Informative reading for young people seeking creative ways to break the chains of social anxiety.
“Yes, and” your way out of social anxiety.
Part memoir, part introduction to the world of improv comedy, this graphic memoir follows illustrator Graudins from childhood through her young adult years. Graudins admired the confidence and camaraderie of the theater kids at her school, and although she attempted to join them, her social anxiety—represented as a devilish doppelgänger—stopped her from fully participating. This voice of self-doubt follows her throughout her academic career and is often represented only by black thought balloons that dominate panels with negative ruminations and fear. That artistic choice works well, as readers unfamiliar with anxiety will immediately understand the weight and all-consuming oppressive nature of the condition. After flirting with improv in college and being challenged by a therapist to be more proactive in addressing her anxiety, Graudins enrolled in beginners’ improv, and the narrative shifts from a traditional memoir to cover extensive information about improv. Readers who are interested in this art will find this a valuable and well-written introductory guide. Those who are more interested in other aspects of Graudins’ story may find the nuanced information about improv lessons tedious. The clean, appealing, cartoon-style art is particularly effective at showing improv exercises and expressing Graudins’ inner emotions.
Informative reading for young people seeking creative ways to break the chains of social anxiety. (author’s note, further reading, games) (Graphic nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-20823-1
Page Count: 240
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
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Skilled and graceful exploration of the soul of an astonishing human being.
Full-immersion journalist Kidder (Home Town, 1999, etc.) tries valiantly to keep up with a front-line, muddy-and-bloody general in the war against infectious disease in Haiti and elsewhere.
The author occasionally confesses to weariness in this gripping account—and why not? Paul Farmer, who has an M.D. and a Ph.D. from Harvard, appears to be almost preternaturally intelligent, productive, energetic, and devoted to his causes. So trotting alongside him up Haitian hills, through international airports and Siberian prisons and Cuban clinics, may be beyond the capacity of a mere mortal. Kidder begins with a swift account of his first meeting with Farmer in Haiti while working on a story about American soldiers, then describes his initial visit to the doctor’s clinic, where the journalist felt he’d “encountered a miracle.” Employing guile, grit, grins, and gifts from generous donors (especially Boston contractor Tom White), Farmer has created an oasis in Haiti where TB and AIDS meet their Waterloos. The doctor has an astonishing rapport with his patients and often travels by foot for hours over difficult terrain to treat them in their dwellings (“houses” would be far too grand a word). Kidder pauses to fill in Farmer’s amazing biography: his childhood in an eccentric family sounds like something from The Mosquito Coast; a love affair with Roald Dahl’s daughter ended amicably; his marriage to a Haitian anthropologist produced a daughter whom he sees infrequently thanks to his frenetic schedule. While studying at Duke and Harvard, Kidder writes, Farmer became obsessed with public health issues; even before he’d finished his degrees he was spending much of his time in Haiti establishing the clinic that would give him both immense personal satisfaction and unsurpassed credibility in the medical worlds he hopes to influence.
Skilled and graceful exploration of the soul of an astonishing human being.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2003
ISBN: 0-375-50616-0
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2003
A winner.
The trials of a high school basketball team trying to clinch the state title and the graphic novelist chronicling them.
The Dragons, Bishop O’Dowd High School’s basketball team, have a promising lineup of players united by the same goal. Backed by Coach Lou Richie, an alumnus himself, this could be the season the Oakland, California, private Catholic school breaks their record. While Yang (Team Avatar Tales, 2019, etc.), a math teacher and former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, is not particularly sporty, he is intrigued by the potential of this story and decides to focus his next graphic novel on the team’s ninth bid for the state championship. Yang seamlessly blends a portrait of the Dragons with the international history of basketball while also tying in his own career arc as a graphic novelist as he tries to balance family, teaching, and comics. Some panels directly address the creative process, such as those depicting an interaction between Yang and a Punjabi student regarding the way small visual details cue ethnicity in different ways. This creative combination of memoir and reportage elicits questions of storytelling, memory, and creative liberty as well as addressing issues of equity and race. The full-color illustrations are varied in layout, effectively conveying intense emotion and heart-stopping action on the court. Yang is Chinese American, Richie is black, and there is significant diversity among the team members.
A winner. (notes, bibliography) (Graphic nonfiction. 13-18)Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-62672-079-4
Page Count: 448
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
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