PARAKEET GN

(W/A) Espe. An account in graphic novel format* based on the author's own experiences* of a boy coping with his mother' suffering from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Bastien is eight years old* and his mother is ill. She often has what his father and grandparents call "episodes." She screams and fights* scratches and spits* and has to be carted away to specialized clinics for frequent treatments. Bastien doesn't like it when she goes* because when she comes home* she isn't the same. She has no feelings* no desires* and not much interest in him* and he imagines her as a comic-book heroine* like Jean Grey* who may become Dark Phoenix and explode in a superhuman fury at any moment.