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Welcome to Read This Book, a newsletter where I recommend one book that should absolutely be put at the top of your TBR pile. Recommended books will vary across genre and age category and include shiny new books, older books you may have missed, and some classics I suggest finally getting around to. Make space for another pile of books on your floor!
Before I tell you about today’s pick, check out our new podcast Adaptation Nation, all about TV and film adaptations of your favorite books! The first episode is all about the buzzy new Dune adaptation.
Today’s pick is a queer young adult gothic horror graphic novel that is an alternate origin story for the DC Comics baddie, Poison Ivy.
Poison Ivy: Thorns by Kody Keplinger and illustrated by Sara Kipin
Our protagonist Pamela lives in a town with a large green space, a park with a small forest, that she is trying to save from being deforested and turned into a shopping mall. She dabbles in a little bio-terrorism and releases some chemicals into the forest that create a toxic gas that is harmful to anyone who goes near. We learn right away that she got the chemicals from her father’s lab.
Her father is a doctor and a very, very controlling and secretive man. They live in a big, dark, dramatic manor, just the two of them, that has really creepy noises. Pamela’s mother is a botanist who is out of town on a research trip. Her father keeps insisting that Pamela help him in his lab with his “research,” which seems really unsettling because it’s not clear what this research is.
Pamela is in high school and seems to have one friend, Alice, though what gets most of Pamela’s attention is the large greenhouse at the high school that was donated by her mother. One of their classmates is Brett, who was Pamela’s homecoming date and a giant piece of garbage. He keeps trying to get Pamela to hook up with him and when she consistently turns him down, he starts rumors. Alice sticks up for Pamela frequently.
Alice and her family had to evacuate their home near the park because of the toxic gas that I mentioned earlier. Alice goes to stay with Pamela and her father in their mansion with all their creepy noises and dark secrets. As you can imagine, it’s hard to keep family secrets with someone else in the home.
I really enjoyed the artwork in this graphic novel and I love the contrast between all the dark, muted colors and then the burst of red that is Pamela’s hair, or the incredibly bright green that shows up from time to time.
Content warnings for an abusive parent and sexual harassment.
That’s it for now, book-lovers!
Patricia
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