Dasha Tolstikova is the author and illustrator of the graphic memoir A Year Without Mom, which was a Kirkus Best Middle-Grade Book of the Year, a USBBY Outstanding International Books selection, and received four starred reviews. Dasha has illustrated several picture books, including Violet and the Woof by Rebecca Grabill, Friend or Foe? by John Sobol and The Jacket by Kirsten Hall. Her illustrations have also appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the New Yorker. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. The Bad Chair is the first picture book Dasha has written and illustrated.

Deceptively simple, but with great narrative sophistication . . . Fascinating and heartfelt. - Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW

An absorbing graphic memoir. . . . Readers will wish the sequel were available instantly. - Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

Needs to be attentively appreciated and engagingly savored. Just as [Tolstikova's] text is candid and direct, so, too, her black-and-white-with-splashes-of-color line drawings exude simple charm and whimsy. - BookDragon

A perceptive story about change, aloneness, ambition and, ultimately, resilience. - New York Times

A quiet, moving, and contemplative story of growth. - Booklist

Told in quiet fragments, sewn together with ribbons of girlhood. - National Post

Moving and beautifully illustrated . . . in sparingly coloured and expressive drawings that invite readers to linger. - Winnipeg Free Press

A lovely portrayal in words and art of a year in the life of an engaging tween girl from the other side of the world. - School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

The author includes authentic details . . . and, with personality and sincerity, creates an accessible, truthful, and relatable record for readers of a different generation. - Horn Book Magazine, STARRED REVIEW

The excitement of meeting a teen actor, the agony of a crush, the pain of changed friendships — all this resonates cross-culturally. - The Toronto Star