Kent State

Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio (Abrams Comic Arts, 2020; ISBN 9781683358619) addresses the 1970 Kent State shootings. The 288-page book, which is heavily researched and includes copious footnotes at the end, is a dramatic recreation of those four bloody days in 1970 that resulted in four students being shot and killed by Ohio National Guard troops. It profiles each of the four students who were killed, telling their stories through the days leading up to May 4th, using personal details gathered through interviews with friends and oral histories from the May 4th special collection and archives amongst other sources. It has won a number of accolades, including an Alex Award from the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) division of the American Library Association. and the 2021 Eisner Award for best reality-based work, the 2021 Ringo Award in the same category, and Derf's second Alex Award from the American Library Association.