. Anti-semitic epitaphs were hurled at them even though they lived in Sweden. With Sweden advertising their liberal ideas and trying to transport them out of their country, I was surprised to read how they actually behaved. 

The memoir began with the birth of the author's favorite aunt Susanne. Susanne was born after the end of WWII but she felt all the horror of the war anyway. Susanne ended up committing suicide. The author stated that she too felt a darkness that she could not control. She developed an intense contempt for herself and she thinks that she carried a hatred of Nazism within herself. I found this surprising because the author was born a few generations after the Holocaust.

The book is an eye opening account of one family’s attempt to overcome the past. Snippets of the actions of foreign governments is interspersed throughout the book adding to the horror of the era. I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars and think this will be my book of the year for 2026. Remember Us to Life is a must read.

The Once and Future Riot

This graphic novel investigates the 2013 Muzaffarnagar Riot that took place in India. Graphic journalist Joe Sacco examines the sectarian violence, crowd dynamics and competing narratives concerning the riot. The book was published in October 2025.

The publisher's summary: 

Compared to other episodes of lethal Indian communal violence, the clashes in Uttar Pradesh in 2013, the Muzaffarnagar Riot, were a relatively small-scale affair―some scores of people were killed and several tens of thousands displaced. It had happened before and will probably happen again: Hindus and Muslims, armed with guns and swords, riled up by vitriolic rhetoric and a tangle of accusations, turn on one another. The truth fragments along religious lines, both in the lead-up to the rampage and in its bloody aftermath.

In The Once and Future Riot, Joe Sacco immerses himself in Uttar Pradesh, speaking to government officials, political leaders, village chiefs, and especially the victims, who were mostly landless peasants, in a quest to understand this riot as an archetype of political violence. In the process, he probes the role of savagery in a democracy; the power of crowds, rather than leaders, to influence the course of events; the collision of competing narratives; and the accounts that perpetrators construct to explain away their participation in bloodshed.

Hailed as “the heir to R. Crumb and Art Spiegelman” (Economist), Sacco has chronicled the urgent histories that define the world around us, from the Great War to Gaza. Here, he turns his masterful visual reportage to a story that is specific to India but with implications and resonance for all precarious multiethnic, multiracial societies everywhere.

 After finishing the book I thought that one side had to be primarily at fault for the riot. I had some difficulty determinating which party held that fault so I re-read the book. I kept a cheat sheet detailing who did what in each village. It was an exercise in futility.

The root cause of all of the distrust between the Hindus and the Muslims was the Partition of 1947. The Partition forced Muslims to leave India and move to a new country, Pakistan, where they would be the majority population. Hindus no longer wanted Muslim neighbors even though Muslims were working on their farms. The economics of the Partition resulted in Hindu farm owners paying double the wages to anyone willing to work their farms. Muslims were too far away to labor for them. Before Partition Hindus and Muslims lived peacably side by side. Each faction respected the other. What a mistake it was.

The trigger of most of the clashes was mistreatment of women. The men would then kill the perpetrators but they would eventually be killed themselves in retaliation. The political and religious leaders were never able to prevent the violence and in many cases they did not want to stem the violence. Leaders on both sides fueled anger by spreading misinformation. Unfortunately, Muslims were forced to live in camps after Jat Hindus burned down their villages. The riot itself lasted a few days but violence seems to be a norm in Indian politics, hence the "future" riot. 

I enjoyed reading the book and learned alot about Indian politics. I felt the author's frustration as he traveled throughout the Uttar Pradesh region trying to obtain the truth. Very few people told him what really happened in their villages, preferring to tell him a narrative set by their personal politics. This was a difficult assignment for the author but he did well in telling the reader how he searched for answers on a daily basis.

5 out of 5 stars. 

I Could Pee on This

This is a book of poetry, seemingly written by cats. Published in 2012, it is a humorous book perfect for cat lovers. As the publisher states:  

Animal lovers will laugh out loud at the quirkiness of their feline friends with these insightful and curious poems from the singular minds of funny cats.

With poem titles like "Who Is That on Your Lap?," "This Is My Chair," "Kneel Before Me," "Nudge," and "Some of My Best Friends Are Dogs," the poems collected in I Could Pee on This perfectly capture the inner workings of the cat psyche.

With photos of the cat "authors" throughout, this whimsical poetry book reveals kitties at their wackiest and most exasperating (but always lovable).

The poems are placed in four categories:  family, work, play and exisyence. All of my favorite poems are in the family category and include the title poem I Could Pee on This:  

Her new sweater doesn’t smell of me 

I could pee on that 

She’s gone out for the day and left her laptop on the counter

I could pee on that

Her new boyfriend just pushed my head away 

I could pee on him

She’s ignoring me ignoring her 

I could pee everywhere 

She’s making up for it by putting me on her lap 

I could pee on this 

I could pee on this 

I also loved a cat proverb: They say there are twenty-four hours in a day but I’m only up for three of them and two I consider overtime.

The funny jokes within these poems will appeal to men and women of all ages but may not be appropriate for kids. Some of the poems, not many, contain salty language. I can see this book on my coffee table. While it's not large, just 112 pages, I think my guests will enjoy it. Of course, all my guests are cat lovers.

3 stars out of 5 stars.

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana

The Dressmaker of Khair Khana is a memoir about journalist Gayle Lemmon's trips to Kabul, Afghanistan looking for stories about women living in war torn countries. Lemmon writes articles for the Financial Times. In this book she centers on Kamila Sidiqi who ran her own business during the reign of the Taliban in the mid 1990s. 

After graduating from a two year teaching program at Sayed Jamaluddin Teacher Training Institute, Kamila heard whispers concerning the Taliban being close to Kabul and would most likely overun Kabul by the next day. Kamila hurried to catch a bus for long bus ride that would take her to her family’s home in the neighborhood of Khair Khana, a northern suburb of Kabul. The Taliban did reach Kabul the next day and Kamila's graduation certificate was no longer useful as the Taliban forbid women from leaving their homes. Kamila's father and brother fled the city before they arrived so she was responsible for taking care of her family. Unable to teach and desperate to support her family, Kamila masters the art of dressmaking and passes on the skills to her younger sisters. In order to find work for the budding business, Kamila frequently makes the dangerous trek to the market and meets with the owners of local dress shops. Soon the business is growing, and Kamila sees an opportunity to help other women in her community. With the help of her sisters, she opens a tailoring school in their home to teach women how to sew and to give them work once they completed their training. At a time of almost insurmountable poverty, she is able to employ nearly one hundred of her friends and neighbors, all the while escaping the scrutiny of the Taliban.

Kamila is an inspiring lady. She makes me look lazy. The author hopes that her book will change the tradition of portraying women as victims of war and pitied. Instead Lemmon believes that they are survivors of war whose bravery and determination held their families and communities together. This is a true story and yet it reads like a novel. I had to check twice to see if this book was historical fiction or a memoir. It’s a memoir. Lemmon made many trips to Kabul over a three-year period to interview women. 

I loved this book. It is an uplifting story of the brave women of Afghanistan who eked out a life under the most horrific circumstances. It gives me hope that I can handle anything that life throws my way. 5 out of 5 stars.

2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge

Sign-ups are now open for the 2026 Nonfiction Reader Challenge. The Book'd Out blog is hosting the challenge again. The aim of the Nonfiction Reader Challenge is to encourage you to make nonfiction part of your reading experience during the year. As for myself, I am going to downgrade my participation level to Nonfiction Nibbler which requires me to read just six books. When I signed up for this year’s challenge I had no idea how difficult 2025 would be for me personally. I probably only read half of the books that I planned to read.

You can select, read and review a book from the categories listed below during the year for a total of up to 12 books; OR select, read and review any nonfiction book. A book may be in print, electronic or audio format.

Choose a goal:

Nonfiction Nipper: Read & review 3 books, from any 3 listed categories

Nonfiction Nibbler: Read & review 6 books, from any 6 listed categories

Nonfiction Nosher: Read & review 12 books, one for each category

Nonfiction Grazer: Read & review any nonfiction book. Set your own goal, or none at all, just share the nonfiction you read through the year.

Categories:

History

Memoir/Biography

True Crime

Science

Health

Food

South East Asia

Humour (Humor)

Lost or found

Television

Subculture

Published in 2026

 You can choose your books as you go or create a list in advance. You may combine this challenge with others if you wish. Use your best good faith judgement as to whether a book fits the category or not.

Where a book is identified by more than one category, it may only count for one, not both.

You can read your chosen titles in any order, at any pace, just aim to complete the challenge by December 31st 2026

HOW TO JOIN

Create a blog post committing to your participation in this challenge. If you don’t have a blog you are still welcome to sign up. You can create a shelf for the challenge at Goodreads, LibraryThing or Storygraph, or post via Instagram, Twitter, Bluesky etc. Just add your name and a link to your shelf/account in the sign-up.

The challenge will run from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2026. Participants may join at any time up until December 1, 2026.

Each time you read and review a book as part of this challenge, please identify the post by adding either a direct statement and/or the challenge image badge to the post. It’s also helpful if you indicate the category the book fulfills.

Use the hashtag #ReadNonFicChal on social media. You can tag the challenge host on Twitter: @bookdout or Bluesky @shelleyrae.bsky.social or Instagram/Threads: @shelleyrae _bookdout or any of my other social media linked in her sidebar.

Share your review with other challenge participants by including your name or blog name and the category with a direct link to your review in the monthly link.

Bloggers can grab the above badge to use in the challenge posts.

I hope you can join me in this special challenge.