My Depression: A Picture Book - Hardcover

Elizabeth Swados is the author of six children's books, three novels, and two non-fiction books. A renowned musician, director, and composer, she has received five Tony-award nominations and three Obie awards for her theatrical productions both on and off Broadway. Swados has also received Guggenheim, Ford, and Covenant Fellowships, and a Steven Spielberg Righteous Person Grant. She lives in New York City.

The multitalented Swados is the author of six children's books; three novels, including Flamboyant (1998); and an indelible family memoir, The Four of Us (1991). She is also a musician, director, and composer and the recipient of three Obies, among many other honors. She now presents a zingy cartoon memoir in which she chronicles her struggles with severe depression, a condition made all the more alarming by the fact that both Swados' mother and brother committed suicide. In expressively scribbled drawings and scrawled, to-the-point commentary, Swados charts the course her depression takes and itemizes the symptoms, which range from her insulting her friends to failing to get out of bed. The jangled, even manic energy of her drawings and text plays in effective counterpoint to the "black hole" of depression as Swados' candid, seemingly simple tale conveys a wealth of helpful information and dispels the gloom a bit by making readers laugh. This appealingly casual and upbeat volume is a good choice for readers unwilling to work their way through more substantial tomes. Donna Seaman
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