I was so excited to have the opportunity to get a first look at the newest work by the creator of March. The illustrations are as captivating and nuanced as one would expect. At times, truth and poignancy seem to be burned into the pages, and the autobiographical nature of this work, the fact that Powell is wrestling with issues in real time with his own family, creates an intimate tone. For me, the flaw is in the absolute didacticism that seems to overtake more emotional components. There is too much “telling” which doesn’t leave room for enough “showing.” It is unfortunate. I wanted to be swept away, and in the end I agreed with much of it, but have only a few episodes rather than the complete work about which to feel impassioned.

Thank you to Nate Powell, Abrams ComicArts, and NetGalley for an Advance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

{Digital copy provided by NetGalley and Abrams Books}


This is an illustrated essay collection focused on the author’s experience of the current political and societal events especially through the eyes of his children. I loved the art in this, very expressive and bold! As with any collection there were essays that connected more with me than others, but I appreciated how unafraid the author is in tackling some big issues with his kids throughout. Loved the inclusion of behind the scenes content in this edition as well!

*Disclaimer: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Nate Powell’s ‘March’ has been on my radar for a few years now but this is the first of his works that I’ve picked up. I’m happy to say that this was a powerful work, showing how evil slips into society and the power that each of us have to protest.

Powell tackles themes of racism, white supremacy and the rise of far right groups in the United States, whilst opening up about how he speaks to his young daughters about Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency and the importance of introducing children to tough topics. I felt throughout that Nate Powell illustrated the hopelessness, anger and glimmers of positivity perfectly. Some of these essays were created in 2020 and so the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests of last summer are discussed.

Overall I think that this book perfectly captures the emotions of seeing injustice around you and inspires the reader to stand up to those who feel emboldened to perpetuate that injustice.

4 out of 5 stars!

Save It For Later is a graphic memoir of essays that address how we teach our children about injustice, inequity, and all the other things messed up about the world we are raising them in. It is written by Nate Powell, the artist who worked on March, and about his experiences as a white man learning about institutional racism. It starts with the 2016 election of Donald Trump and moves both forward to the COVID pandemic and backward to the author's childhood, covering topics like how the alt-right have adopted paramilitary aesthetics as a dogwhistle to their cause, to the death of John Lewis, to the anxiety of witnessing a world that might be changing for the worst instead of better. I feel like the April release date is an interesting choice, we will be living in an entirely different world by then (one can hope), and I bet Nate Powell had some poignant things to say about the Capitol insurrection that didn't get to make it into the book.

Some of the dialogue with his daughter felt forced and awkward (and perhaps not the most age-appropriate), and I didn't really understand the artistic decision to make his daughter into a unicorn, but the book is still an important call to action that white Americans acknowledge our privilege and not be afraid to confront our own biases (in fact, Nate argues, we should welcome those confrontations as opportunities to learn and grow). I would typically prefer to read texts like this from voices of color, but I do think Nate is able to offer the perspective of being a white ally with the rare self-aware understanding that one day, he hopes to be able to raise his children well enough that the next generation will be even more progressive and be able to call him out on things (and the goal to listen and change rather than wallow in defensiveness or fragility when that time comes).

Note: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not compensated in any other fashion for the review and the opinions reflected below are entirely my own. Special thanks to the publisher and author for providing the copy.

From the artist on March Save It For Later is an anthology of illustrated essays. There are seven essays all around the Trump administration. It begins the night of the election and is a series of reflections on what is happening.

Right away you know this is going to be an emotional read. I was not ready to see John Lewis 1940-2020. I read review copies on my phone and this book was super hard to read that way. I know I missed parts since there were pages of text that were too small to read. I plan on checking it out again after publication on 4/6 because this book had a lot of potential and I am curious.

For now 3 stars, but I really feel like this will be updated once I can read all of the book.

I'm not a parent but so much of this book rang true for me. powell did a great job of really capturing the feeling of what it's like to live right now, but never gives up a sense of hope and optimism. I'm missing that a lot in current activist movements, so it was genuinely inspiring to read. the art was beautiful, but I did find the font a little hard to read. overall I really liked that even though he was optimistic, he didn't shy away from criticizing the systems in our country that uphold fascism and evil, even if those systems are the US military and police. I wish my parents had raised me to show up like this.

This was a really interesting graphic novel. I liked it for a few reasons. It was raw and real and pointed fingers while being blunt and very much “this is where we fail”. I loved the calling in and calling out of white people and our failings in regards to race, class, sex, gender, environment, etc. I thought the children pictured as animals was really an interesting choice... it sort of separated them from the adults and created this whimsical possibility around who they can be and how they can change. Will definitely be passing this recommendation on to others.

I have enjoyed Nate Powell's work for years, from his earlier stories to the successful March series with Congressman John Lewis. What has emerged in the past few years in Powell's work is a strong sense of advocacy and an orientation to social justice.

Save It for Later is a visual reminder of the importance of this work, a call for citizenship in graphic novel format, and a stunning example of well-designed illustration and storytelling. I will continue to enjoy Powell's work and appreciate what this author/artist does all the more for this attention to the world around us.

Highly recommended reading.

Save It For Later is an amazingly illustrated reminder that standing up for civil rights has never been more important during the Trump (and now post-Trump) America. Nate Powell frames his discusion about equal rights as a series of conversations between himself and his daughter before and after trump was elected. Informing his daughter about prejudice, unfair treatment and historical ideologies that harm everyone's way of life. I really enjoyed the artwork. It was fascinating how Nate desperately picks apart a vision of an regressive Trump fuelled America that gives white supremacy its voice back. Taking each element and showing his daughter, and the reader, the seriousness of the concequences of putting such a voalitile leader in that position. The fact that Nate is talking to his child does unfortunately sometimes come across as patronising and condescending, like he feels the need to spell it out slowly to the reader that racism is bad. Overall I definitely feel Save It For Later is an important read that reminded me, as a father myself, to continue cultivating open and accepting ideals within my own home so that my children can continue to help society grow.

Excellent, expressive artwork and thought-provoking text combine to provide a window into the lives of a young family trying to teach their children to be responsible and compassionate throughout Trump's insane reign of callous disdain and fear-mongering. The author was one of the collaborators with the great John Lewis on the March trilogy of graphic novels. This is not at that level of master work, but it is certainly worth reading, to get someone else's perspective on the shared reality of the past four years.

This was a difficult read, but only because there was so much truth and heartache. Nate Powell takes the readers through his thoughts and feelings surrounding the 2016 election and the rise of expressing hate in the United States. He is unapologetic as he expresses his understandings of the world. There are numerous sections to the comic that occasionally feel disjointed and almost like a rant. Still, this is a worthwhile read and one to be consumed with an open mind.

As someone with small ones in my life seeing how others have approached explaining the state of the world to them. These essays were incredibly moving and had some amazing points.
This book at it's core about being an activist at your level of ability and it's honestly beautiful.
I must say that I think this could have been way more impactful before the election. But I'm intrigued to come back in April to see if this book has a different impact.

This book was my first experience reading something that Nate Powell had worked on, and I'm sorry to say I'd never heard of March, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this read. I'd never read a graphic novel that was trying to present essay work before, and didn't know how such a thing would work, especially given the nature of the content that Powell was going to be tackling.

Save It For Later has several sections, each of which tackles a different subject, yet they all manage to feel connected, like they're tackling smaller parts of the bigger whole, because they're all talking in some way about the changing nature of the world; especially the United States over the last several years.

It may seem an extreme thing to say to some, and I could get a bit of backlash for saying this, but as someone who is outside the US watching what's been happening in the country over the last few years, it's a country that has become more and more right wing. The US is a place that I sadly now associate with hatred and violence, a place where the loud and the angry feel free reign to do and say whatever they like, where minorities are a constant target. This book focuses on a lot of these ideas, on the rise of open displays of fascist iconography, on the militarisation of the police and those who want to imitate the military to feel big, on the injustices taking place.

The book doesn't just talk about these things in an abstract, however, but many of these points are painted through the experiences of Powell himself, how it touched and affected him. He talks about reassuring his young daughter that 'the bad man' would never win, that she would wake up the next morning to the first female president, then having to break the news to her that a bully was in the White House. He tells readers how he taught her about racial inequality as a child, even though it was something that she would never have to face, and how important it is to try and do the right thing, to stand up for those who needed help.

These personal stories help to ground conversations that could otherwise feel too big and too nebulous, it helps readers to see how these wider issues intersect with their lives, especially if they're, like Powell, not the obvious targets of hate and oppression. The book acknowledges that as a straight white man he will never truly know how it feels to be targeted for your race, religion, or sexuality to name just a few, yet how it still changes the world he lives in. Powell shows readers that inaction doesn't help, it doesn't do anything to change things, and that even if you don;t feel that you're the target of right wing hate it will still make your world a worse place, so you have to do something about it.

There's a message in this book, about how doing something, anything, to help and try and make a change is a good thing. Whether it's raising awareness, volunteering, or marching in protest, it's everyone's duty to try and do something so that we can have a fair and just world; one that people won't be ashamed to leave to their children.

I was expecting the book to leave me feeling depressed, to talk about these awful issues and reinforce how hopeless things seem. Instead, it left me feeling a spark of hope, hope that even if things seem bad, not everyone is okay with that. Things already seem like they're getting better, but then I'm writing this review a few weeks after the 2020 election, so I honestly don't know if hope is still winning, or if Trump has instigated a full violent civil war to keep the presidency. I hope that that's not what's happened in the months since, and I hope that this is the beginning of decent change to make the world a better place.

This is a difficult graphic novel, both for it's gut punching truth and bleak outlook. While all of the comic essays focus on the last four years there are brief detours into the author's 1980s and 1990s childhood in the Deep South. Powell occasionally reckons with the privilege he has as a white heterosexual man of means, but there are times he could have dug deeper or toned down the occasional instance of what feels like performative personal politics. I suspect this work will win awards and appeal among white readers, but I'm not sure how it will be received by BIPOC comic/graphic novel fans.