Tin House Books

A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings Tin House Books

During Will Betke-Brunswick's sophomore year of college, their beloved mother, Elizabeth, is diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. They only have ten more months together, documented in fully illustrated pages. But as we follow Will and their mom through chemo and hospital visits, their time together is buoyed by laughter, jigsaw puzzles, modern art, and vegan BLTs. Best of all: the family is drawn as penguins and their friends are cast as a menagerie of birds. Together, they navigate uniquely human challenges: preparing for math exams, negotiating familial tension, and coming out as trans and nonbinary in between chemo appointments and bedside chats with their mom.

In evocative two-color illustrations, A Pros and Cons List for Strong Feelings is an act of loving others and loving oneself, offering a story of coming-of-age, illness, death, and life that announces the arrival of a talented debut storyteller in Will Betke-Brunswick. At its heart, Will's story is a celebration of a mother-child relationship filled with unconditional devotion, humor, care, and openness.