Kid Gloves

By Lucy Knisley. Published by First Second. 

Softcover, 256 pages, Colour, 2019. 

A New York Times bestseller

If you work hard enough, if you want it enough, if you’re smart and talented and “good enough,” you can do anything.

Except get pregnant.

Her whole life, Lucy Knisley wanted to be a mother. But when it was finally the perfect time, conceiving turned out to be harder than anything she’d ever attempted. Fertility problems were followed by miscarriages, and her eventual successful pregnancy plagued by health issues, up to a dramatic, near-death experience during labor and delivery.

This moving, hilarious, and surprisingly informative memoir, Kid Gloves, not only follows Lucy’s personal transition into motherhood but also illustrates the history and science of reproductive health from all angles, including curious facts and inspiring (and notorious) figures in medicine and midwifery. Whether you’ve got kids, want them, or want nothing to do with them, there’s something in this graphic memoir to open your mind and heart.

Harvey Award, Eisner Award Nominee

Praise for Kid Gloves

"Knisley's personal journey can be compelling and quite funny... But the book, with its jaunty colors and friendly black art, works best as an extended public service announcement. The pages breathe easily, cleverly composed and uncluttered."—The New York Times

"Knisley’s nuanced look at pregnancy and her message of bodily autonomy will resonate with teens, especially those who appreciated the graphic anthology Mine!" –School Library Journal

"Lucy Knisley has a well-earned reputation for emotionally evocative, introspective, and intimate autobiographical work... Her art has become more refined and ambitious, eliciting specific feelings and reactions alongside telling a true story." —The A.V. Club

"In sharing her journey's bumps and switchbacks, Knisley assures that there's no perfect pregnancy story and that even a lot of strife won't dim the joy of a child's ecstatic arrival." —Booklist, starred review