In 'Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands,' Kate Beaton starkly narrates her personal journey through Alberta's oil rush—a landscape fraught with physical and emotional hardships. This poignant graphic narrative maps out Beaton's time in Fort McMurray, where she, like many other East Coasters, seeks employment to pay off student loans. Amid colossal machinery and a breathtaking backdrop of wildlife and Northern Lights, Beaton's account pivots between her struggle as one of the few women in a male-dominated culture and the collective trauma simmering beneath the surface. This Eisner Award-winning memoir not only showcases Beaton's vivid artistry but also delivers an untold Canadian story, one that confronts the paradox of a nation simultaneously cherishing and exploiting its natural and human resources.