Virtual Panel by Panel Graphic Novel Book Club

Adults are invited to celebrate their love of this diverse and subversive medium. 

Registration is required, and books will be provided for participants. (Those who have their own copy are welcome to participate as well, just note when you sign up that you won't need the library to provide one.)

This month, we will be reading Patti Laboucane-Benson's The Outside Circle:

In this important graphic novel, two Aboriginal brothers — both gang members — surrounded by poverty and drug abuse, try to overcome centuries of historic trauma in very different ways to bring about positive change in their lives. Pete, a young Aboriginal man wrapped up in gang violence, lives with his younger brother, Joey, and his mother who is a heroin addict. After returning home one evening, Pete and his mother’s boyfriend, Dennis, get into a violent struggle, which sends Dennis to the morgue and Pete to jail. Initially maintaining his gang ties, a jail brawl forces Pete to realize the negative influence he has become on Joey and encourages him to begin a process of rehabilitation through a traditional Native healing circle. Powerful, courageous, and deeply moving, The Outside Circle is drawn from the author’s twenty years of work and research on healing and reconciliation of Aboriginal men who are gang-affiliated or incarcerated.

This book discussion will be offered via Zoom. Participants registered here will receive an email with details on how to access the meeting the day before the event. If you have any questions, please contact Sophia McKissick at smckissick@tcpl.org.