My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, Bk. 2

Ferris’s 2017 debut, My Favorite Thing is Monsters, was an international sensation, acclaimed for her virtuosic illustration, seemingly effortless mastery of plot and tone, and nuanced evocation of her protagonist, Karen Reyes, a 10-year-old girl experiencing an uncommonly tumultuous coming of age in 1960s Chicago. This second volume finds Karen navigating a variety of personal and private upheavals—she’s mourning her mother’s death, increasingly contemplating her own sexual identity, and obsessively pursuing an investigation into the murder of her upstairs neighbor, a holocaust survivor named Anka Silverberg. Karen’s relationship with her older brother Deeze takes center stage in an extended sequence during which the pair tour landmarks and cultural centers around the city discussing favorite painters, various approaches to creating meaningful works of art, human sexuality, and much more. Later, Karen discovers a cassette tape detailing Anka Silverberg’s heroic deeds in Nazi Germany, as well as evidence which finally compels her to confront Deeze about the nature of the relationship between he and Anka, and whether or not he played a role in her demise.