Colleen Frakes – författare

A School Library Journal Best Book of 2024!In this semiautobiographical graphic novel from award-winning cartoonist Colleen Frakes, Norah must navigate not just her foiled dreams of blond hair but also the tangled mess her family has become. Norah is the good kid. Good at pleasing her parents and being a good sister. Good at school. Good at, well, almost everything.So when Mom’s work brings her to a new town leaving Norah and Dad behind, no one thinks twice. After all, Norah’s a mature sixth grader who can take care of herself…right? But things spiral out of control after a botched home dye job goes wrong and being the good kid quickly gets a little…hairy.Before long, one small tangle becomes a knot of epic proportions, and Norah soon realizes that the only way to untangle the mess she’s made is to find her voice and ask for help. Perfect for fans of Just Pretend and Crunch, Knots is sure to have readers laughing (and cringing) along with Norah’s antics.PRAISE FOR KNOTS:Bookshop.org's Best of Kids Graphic Novels (2024)

McNeil Island in Washington state was the home of the last prison island in the US, accessible only by air or sea. It was also home to about fifty families, including Colleen Frakes'' when she was growing up. Colleen''s parents—like nearly everyone else on the island—both worked in the prison, where her father was the prison''s captain and her mother worked in security. The island functioned as a "company town," where housing was assigned based on rank, and even children''s actions could have an impact on a family''s livelihood: If you broke a rule, your family could be kicked out of their home.In the graphic memoir Prison Island, Colleen tells her story of growing up on the McNeil Island. Beyond the irregularities of living in a company town near a prison, remote island life posed other challenges to Colleen and her sister. Regular teenage activities like ordering a pizza or going to the movies became extremely complicated endeavors on the island, and the small-town dynamics were amplified by their isolation from surrounding cities. Prison Island tells the story of a typical girl growing up in atypical circumstances using stark, engaging graphic novel panels. It''s a story that is simultaneously familiar and foreign, and readers will be surprised to see parts of themselves in Colleen''s unique experience.