Powerful text and images honor young people’s suffering and strength.
A documentary-style account dramatizes the situations of many teen asylum seekers.
Spare, striking, black-and-white illustrations portray five teens fleeing dangerous situations and making hazardous journeys to the U.S. Bookish Guatemalan Vilma, 13, was beaten and sexually abused by her father. Burdened with guilt for speaking up and precipitating the flight of her mother and younger sister too, she struggles with depression and self-harm but gets therapy and an education in the Chicago area. At 12, Rosa from Honduras worked to support her family; at 16, her narco boyfriend threatens her, and after reaching the U.S., she learns that she is HIV-positive. In El Salvador, Ricardo, 17, and his sister, Karen, 13, are preyed upon by gangs. A coyote drops them in the desert, and they’re picked up by border patrol. But Ricardo ages out of the U.S. facility for minors and is deported. Fanta, a girl from Guinea, underwent female genital mutilation and was married at 12 to an abusive 40-year-old man. At 16, she left her children with her mother, embarking on a challenging journey to the U.S., where she entered inhospitable foster homes. Carefully researched composites, these harrowing accounts are representative of cases seen by the Safe Passage Project, which provides pro bono legal support to young people like these. This fast-paced, relatable work is informative and enlightening, treating its subjects with respect.
Powerful text and images honor young people’s suffering and strength. (author’s note, notes, glossary, further reading, study guide questions) (Graphic nonfiction. 15-adult)Pub Date: June 20, 2023
ISBN: 9781951491208
Page Count: 168
Publisher: Street Noise Books
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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 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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