Winner of a 2008 Xeric Grant, the graphic-novel memoir Spot 12 is the story of a mother’s journey through the complicated birth and subsequent hospitalization of her infant daughter. One event leads to another amid layered family relationships, weaving together past and present, the internal and external, the medical and the mystical. Out of darkness, humor and self-revelation, Spot 12 is a labor of love and a testament to healing.
 
The high contrast drawings in Spot 12 are spare and evocative, as is the storytelling. All images are original, with hand-lettered text by the author. Book design by Josue Menjivar and Fresh Brewed Illustration www.freshbrewedillustration.com.
Spot 12 is available in soft-cover.
 
 
 
                                      Author Biography
 
Jenny Jaeckel was born in 1971 and grew up in some of Northern California’s hippie communes. Her first drawing as a toddler was of a face, on a chalk board. She has begun work on her second graphic novel memoir, Siberiak, the story of American and Soviet teenagers together on a raft on Siberia’s Ob River. Jenny currently resides in Vancouver, BC with her husband and daughter.
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“I'm struck again by how powerful a story this is. Asa's story [Spot 12] is the stuff of blazing humanity and love. Wow.” --Brett Warnock, Publisher at Top Shelf Productions, Portland, Oregon
   Excerpts from the beginning of Spot 12 and comments from readers:  
 
          
"I spent the day reading, then re-reading, maybe the best graphic novel I've ever read."
 --Amanda Terry, Fremont, California
 
 
 
 
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"I bought three copies; one for myself, one for a friend and one for the lending library that I have for doula and Birthing From Within clients.  I read it lying on my back in the grass of my front yard, laughing, crying, absorbing. It's an incredible story told with sensitivity and arresting honesty."
--Aimée Sturley, Adar Birth Services, Vancouver, British Columbia
 
“Jenny’s memoir is both a striking testimony to the love for her daughter and a restorative cleanse of the most challenging and unimaginable time of her life.  The haunting graphics are the perfect companion piece to an astonishing story of love, strength and courage.  It is simply a memorable and tender work of art.” –Colleen Frary, Blogger, “The Sky is Falling In”, Seattle, Washington