Good Reads & Views

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
YA Nonfiction

What it’s about: “This is not a history book,” Reynolds begins. He reworks Kendi’s book Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America for a young adult audience, laying out the history of racism in America from its beginnings to the present in a personal, conversational way that is by no means dry or dull (even though it is a history book!). Jason Reynolds also reads the audiobook.

Why you should read it: Jason Reynolds initially balked at rewriting Kendi’s book, but Kendi eventually talked him into it. This book offers a compelling and eye-opening look at how racism has shaped the United States. Dr. Kendi’s original book is a great choice for a deeper delve into the topic for adults, but this “remix” is Reynolds’ take on the subject material to make it livelier and more accessible for a younger audience.

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Photographic: The Life of Graciela Iturbide by Isabel Quintero
YA Nonfiction

What it’s about: Haunting. Universal. Mystical. Stark. Cryptic. Monumental. Intimate. Graciela Iturbide’s photographs capture many sides of Mexican life. This graphic novel examines her professional life through the stories around some of her iconic photographs. Some of the startling images include a girl dressed in a white First Communion dress and a skull mask, a self-portrait of Iturbide holding dead birds up to her eyes, a woman wearing iguanas on her head like a gorgon, and shots from Freida Kahlo’s newly reopened bathroom (50 years after her death) showing the harnesses and other equipment she used to deal with her pain.

Why you should read it: The graphic novel gives Iturbide’s reminiscences as well as commentary about her works, accompanied by the photographs as well as drawn interpretations of her work. I did not know Iturbide’s work before, but this book inspired me to seek out her website and find out more.

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Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince
YA Nonfiction

What it’s about: Growing up in the gender stereotype “middle” of American society, Liz was not a girlie girl but also not interested in being a boy. She found friendship and romance and always remained true to herself.

Why you might like it: A fresh and humorous perspective on coming of age in a society that puts many expectations on boys and girls to fit into a mold.

You might also like: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel, Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani 

The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candice Fleming
YA Nonfiction

What it’s about: While steeped in true events, the Family Romanov reads more like a novel than a non-fiction. Follow the imperial family through the glamor and mystical intrigue of their royal lives through what led them to their gruesome fall from power. This text is full of fascinating photographs and thought-provoking excerpts that both humanize and vilify the extravagant imperial household.

Awards: Award winning Young Adult Nonfiction with 21 honors in 2014.

 

Yvain, The Knight of the Lion by M. T. Anderson
YA Fiction

In the days of knights and castles, Yvain is a swashbuckling knight of King Arthur’s Round Table who runs into trouble when he breaks a promise to his wife. A ferocious lion is his sidekick. He is suicidal until he finds a damsel in distress who gives him a cause that gives his life meaning. This graphic novel takes the famous medieval classic and turns it into a reader-friendly, if gory, story. This is an adaptation of Chrétien de Troyes’s 13th century work that greatly defined the developing fantasy genre known as “romance,” which is not today’s meaning of romance in literature. You have here all the elements of medieval romance: swordplay, courtly love (and the obligatory cruel lady), chivalry, knights errant, ladies in need of rescue, tournaments, adventure, horses. Lots of horses. And a lion. Imagine Medieval Times® with a more complicated, drawn out plot.

Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction with illustrations by David Aja, Javier Pulido and Alan Davis
YA Nonfiction

Each chapter of this graphic novel begins with Hawkeye in a life-threatening situation with his voice saying, “This looks bad.” Despite the fact that this Avenger is more mortal than most, he manages to pull through, much like a private eye in a noir pulp novel. I wasn’t aware of Hawkeye’s back story before this book (which takes place after the Battle of New York featured in “The Avengers” movie) but was still able to follow the story for the most part. It’s gritty, it’s violent and it’s good.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
YA Nonfiction

I loved Marjane's recounting of her life in Iran as the Shah was deposed and she discovered her own family's place in the puzzle of her country. Her black and white drawings are wonderful, especially when they became stylized like a design on the floor of a mosque. And her sense of humor helped me see her as a girl rather than a symbol. (I especially liked when she and her classmates played games with the veils they were ordered to wear, because they had no idea why they had to wear them.)

The book can also be heartwrenching, as when Marjane's classmate talks about the emptiness after her father's death, Marjane's realization that a neighbor's family was blown up during a bombing, and her struggles after her uncle is tortured and killed. We see young Marji grow from a young girl with hopes of being a prophet into a young woman who must leave her country to save her spirit.

Ghost World by Daniel Clowes
YA Nonfiction

Becky and Enid, fresh out of high school, spend their summer bumming around town and wondering where their lives will take them in this cult classic graphic novel. Trapped somewhere between longing and uncertainty, the girls’ lives are a snapshot of that uncomfortable period between childhood and adulthood. Nothing really quite fits the way it used to, including their relationship with one another. Originally serialized in the Clowes’ comic book Eightball, Ghost World has also been made into a movie starring Thora Birch and Scarlett Johansson.

Aya by Marguerite Abouet and Clement Oubrerie
YA Nonfiction

Aya lives in a less prosperous town in Ivory Coast during the 1970s renaissance there, with chickens in the street and a doily on the TV. Her friends go out dancing and meet their boyfriends for secret rendezvous at the “Thousand Star Motel,” but Aya has her heart set on going into medicine, so she studies instead. When one friend becomes pregnant by a man she thinks is the other’s boyfriend, the two have to get married. I loved this graphic novel for portraying a little-seen side of African life in its rich background images and for its humor.

The Pregnancy Project by Gaby Rodriguez
YA Nonfiction

Gaby Rodriguez’s mother got pregnant at 14 and had a difficult life as a result, and many of her siblings became parents in their teens, as well. When it came time to do her senior project in high school, Gaby reflected on her family’s experience and decided to look at perceptions of teen moms by faking her own pregnancy and chronicling the reaction in a journal. (She did tell her mother, her boyfriend, and one friend as well as some school officials.) The results were eye-opening, and Gaby became an international news sensation as a result. This is a slim volume, yet it's got an important message about believing you can do anything and not letting others’ judgments limit you.