Calamity Before Jane

“Van Sciver’s artwork, drawn in India ink and colored digitally, is well illustrated and brings the narrative to life visually, reflecting the ‘comics even teachers can love’ approach of TOON Graphics.”—School Library Journal

“Van Sciver’s successful graphic nonfiction formula sends another tall tale packing. An author’s note preempts the narrative with essential historical context on harmful stereotypes and caricatures of Lakota people. Backmatter from contemporary Indigenous scholar and professor Dr. Susana Geliga (Sicangu Lakota and Boriken Taino) expands this context even further to truly center Indigenous perspectives against the mythic ‘Wild American West’… Photographs add authenticity to the lore, while Jane’s unreliability as a narrator and figure is brought into question and deliciously muddies the truth. Engaging and eye-opening.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Calamity Before Jane gives a sense of the mystique of the historical figure while also pointing out the falsehoods that made her a legend.”—Foreword Reviews

“Before Calamity Jane became an icon of the Wild West, she was Martha Jane Canary (1852–1903), a teen learning how to survive on her own, an experience that Van Sciver chronicles in this brief but riveting graphic novel narrated by a fictionalized version of the subject. Gritty illustrations and ample 19th-century vernacular render a thought-provoking portrait of the rapidly changing era, across which romanticized depictions of the American West are juxtaposed with the harsh, sometimes unpleasant reality Jane endured.”—Publishers Weekly

“This smooth introduction to one component of the U.S. government’s betrayal of Native Americans will also remind readers that a myth’s entertainment value is by no means an indication of its validity.”—Booklist