Nate Powell never disappoints neither does his storytelling. The subject can seem somewhat dated even though it’s recent coverage. Although it’s understandable why Powell chose to use anthropomorphism for his children, it can be a little distracting.

Nate Powell is a lot like me, demographically. We both grew up in progressive white families in the South and now live in liberal Midwestern towns in otherwise red states. We're about the same age. We're parents. So his reflections on parenting, protesting, explaining Trump's election and a pandemic to young kids hit home for me. I loved each of the seven comic essays in this volume. ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 #BookReview #bookstagram #BooksAndFlowers #Comics #SaveItForLater

When I saw Save It For Later up on NetGalley, I couldn't resist requesting it. 2020 was a complete dumpster fire, so I figured I could use a graphic novel that will help me commiserate. Maybe it's because we're still living through the history being made, but this book exhausted me a bit. We're dealing with so much trauma that adding a book that lists it all was a bit of a challenging read. However, the story/graphic form essays were well done and accurate from a more liberal standpoint. I could see this being a helpful book to read as a parent trying to explain the USA's divide.

My biggest issue with this book was the fact that the writing was hard to read at times. I'm hoping that this is because I was reading an ARC of the book, but the words would be pixelated anytime I tried to enlarge the page to read some of the smaller words.

All in all, this was a challenging book that could be useful for future generations. The graphics were well done, but I wish that the writing was easier to read.

"Save It for Later" is a non-fiction graphic novel discussing the current state of America, as told from the author's view. This book is very much a response to the election of 2016 and showcases not only how the author felt but also how many Americans felt after that election cycle and in the years following. This is a definitely not a light read. It got very depressing in some parts and there were many moments of hopelessness throughout. That said, I think the author and the illustrator did an amazing job conveying those emotions throughout the book. Alongside the anger and anxiety was a true sense of love. It's so clear how much the author loves his county and wants better for its people, and how much he loves his own family and wants to change the world for his child. I found this graphic novel to be both powerful and moving.

Thank you NetGalley and ABRAMS for this e-arc of "Save It for Later" in exchange for an honest review.

The only reason that this is not 5*s is I found some of the text hard to read on my phone app - on a kindle or in physical form this may not be be an issue.

With that preface, I will say this is a HARD read. There’s a sense of hopelessness within some of the pages that mimics the authors mental state at the time, and this really resonated with me as I have been in a similar place when navigating this current hellscape we call Earth.

So yes, this was difficult. By my god am I glad I read it! This book is a call to arms for armchair activists. A rally cry for the Twitter generation. It left me feeling like yes, at the moment thing look bleak but also we are empowered to change this. We can make a difference, even if we’re just one “wingnut” with a placard.

Due attention has also got to be given to the illustrations that tell the story in such a moving way. The characters come alive through the drawings, and it has left me with a burning urge to read more of Powell’s work.

This graphic novel reminded me of Maus: it has a mix of human characters and personified animals. The author drew his children as animals and I loved that. Powell created this graphic memoir to promote protests and standing up for what is right (even if it's just you and/or you and your children). This was a super politically charged graphic novel which tackled elections, the pandemic and political activism.

Been putting this on customer orders for Tailored Book Recommendations - http://mytbr.co

So thanks for the review copy! My netgalley reviews are slowing due to ocular fatigue, so I'm mostly taking print review copies from now on.

Save It for Later covers a lot of ground. From exploring the confusion, fear and anger felt by people after Donald Trump's election win to why it is every person's duty to take an active part in every element of the democratic process, Powell takes an unflinching look at it all.

Powell's illustrations are powerful. Moments of sadness and anxiety depicted at the erosion of America's political norm and the realisation that hateful racists were always lurking in the shadows waiting to be given permission to share their views are all captured with nimbleness, humour and indignation.

There is a heavy criticism of Save It For Later which is that it very much is preaching to the choir. There is nothing in the book that would persuade someone not already aligned with Powell's views to consider changing their minds. I personally also felt that Powell occasionally "others" people who don't share his politics. Most people are good and genuinely want what is best for themselves, their family, and their country even Trump voters. Powell I don't think gets this.

The other thing that grabbed me about this book is how full of love it is. Powell's love for his family and country shine through. His daughter is brought to life as an achingly cute unicorn/human hybrid. The book is as much about Powell figuring out how to raise his children and the mistakes he makes along the way as it is about politics. Many of the most powerful images in the book feature Powell and his family.

I enjoyed Save It For Later very much.

Thank you to Nate Powell, Abrams ComicArts, and NetGalley for an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

This review is possible from an advanced copy I got from NetGalley.
Engaging, interesting, and dynamic. I couldn't put this graphic novel down.

Most of us will be familiar with Powell from his work on the March trilogy. This book is certainly different from March, though it shares some of the same bones. Best described as a collection of personal essays, Save it for Later has Powell reflecting on politics and parenting in the modern era. He struggles with how to explain what is happening in the world to his young children, balancing honesty with allowing them the innocence of childhood, teaching them to become responsible citizens. And he does not claim to have any answers. Each chapter is as much about his dilemmas as it is about what he and his wife told their daughters. The heavy use of darkness and shadow in the art reflects his personal struggles. It's not a casual read but definitely one worth visiting.

I found the whole book to be disjointed. I expected more of someone who worked with John Lewis. Powell was very judgmental. The worst thing was how his children had these odd animal heads that attempted to portray human emotion. That ruined the book for me and made it extremely difficult to read.

Save it for Later is a collection of a handful of non-fiction comics by Nate Powell. Powell was the illustrator for John Lewis' graphic memoir series March: Book One. Like Lewis, Powell believes in the right of American's to march in order to fight oppression. In this collection, Powell shines a light on his family's personal experiences with Trump-era America. These experiences include anxiety over Trump winning the election, the surge in racist events, and the COVID lockdown. This was a powerful collection and I can see how Powell's passion of social justice has impacted his children who also want to march to make a difference.

Tenor is the tone of the book from its very title of "Save It for Later" to one of the last chapters called "tornado children." It is also the tenor of a song, Amazing Grace, that can still be heard sung by Wintley Phipps during the late Congressman John Lewis’s funeral. Starting with commentary on politics, parenthood, history, bad flags, Powell takes us on his own political journey so that we may look at ours. Through his honest, self-effacing dialogue and comic panels, we learn about Powell’s family, thought processes and philosophy. His familiar, delicate, artistic rendering of autumn trees and leaves is at once beautifully happy but also sad, stirring up a whirlwind of melancholy. Powell's child plays in the leaves but the symbolic leaves also marks the beginning of a fascist administration in 2016. The last four years from 2016 to 2020 were the most poignant parts for me because we've all just lived through them. I was right there with him, pandemic shopping for flour, smothering my coughs inside my masks, staying up all night having panic attacks, and mourning lost friends. I'm award that the sudden loss of my dog is skewing my review more heavily. Powell's kind voice speaks to us reassuringly, though. He’s not interested in making us relive the nightmare. He motivates us through interesting anecdotes and tells us not to beat ourselves up too much. It can't be expected while we're coping with tectonic shifts socially, economically and psychologically. Even if we’re tired, at least our children, who are harder to fool, are becoming a generation of passionate activists. And if we’ve taught them well—those tenor reverberations will change. They can affect change again. There is no doubt that he is speaking to his graphic novel readers from the heart. We the people, shall continue to fight the good fight, to fight fascism. Do armchair activism under these extraordinary circumstances if you must but don't forget to get back up. Be a "wing nut" because "people are going to laugh at you anyway." March but also don’t be afraid to march to the beat of your own drum. Because when we do, we rededicate ourselves to moral truth. It's only then that our country will begin to heal. Powell makes it clear that the book isn’t supposed to be didactic and I’m inclined to agree with him. It’s a valuable record, penned in caps; every character is drawn with raw emotions. In the words of our late beloved Congressman Lewis--never give up. Remember to "keep the faith." The last four years is preserved in graphic format—absolutely brilliant!

Thanks to Netgalley and Abrams for allowing me access to an initial digital copy. Definitely buying it.

As someone with small ones in my life seeing how others have approached explaining the state of the world to them. These essays were incredibly moving and had some amazing points.

This book at it's core about being an activist at your level of ability and it's honestly beautiful.

I must say that I think this could have been way more impactful before the election. But I'm intrigued to come back in April to see if this book has a different impact

•Character development- 4☆
• Story Plot- 3☆
• Side characters- 3.5☆
• Flow of the story- 4☆
• Overall - 3.5☆

Truthfully, I am torn on my feelings about it. From the perspective of organization, I think each essay touches on a different aspect of a bigger story. I've read anthologies of essays and am familiar with them, but have not yet read a graphic novel essay. However, I do believe the images were impactful to the overall message of each essay and the connections between Powell and the other characters. It was an interesting choice to make all the children in this story anthropomorphic characters. As a reader, it kept the adults as the focal point, which I felt this novel is more geared towards, while keeping the children the innocent bystanders that the adults have to explain these topics to. The connections that were built between him and strangers during protests and his experiences there and then giving his own children their moments to share their voices was done well. This read is definitely aimed at a more high school level though.

On one hand this book covers a lot of really important subjects such as racism, ignorance and parenting in the current chaotic age. On the other hand, the art left me very confused. For some reason some of the kids are designed to look like anthropomorphic unicorn dogs. I wouldn’t mind that except that the majority of the characters look like normal human beings. I thought this was done to hide the identity of the author’s daughter for safety and privacy reasons...except in the back of the book we see a photograph of her. This strange design choice was extremely distracting to me. More than once I was reading a very insightful section only to be thrown out of the story by this unicorn girl. This is a great book, but it's just not for me.

Read more graphic novel reviews at www.graphiclibrary.org.

This collection of graphic essays presents Nate Powell as he tackles with the election of 2016, difficult conversations he has with his young daughter on the power of protest and symbols (especially those used by white supremacists), and the effect of the Global Pandemic on his family and his mental state. In early chapters, Powell recounts telling his children about then-candidate Trump (although not specifically named until the end of the book). As white supremacy becomes a more visible component of American society, Powell reflects on writing March with John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, and trying to reconcile those protest movements with the marches by Neo Nazis through his city and state. In the last chapter, Powell has a call-to-arms where he challenges others not to passively agree with others who are protesting, but to do some of it for yourself as well.

The comic essay may be an area that hasn't been explored much by students and school libraries, and you may not have many in the collection. We are used to our comics being for entertainment, not to serve as a vehicle for opinion. Powell has won several awards for his illustrations, so it seems natural for him to grapple with these difficult topics through comic format. He warns up front that this is not a manual for parenting, although there is quite a bit of reflection and explanation on how he talked with his daughter. In one of the chapters, Powell follows the progression of white supremacy - from Nazis in WWII, to beards being symbols of paramilitary, to monochromatic black cars, to the use of the Punisher logo, to the black-and-white version of the American Flag, to Mohawks being adopted by American fascists - and a lot of it relies on probably a deeper understanding of recent American history than I possess. This chapter broke with the more personal reflections Powell had in every other chapter, and thus stood out of place a bit amidst the others, but provides interesting insight into the foundations of the conversations Powell has with his family, and even with strangers while protesting.

Powell's award-winning skills as an illustrated are on full display here. The review copy wasn't fully colored on every page as the final published work will be, but what was colored was done so expertly. On every page, the fear and uncertainty plaguing the country comes through in dark illustrations with heavy use of bold shading and thick lines. Colors are muted and fade often as the conversation turns to bleaker topics. The glimmers of hope that Powell's daughter bring also brings in more color, but the loss of color around her shows her loss of faith and her fear growing as the pandemic sets in. Rather than sticking to one design choice, Powell uses color like another character in the book, constantly conveying emotion.

Once again, the suitability level is based not on the inappropriateness of the content (although there are a few F-bombs), but rather in the reader having a passing understanding of American History and national politics. This would pair well with an American History, Government, or Civics curriculum.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 11-12

This review was made possible with an advanced reader copy from the publisher through Net Galley. This graphic novel will be on sale April 6, 2021.

Let me begin by saying that this is not a graphic novel for kids or even YA. It is for you, fellow Gen Xers, and even more so if you are a parent. The text is fittingly dark for something so raw and confessional. It reads like a diary and connects the growing fascism in our current climate to prior historical elements. Powell connects cosplay at Comic Cons to the cosplay in paramilitary gear in supremacist circles and even the Punisher comic series logos co-opted by hate groups. This book hits hard when discussing White fragility and the irony of hate groups adopting the style and behaviors of those they once claimed to hate. Later, the layer of Covid and its effect on young kids shows how catastrophe may not fit the narratives we always envisioned. Powell also shares his grief at the loss of John Lewis, and it is closely followed by his attempt to be a “wingnut” and continue the journey of action. My one point of confusion was the decision to depict the children as animals rather than humans. After finishing this text, I felt like I understood and commiserated with Powell even more.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Safe It for Later by Nate Powell is a collection of graphic nonfiction essays about living in a new era of necessary protest. It is about standing up for civil rights and justice. This is a truthfilled graphic novel with an important message.

Nate Powell’s “Save it for later” is a powerful visual anthology of visual essays that will give you some perspective on the aftermath of the 2016 elections. Nate Powell is the artist behind John Lewis’ outstanding collection March, which presents us with the importance of the March on D.C. for Civil Rights. The story’s progression feeds on the despair millions of Americans felt at that moment and gives us a better look at how the election results came to be. The book is insightful and well thought, the art is amazing and it is a great resource for ELA, History and Social Sciences.