The Short Years

“The Days are Long but the Years are Short.” – A parent whose kids are grown.

After her highly acclaimed graphic memoirs about travelling the north, McCreesh turns her uncompromising lens to the domestic everyday work of parenting three small children. Combining gag humour and individually moving comics McCreesh gives an insiders perspective over seven years. There’s a fair amount of talk about death, as well as love and music and art, there’s heartbreak about family friends moving away, there’s some talk of gender, and there are plenty of those general existential questions that kids ponder so well. More than that though, there’s something deeper that comes from these comics spanning so many years. The kids are simultaneously changing AND remaining themselves, as their personalities develop and become more defined. The family dynamics evolve. They lurch around like the exhausted millennial parents that they are, navigating the simultaneous intense love and extreme annoyance that comes with living with small kids. A good mix of fuzzies, feelings, and laugh-out-loud humour, all of which confirm that these years are indeed short – and very long.

“The Short Years by Alison McCreesh took me back to my own short years when For Better or For Worse helped me to survive parenthood and my own evolving sense of self. Alison’s “New Yorker” style of drawing and her rich, poignant wit make her book a must-read for all who are in the throes of managing a contemporary family—and for those of us who (with relief) are looking back!” — Lynn Johnston

“I love this book! I wish I took better notes raising my kid. Luckily I have this marvelous book to remind me of how delightful and funny raising kids is.” —Tom Hart

About the Author

Over the past fifteen years, Alison McCreesh has extensively travelled around the Arctic and sub-Arctic and contemporary day-to-day life in the North is a theme that carries through her creative work. Alison currently lives in Yellowknife where she creates comics and illustrations surrounded by her two dogs and three small children. Alison’s past books include the award-winning graphic novel Ramshackle: A Yellowknife Story, as well as the travelogue Norths, Two Suitcases and a Stroller around the Circumpolar World. Her latest graphic memoir Degrees of Separation: A Decade North of 60 was nominated for an Eisner Award.

Publication Details

ISBN 9781772621211
200 pages, b&w
Trade paperback
5.5 x 7.5 inches
May 2026