A positive, highly personal addition to the body of LGBTQ+ stories.
Criswell’s debut graphic novel blends memoir with minibiographies of global LGBTQ+ changemakers.
Rather than attempting a comprehensive history, the illustrated biographical sketches provide a well-researched, if slightly disjointed, catalog of 10 queer people the author finds especially inspirational. This broad selection offers a starting place for readers seeking meaningful connections with the past. As White, nonbinary college student Criswell wanders around San Antonio, Texas, they unpack the complexities of Southern identity and begin to research, draw, and discuss significant icons with friends. Accompanying them on this journey, readers meet history-makers who are often overlooked by mainstream U.S. sources—people who broaden Criswell’s understanding of the difficulties facing those who have fought for LGBTQ+ justice around the world. This approach effectively anchors contemporary life to these influencers. At times the transitions and interjections are a bit stiff, but what is lacking in flow is countered by Criswell’s crisp drawings and eye for details. The choice of subjects reflects diverse perspectives—Nancy Cárdenas, Ifti Nasim, We’wha, and Dr. Pauli Murray, among others—and the biographies address how intersectional identities ground the subjects’ experiences of injustice. As this is a narrative of individual awakening and learning, the framing of the narrator’s reactions to their discoveries sometimes feels naïve, and readers may wish Criswell included more reflection on aspects of their own identity. The tight scope and clear, sequential illustrations will appeal to many who are seeking a window into LGBTQ+ histories.
A positive, highly personal addition to the body of LGBTQ+ stories. (glossary, further reading, resources) (Graphic nonfiction. 13-18)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-951491-07-9
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Street Noise Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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 truth-is-stranger-than-fiction story about a lost soul finding her way.
Navigating high school is hard enough, let alone when your parents are CIA spies.
In this graphic memoir, U.S. citizen Glock shares the remarkable story of a childhood spent moving from country to country; abiding by strange, secretive rules; and the mystery of her parents’ occupations. By the time she reaches high school in an unspecified Central American nation—the sixth country she’s lived in—she’s begun to feel the weight of isolation and secrecy. After stealing a peek at a letter home to her parents from her older sister, who is attending college in the States, the pieces begin to fall into place. Normal teenage exploration and risk-taking, such as sneaking out to parties and flirtations with boys, feel different when you live and go to school behind locked gates and kidnapping is a real risk. This story, which was vetted by the CIA, follows the author from childhood to her eventual return to a home country that in many ways feels foreign. It considers the emotional impact of familial secrets and growing up between cultures. The soft illustrations in a palette of grays and peaches lend a nostalgic air, and Glock’s expressive faces speak volumes. This is a quiet, contemplative story that will leave readers yearning to know more and wondering what intriguing details were, of necessity, edited out. Glock and many classmates at her American school read as White; other characters are Central American locals.
A truth-is-stranger-than-fiction story about a lost soul finding her way. (Graphic memoir. 13-18)Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-45898-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
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