by Christine Mari Inzer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 7, 2014
An innocent’s voyage of self-discovery that artfully reveals a country few Americans know.
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Inzer, a teenage author-illustrator, delivers a charming tale of self-identity.
The author was born in 1997 in Japan and grew up there until 2003, when her American father and Japanese mother moved the family to the United States. During a solo trip home to the land of her birth in the summer of 2013, just prior to her 16th birthday, she gathered the content for what would become this slim graphic novel. The book’s title refers to Inzer’s “somewhat feeling half at home in both Japan and America.” In Japan, she stays with her grandmother, Baba, and her grandfather, Jiji; she also visits with other relatives, and goes to sites she hasn’t seen in a decade. Along the way, she gets reacquainted with old favorites; one example, drawn with loving care, is a domestic hamburger: “Besides my grandparents, the second greatest reunion I had in Japan was with a certain fast food chain you can’t find in America: Mos Burger, the love of my life.” She also sampled destinations she’d never visited before, such as Kyoto; her description of that city’s Rocks of Ryoanji offers an enjoyable example of her snarky style: “I think I should try to do some transcendental thinking/writing, being in one of Japan's most famous historical sights, but the camera clicks and tourists (I know, I know, I’m one) make it kind of hard to be enlightened.” Inzer’s best descriptions are of other people, such as an apprentice geisha that “will sort of acknowledge your presence and faintly smile and looks super pumped.” But although Inzer’s commentary is often revealing, it’s her winning illustrations (and to a lesser degree, her photos) that bring her version of modern-day Japan into focus—particularly her self-portraits, which effectively show her reactions to the places and people around her.
An innocent’s voyage of self-discovery that artfully reveals a country few Americans know.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2014
ISBN: 978-0990701408
Page Count: 102
Publisher: Naruhodo Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Alok Vaid-Menon ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 2, 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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More In The Series
by Shavone Charles ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
by Leo Baker ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
by Hannah Testa ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 13, 2020
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change.
Testa’s connection to and respect for nature compelled her to begin championing animal causes at the age of 10, and this desire to have an impact later propelled her to dedicate her life to fighting plastic pollution. Starting with the history of plastic and how it’s produced, Testa acknowledges the benefits of plastics for humanity but also the many ways it harms our planet. Instead of relying on recycling—which is both insufficient and ineffective—she urges readers to follow two additional R’s: “refuse” and “raise awareness.” Readers are encouraged to do their part, starting with small things like refusing to use plastic straws and water bottles and eventually working up to using their voices to influence business and policy change. In the process, she highlights other youth advocates working toward the same cause. Short chapters include personal examples, such as observations of plastic pollution in Mauritius, her maternal grandparents’ birthplace. Testa makes her case not only against plastic pollution, but also for the work she’s done, resulting in something of a college-admissions–essay tone. Nevertheless, the first-person accounts paired with science will have an impact on readers. Unfortunately, no sources are cited and the lack of backmatter is a missed opportunity.
Brief yet inspirational, this story will galvanize youth to use their voices for change. (Nonfiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22333-8
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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More In The Series
by Shavone Charles ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
by Leo Baker ; illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky
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