100 books like Coyote Doggirl

The immediacy of Whit Taylor’s work and its accessible, urgent symbology is especially poignant in this diary of her Montana road trip with her husband.

Diary comics are one of my favorite genres of graphic storytelling for reasons exemplified here: you are engaging with Whit’s experience with this sprawling, beautiful land and its brutal history alongside her. Big sky, to her pen, to your eyes. It’s an intimate experience, one that comics do best.

The iyashikei (literally ‘healing’) genre of manga and anime concerns itself mainly with deeply character-driven narratives where nothing much happens. Except, of course, the simple living of life is beautiful, often the sweet spot where everything happens, and the creators behind this work know it.

This book is a pinnacle of that genre, a gorgeously illustrated meditation on the beauty of camping, campfire cooking, and the landscapes of Japan, as seen through the eyes of a thoughtful, funny group of high school girls. 

Eleanor Davis’s line is one of my favorites anywhere in comics. She gets so much movement and flow in the width and depth of her inkwork. That movement is at some of its finest here, chronicling her glorious, arduous bike ride from Arizona to Georgia.

You are arrested by her work immediately, rooting for her and the folks she encounters throughout the journey, all rendered with a nib’s organic caress, giving them and the entire book a rooted, organic, alive feel. The road laid out before you, shimmering with possibility. 

Luke Healey’s highly graphic, wonderfully expressive cartooning style is especially powerful in this memoir of his time hiking the Pacific Coast Trail. Through-hiking the PCH is an obvious physical feat in any circumstance, but it’s a deeply taxing mental one, and Luke’s reflection on his trip compels you forward.

You are next to him on the trail, begging the question repeatedly: how can we bear moving forward? How can we do this, day after day? You feel right there as Luke laces up his boots, takes a breath, and walks on. 

My good friend Ray Coppinger, who died in 2017 at age 80, was known as the world’s leading scientific expert on the behavior of dogs. As well as writing some of the most important scholarly works on dog behavior, he also penned this slim volume - the hands-down funniest book about the dog-human relationship. Ray could act impatient when people got mushy about their dogs, but in this small gem he reveals that he understood the emotional bond between people and dogs at a very deep level. 

As a lifelong doodler and a dog lover, I am a fan of James Thurber’s simple lines that say a lot and his witty whimsical way with words. Thurber was a celebrated writer and cartoonist—he died in 1961—who had a wry take on human nature and our idiosyncrasies. While much of his work feels dated now, in my opinion, his dog doodles are evergreen.

I’ve been a fan of Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and author Dave Barry for decades, and his Lessons From Lucy book surprised me — not because it’s hilarious (of course it is!), but because it’s so profoundly moving. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since I read it. Here’s what inspired the book: When Barry turned 70, he reflected on how unhappy he was about aging — in stark contrast with his blissed-out senior dog, Lucy. Barry noticed that Lucy was always ready for fun new adventures, eager to make new friends, and able to live in the moment. In this gem of a book, Barry explores the realities of the human condition and zeroes in on the real keys to contentment in life, all thanks to the love of a dog. 

This graphic novel isn't just funny and odd it's pure genius.

The entire story is written in palindrome I guess that's why they call it a 'palin-drama'! It's all about this boy called Otto who goes looking for his lost pet Pip.

The places he goes and the weird folks he meets are very absurd and delightful. This book is gold.

Dav Pilkey’s Dogman series is full of silly humor that we all love to laugh and groan at.

The idea of a dog and a policeman being ‘Frankensteined’ together to create the ultimate crime fighter is something that young readers completely accept without any queasy afterthought. While the rest of us might squirm at the idea of stitching together a dog’s head on a headless policeman, Dav Pilkey manages to make the grotesque incredibly funny and heartwarming.

The illustrations are full of movement and humor and young readers will love the Flip-o-rama section which includes interactive pages where you get to make the drawings come to life by flipping the pages back and front. Young readers get more than just a reading experience from this series.

I love the story of these best friends who, in trying to add something new to their lives, end up learning that the grass isn't always greener in someone else's yard!

The rhyme and meter are perfect, which makes it fun to read aloud, and the humor is subtle and sweet! Matthew Cordell's illustrations of Ollie and Claire are equally as sweet and matches the text perfectly!