Beautifully illustrated glimpses into a coming-of-age journey.
Award-winning Parisian artist and graphic novelist Bagieu shares vignettes from her life in this title translated from French.
The opening tale, “Why Don’t You Have a Cat? You Love Cats!” is the strongest, telling the story of a very small Pénélope and her sister’s desperation to have cats of their own, the surprise kittens that appear under the Christmas tree, and the subsequent giddy highs and heartbreaking lows of pet ownership. One especially poignant and humorously told story relates the carefree, passion-filled summer of 1999, right before Bagieu entered university, when she and her equally poorly informed boyfriend received a crash course in safe sex from a compassionate gynecologist. More serious topics—death, sexual assault, and public harassment by predatory men—are interspersed with lighter-hearted tales of struggling with the cold as an exchange student in London, trying to connect with a high school crush who plays in a rock band, and musing on the impact of receiving participation awards as consolation prizes. The stories, which vary dramatically in length and tone, are presented with little analysis or commentary, trusting readers to draw their own conclusions. Overall, they feel like reminiscences filtered through an adult perspective rather than stories written to speak directly to young people currently living through similar experiences. Bagieu’s skillful, digitally rendered art mimics the looseness of pencil sketches and has a whimsical, highly emotionally expressive feeling. Kane’s translation is seamless and natural sounding.
Beautifully illustrated glimpses into a coming-of-age journey. (content warning) (Graphic memoir. 15-adult)Pub Date: Oct. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9781250873736
Page Count: 144
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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