A candid rumination on cultural heritage, connection, and determined individuality.
The unexpected effects of language on cultural identity come into focus in this beguiling graphic memoir.
It began in Spanish class, where 13-year-old Marcela learned she possessed an advantage over her classmates due to language exposure at home with her Colombian father and Spanish-speaking American mother. Grammatical rules threw the teen for a loop, however. Under the tutelage of her kind maestra, Doña Maribel, Marcela picked up the intricacies of sentence formations and conjugations in Spanish. Connecting the initiation of her formal education in Spanish with the informal lessons gleaned at home in Michigan and during rare family trips to Colombia, the author connects various eye-opening threads exploring the ways that language can shape—and even inhibit—one’s identity development, from examples set forth by “unofficial teachers”—street vendors and a foul-mouthed soccer-watching uncle—to experiences in which others questioned her identity. Amid these shared encounters, the author circles back to familia, which formed the roots of her eventual desire to connect with her Colombian relatives and embrace Spanish in the classroom and abroad in Spain. Selfhood remains ever changing throughout her reflections: “What is identity, anyways? It’s constantly changing, and being a heritage speaker means I inhabit different cultural spaces and am always negotiating in-betweenness.” Meanwhile, the provocative black-and-white artwork—contributed by the author’s brother—blends kaleidoscopic visuals with an impish sense of humor.
A candid rumination on cultural heritage, connection, and determined individuality. (Graphic memoir. 12-18)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2024
ISBN: 9780814259153
Page Count: 70
Publisher: Mad Creek/Ohio State Univ. Press
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2024
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 powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today.
A beautifully heart-wrenching graphic-novel adaptation of actor and activist Takei’s (Lions and Tigers and Bears, 2013, etc.) childhood experience of incarceration in a World War II camp for Japanese Americans.
Takei had not yet started school when he, his parents, and his younger siblings were forced to leave their home and report to the Santa Anita Racetrack for “processing and removal” due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066. The creators smoothly and cleverly embed the historical context within which Takei’s family’s story takes place, allowing readers to simultaneously experience the daily humiliations that they suffered in the camps while providing readers with a broader understanding of the federal legislation, lawsuits, and actions which led to and maintained this injustice. The heroes who fought against this and provided support to and within the Japanese American community, such as Fred Korematsu, the 442nd Regiment, Herbert Nicholson, and the ACLU’s Wayne Collins, are also highlighted, but the focus always remains on the many sacrifices that Takei’s parents made to ensure the safety and survival of their family while shielding their children from knowing the depths of the hatred they faced and danger they were in. The creators also highlight the dangerous parallels between the hate speech, stereotyping, and legislation used against Japanese Americans and the trajectory of current events. Delicate grayscale illustrations effectively convey the intense emotions and the stark living conditions.
A powerful reminder of a history that is all too timely today. (Graphic memoir. 14-adult)Pub Date: July 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-60309-450-4
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Top Shelf Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2019
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