218 Saint Helens Avenue
Tacoma, WA 98402
USA
Biographies can be an acquired taste, but South Sound native Colleen Frakes has drawn on her own experience—quite literally–to recount her origin story. This mild-mannered librarian by day and cartoonist at large has created a graphic novel recounting her life as one of a handful of Washingtonians ever to live on the infamous McNeil island.
Never been to McNeil? Well, you probably wouldn’t have; not unless you were incarcerated between 1875 and 2011. The island, roughly 6.5 miles of land south of the islands Fox and Anderson, is west of the mainland and accessible only by boat or by plane.
America’s last and largest island prison closed in 2011, but until that time, it was home not only to inmates and wildlife (McNeil is also an active nature preserve) but also to a small, close-knit community. Residents of McNeil consisted almost entirely of prison personnel and their families, roughly fifty in all. Colleen Frakes was counted among their number.
This Ignatz award recipient recounts her peculiar—and yet familiar—experiences growing up in this company town in Prison Island. An expansion on her already successful mini-comic Island Brat, Prison Island takes a wistful and genuine look at a piece of history as a matter of course. Colleen attended school, went out after school and explored like every teen, but her story has a small town twist with a dash of zany detail.
This book is a must-read for lovers of history, those who appreciate coming-of-age tales and anyone who loves artfully composed comics. With panels that recall the polished, minimalist sketches of The New Yorker, this relatively short read is accessible, witty and charming.
