Barack Obama Calls Kate Beaton’s Ducks A Favourite Book Of The Year

Barack Obama posts his “favourite” lists every year, for music, films and books. And this year, the self-confessed fan of Conan and Spider-Man comic books from the seventies and eighties, added a comic book to that list. He tweeted out “I always look forward to sharing my lists of favorite books, movies, and music with all of you. First up, here are some of the books I read and enjoyed this year. Let me know which books I should check out in 2023.” And amongst  The list, he included Ducks: Two Years In The Oil Sands, a graphic novel by Hark! A Vagrant! creator Kate Beaton, published by Drawn & Quarterly, Vintage Digital and Jonathan Cape. Bleeding Cool revealed its cover for the first time, this time, last year. He’s not alone in this iof course and the book has been at the top of a number of critics’ favourite lists in recent days. But he’s the only one who has been President Of The United States.

“Celebrated cartoonist Kate Beaton vividly presents the untold story of Canada Before there was Kate Beaton, New York Times bestselling cartoonist of Hark A Vagrant fame, there was Katie Beaton of the Cape Breton Beatons, specifically Mabou, a tight-knit seaside community where the lobster is as abundant as beaches, fiddles and gaelic folk songs. After university, Katie heads out west to take advantage of Alberta’s oil rush, part of the long tradition of East Coasters who seek gainful employment elsewhere when they can’t find it in the homeland they love so much. With the singular goal of paying off her student loans, what the journey will actually cost Katie will be far more than she anticipates. Arriving in Fort McMurray, Katie finds work in the lucrative camps owned and operated by the world’s largest oil companies. Being one of the few women among thousands of men, the culture shock is palpable. It does not hit home until she moves to a spartan, isolated worksite for higher pay. Katie encounters the harsh reality of life in the oil sands where trauma is an everyday occurrence yet never discussed. For young Katie, her wounds may never heal. Beaton’s natural cartooning prowess is on full display as she draws colossal machinery and mammoth vehicles set against a sublime Albertan backdrop of wildlife, Northern Lights, and Rocky Mountains. Her first full length graphic narrative, Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands is an untold story of Canada: a country that prides itself on its egalitarian ethos and natural beauty while simultaneously exploiting both the riches of its land and the humanity of its people.”

BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2022

• THE LIGHT WE CARRY Michelle Obama (I’m a bit biased on this one)
• TRANQUILITY TRUST Hernan Diaz
• THE REVOLUTIONARY: SAMUEL ADAMS Stacy Schiff
• THE FURROWS: A NOVEL Namwali Serpell
• SOUTH TO AMERICA: A JOURNEY BELOW THE MASON-DIXON TO UNDERSTAND THE SOUL OF A NATION Imani Perry
• THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD MOTHERS Jessamine Chan
• BLACK CAKE Charmaine Wilkerson
• DUCKS: TWO YEARS IN THE OIL SANDS Kate Beaton
• AN IMMENSE WORLD: HOW ANIMAL SENSES REVEAL THE HIDDEN REALMS AROUND US Ed Yong
• LIBERATION DAY George Saunders
• THE CANDY HOUSE Jennifer Egan
• AFTERLIVES Abdulrazak Gurnah