Displacement

Displacement is a graphic novel about the internment of the Japanese in America during WWII.  I have read 2 other comics on this subject and they all gave the same information. In this story our heroine Kiku is on vacation in San Francisco where her family is from. The displacements begin when she magically finds herself transported back to the 1940s when her grandmother Ernestina was forced to relocate to an internment camp. Living alongside her young grandmother and other Japanese-American citizens in internment camps, Kiku gets the education she never received in history class. She witnesses the lives of Japanese-Americans who were denied their civil liberties and suffered greatly, but managed to cultivate community and commit acts of resistance in order to survive.

What separates this account of the tragedy from others is the illustration. I like that the comic strips were larger, with 4 to a page. It made the dialogue much larger for me to be able to read on a cell phone. When reading other comics on my phone, I have to enlarge the page in order to be able to read. Then I have to reduce the page in order to turn the page. Author Kiku Hughes drew all the illustrations. This is her first graphic novel and I am very impressed with both her ability to tell a story and her drawing skill.

Hughes makes many insightful quotes in her book. One of them is:  "I think sometimes a community's experience is so traumatic, it stays rooted in us even generations later. And the later generations continue to rediscover that experience, since it's still shaping us in ways we might not realize. Like losing the ability to speak Japanese, losing connection to Japanese culture, they're all lasting impacts of the camps that travel down the generations." I never realized before that the generation who suffered through the internment experience would raise their children to be American, not Japanese. They felt it would make successive generations safer from the government. They made sure their descendants did not know how to speak Japanese or cook Japanese food. It was a strategy that the entire generation followed.

Displacement gives an honest history of the internment camps run by the U. S. government during WWII. While it is a sad story, it is one we all should know about. 5 out of 5 stars.

Family Style

Thien Pham's debut graphic novel is a moving young adult memoir about his search for belonging in America. Thien left his native Vietnam at age five and together with his family emigrated to the U. S. His family spent several years in a refugee camp in Thailand before getting permission to travel to America. The family struggled both in the camp and in California where they began their new lives. 

Thien's first memory isn't a sight or a sound. It's the sweetness of watermelon and the saltiness of fish. It's the taste of the foods he ate while adrift at sea as his family fled Vietnam. Through each chapter of their lives, food takes on a new meaning. Strawberries come to signify struggle as Thien's mom and dad look for work. Potato chips are an indulgence that bring Thien so much joy that they become a necessity. Behind every cut of steak and inside every croissant lies a story. And for Thien Pham, that story is about a search - for belonging, for happiness, for the American dream. The story ends on a happy note with a fortysomething Thien becoming a U. S. citizen and registering to vote. 

The author originally published this memoir serially to Instagram. His artwork is done in traditional six-panel comic strip panels and he used Procreate to do the drawings on an iPad. The drawings are colored with a muted brown palette. If you loved Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese and Thi Bui's The Best We Could Do you will want to read Family Style.

5 out of 5 stars.

I'm Still Alive

I'm Still Alive is a graphic memoir of author Roberto Saviano's life in police protective custody after writing an expose of the mafia in his native country Italy. Saviano grew up in Casal di Principe where the Camorra clans dominate society. Trained as a journalist, Saviano decided to expose the clans by writing a fiction book that was 100% based on fact.  The clans didn't take it well. His life was threatened on many occasions but ultimately he would have become more powerful if he was dead. His life, on the other hand, was stunted. He was unable to do ordinary chores for himself, such as grocery shopping, and longed for the freedom to be able to do simple things for himself. Eventually, Saviano had to leave Italy for his safety. His life, however, was not any different. He was still in protective custody as he has been since 2006.

While this comic has a serious topic, it is a fast read. I was hooked from the first page and read it in one sitting. At 130 pages that doesn't sound like much a feat, but some graphic memoirs I have read were so dull that reading them was a chore.  The illustrations by Asaf Hanuka helped to tell the story. Hanuka basically used black and white drawings with limited muted colors on each page. The comic strip panels gave the book a lighter feel.

I'm Still Alive is a fantastic comic on the realities of organized crime.  I am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

Ducks

Ducks is a graphic memoir by Kate Beaton. Inside the pages of this hardcover book we read about the two years of her life spent working in Canada's oilfields. When Kate graduated from college, she had a hefty student loan to repay. Knowing that she would never make enough money from working in her chosen field to pay it off, Kate took a job in Alberta's oil sands where she worked as a laborer and then in the crib shop where she handed out tools to workers. She took a few months off after the first year and paid off half her student loans. Kate then worked in a museum but couldn't make her minimum loan payments on that salary. She returned to the oil sands for another year. Her student loans were then paid off and she decided to work as a cartoonist. The rest, they say, is history.

I was impressed with her concern for paying off her student loan debt. Kate delayed beginning her career until the debt was paid. Many residents of the Cape Breton island that she grew up on traveled to the oil sands so they could support their families. I was astonished by the amount of sexual harassment that she had to endure while working there. It doesn't say much for Canadian men and I am surprised by the conduct because I have always heard that Canadians were more group oriented than individualistic. So why the Ducks title? During her second year hundreds of ducks died from getting caught in the sands. This received alot of media attention at the time.

The story itself is well written with an obvious beginning, middle and end. There were twists and turns during her employment which gave it a mystery flare. The drawings were done in black and white in comic book strip format. At over 400 pages it is a hefty book but is also a fast read. I am looking forward to reading more from this young cartoonist.

5 out of 5 stars.

Welcome to St. Hell

Welcome to St. Hell is a groundbreaking memoir about being a trans teen. Lois/Lewis has a few things to say to his younger teen self. He knows she hates her body. He knows she's confused about who to snog. He knows she's really a he and will ultimately realize this... but she's going to go through a whole lot of mess (some of it funny, some of it not funny at all) to get to that point. Lewis is trying to tell her this... but she's refusing to listen.

In Welcome to St. Hell, author-illustrator Lewis Hancox takes readers on the hilarious, heartbreaking, and healing path he took to make it past trauma, confusion, hurt, and dubious fashion choices in order to become the man he was meant to be. 

When I began reading I wondered whether the comic would be preachy. It isn't. The author kept his hometown anonymous by calling is St. Hell in the comic and the high school he attended was called St. Hell High School. I felt so bad for him when he was taunted by his classmates. Young kids can be way too critical. However, he did find friends that accepted him and some of them came out publicly with different sexual orientations after high school. 

The artwork created the humor in the novel. We see Lois/Lewis trying several actions to hide her feminine body shape. He works out in order to get rid of his curves and diets heavily that he has to be treated for anorexia. He finally admits to his mother that he is trying to get rid of his feminine shape because he feels like a boy. The author is lucky that his mother accepted him when he came out and, in fact, encouraged some of his behaviors because, inside, she knew that he was different.

I don't know that I would have purchased this book if I didn't have a trans friend. We have had many great conversations about life in general and I see and accept her as a normal person. Without knowing her, I probably would have had a hands off approach to anyone talking about being trans. It is too different from my life. While it is risky for a trans person to come out publicly, it was helpful for me to know someone who experienced this. 

This is a thoughtful memoir that taught me alot about the struggle of trans people.  5 out of 5 stars.

World Record Holders

I had high hopes for this long anticipated graphic novel. However, it did not interest me. The comic was written by one of my favorite cartoonist's, Guy Delisle. The comic showcases a collection of his work from the beginning of his career to the present. There are 12 stories contained within the book that range from wistful childhood nostalgia to chagrined post-fame encounters. In one story we see Delisle visiting an exhibition of his work in another country and being confronted by an angry spouse who blames him for destroying her marriage. A juvenile game of Bows and Arrows turns menacing as arrows shot straight up in the air turn into barely visible missiles of death. A coded message from space creates different reactions from different people―debates, dance festivals, gallery shows. 

DeLisle's artistic style is not one that I particularly care for, but it worked well in his prior comics. However, with the stories in World Record Holders not making much sense, the illustration style becomes even more important. DeLisle has written several travelogues and autobiograhies that were fantastic so I am very disappointed with this graphic novel. In fact, I cannot even give it a rating. Only the most devoted DeLisle fans are going to want to read this book.

A Visit to Moscow

A Visit to Moscow is a graphic memoir of Rabbi Rafael Grossman's trip to the Soviet Union in 1965.  He went there with a group of American rabbis from the Rabbinical Council of America. Rabbi Grossman led a congregation in Long Branch, NJ and was chosen for the trip because of his Eastern European ancestry. 

The story itself is quite short, 63 pages. 12 more pages follow with explanations about the trip, a saga about Soviet Jews, a Note from the author and the Illustrator's Sketchbook. This is not a memoir with alot of action. Grossman probably spent less than an hour with the Jewish man he wanted to see. Meyer Gurwitz was the brother of one of Grossman's acquaintances, Meyer's sister Bela.  She had not heard from her brother in over ten years and was worried about him. After feigning a headache at the Moscow hotel where Grossman was staying, he got in a taxi and traveled to Meyer's home. There Grossman found out that Meyer had a ten year old son who had never left the one room home he had been born in. Meyer explained that if he let his son outside that the KGB would force him into a Soviet school where he would lose his Jewish heritage or worse, be killed.

While the story was interesting, it could hardly be described as scintillating reading. I enjoyed the artwork by Yevgenia Nayberg. Nayberg watched Soviet noir films and reviewed photos from the 1960s to obtain a visual direction. She used subdued blue, green and yellow colors in the drawings. 

3 out of 5 stars.

Parenthesis

Parenthesis is Elodie Durand's debut graphic novel. It is a memoir of five years of her life suffering from tumor induced epilepsy. The author changes her name, calling herself Judith, but it is her story and she wrote it ten years after it occurred. After finishing all her classes for a master's degree, Elodie only had her thesis to write. She began having momentary spells that continued to be spells of several minutes. Soon she was having multiple seizures daily that increased in length as well as period of recovery. She moved back in with her parents who eventually even had to dress her. Elodie had severe memory loss that lasted weeks. Her neurologist recommended her for gamma knife brain surgery which she underwent a few months later. However, she continued to get worse. There is a recovery but in my mind getting there was worse than the descent into darkness. Elodie had to deal with cerebral edema that comes with this type of surgery. 

The author does a great job of describing what life was like when she was barely conscious. I felt as though as I was there with her, something that I have not felt when reading stories of those who are dealing with cancer or paralysis. Her drawings also show the darkness of her memories from when she was barely awake. It is interesting that there was an awareness of something going on but she couldn't put her finger on what is was.  Elodie's story is moving, scary and gripping all at the same time. The choice of a title for the book is perfect: her normal life was interrupted by the opening of a parenthesis that she was not sure would ever close.  

5 out of 5 stars.

Run

The beginning of John Lewis's political career is the subject of Run, Book One. However, he passed away before the book was finished. 90% of the book was completed and approved by him before his death. I am presuming that there will not be a Book Two since he has died.  

To John Lewis, the civil rights movement came to an end with the signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. By that time he had served for more than 5 years as a leader of the movement.  He led sit-ins, marches and was an original Freedom Rider.  Lewis also served as the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee for several years, spoke at MLK's March on Washington and co-lead a march from Selma to Montgomery on Bloody Sunday.  Run begins where March 3 ends. Lewis recounts the highs and lows of fighting to harness the legal protections that are now law. However, the Vietnam War presents a challenge for an electorate that becomes consumed by the images on their TV screens and soon forgets about the civil rights movement.

The artwork is amazing.  Nate Powell had to draw his scenes from the reference of thousands of newspaper and magazine photographs. However, he had to make them historically accurate while also needing to change the angle of the drawings to fit the comic format. In addition, he had to comb through online listings of objects that he was not familiar with, such as period appropriate typewriters, so he would know what the looked like. Powell also researched how people dressed in the 1960s so that the characters' age, occupation and socioeconomic status was accurate for the time period. This sounds like a monumental task for someone who did not live through this era.  

The boldness of John Lewis' story captured this reader's attention. Everything written into the comic was so serious that sometimes it felt like information overload, even though the information was necessary to tell this true story. His vision regarding what was important enough to be included in the book is probably what makes all of his comics such good reading.  Lewis was so good at this that I believe he missed a calling as an author too late in his life. 

Run is another fantastic comic detailing events in the civil rights movement.  I wish that these comics would not end with Run because they tell this story in vivid detail.  5 out of 5 stars.

Let's Not Talk Anymore

Let's Not Talk Anymore portrays 5 generations of women from the author's family in a graphic memoir. Their stories are told from when they were all fifteen years old. In 1902 the author's great-grandmother Kuan's life is told. In 1947 her grandmother Mei's story is told and in 1972 her mother Bing is portrayed. In 1998 author Pixin’s own life is shown and in 2032 the author's imaginary daughter Rita's life is given. These stories alternate back and forth in time and span a century. 

Weng Pixin's lineage is full of sorrow. Great-grandmother Kuan is sent away from her family in China to Singapore, grandmother Mei's mother allowed her to be adopted by a neighbor to help with the housework, Bing's father left the family home, while Pixin feels isolated from her mother. Through these generational traumas, fractured relationships are passed down from mother to daughter every generation. It all seemed sad to me. These ladies were miserable but tried to hide their feelings. I am not sure why but I wonder if this is a way for the Chinese to save face? 

The artwork was drawn in colorful comic book panels. It was a little hard to tell the difference between the women given that they look alike. Weng Pixin changed the facial coloring and hair styles to distinguish them from one another. She used an interesting mixed media approach to the drawings by using poster paint, oil pastels and watercolors. The style of the drawings is simple, almost childlike. 

My main takeaway from the book is that the way in which each of us handle adversity comes from imitating the way our elders handled it. This is a depressing thought because it seems that we are all doomed to repeat mistakes from the past. I liked that the last nine pages were of butterflies ready for flight. Perhaps there is a silver lining in every family's story.

3 out of 5 stars.

Rebecca and Lucie

Rebecca & Lucie in the Case of the Missing Neighbor is a charming murder mystery in comic book format. Amateur sleuth Rebecca Girard is on maternity leave and breastfeeding her baby when she sees two men carrying something heavy into a white minivan. When she finds out that a man from her neighborhood, Eduardo Morales, has gone missing, Rebecca decides to look into the matter.  Eduardo had been working as a caregiver to an elderly man in Rebecca's neighborhood and many of her neighbors knew him. Rebecca's investigation is unique. She performs it while juggling to carry her 8 month old baby Lucie everywhere she goes.

As a murder mystery, this story has all of the features of a literary novel. We have a unique amateur sleuth, a crime, and several suspects. We also have several twists in the plot to confuse the reader. The suspension of belief surrounding Rebecca as a detective is not hard to fall into, mainly because this is a comic. However, I believe that the author came up with a creative idea for a sleuth. From the title "in the case of the missing neighbor" it appears that this story may end up being a series. I hope so as this was a fun read.

The book is advertised as a "maternity leave mystery complete with postpartum physiotherapy." How awesome is that! I loved reading this book and am rating it 5 out of 5 stars.

Factory Summers

Factory Summers is another great autobiography from cartoonist Guy Delisle. He has written several travelogues from following his wife to Jerusalem, Pyongyang, Shenzen and Burma while she worked with Medecins Sans Frontieres. Here, we have the story of Delisle's four summers as a teenager working for a pulp and paper factory in Quebec City where he grew up.

Factory Summers has alot of dry humor within its pages. Delisle describes his co-workers as sexist, telling dirty jokes on a daily basis. As a union employee myself, I can say they are typical union workers. LOL. If they can find a way to relax on the job, they do it. It's not that they are forgoing the hard work their jobs demand. These fellows work with huge machines that require constant cleaning up and fixing and the areas they are located in have no air conditioning. There is danger of getting hurt every day. The factory was built in 1927 and there had not been any changes to the building or the machinery over the years. This was an antiquated system that Delisle was dealing with. With 12 hours shifts required 6 days a week, I doubt that he would be allowed to work here as a youth if the factory was in the U.S. I thought it was a cruel job for a sixteen-year-old kid and cannot believe he did the work without questioning the rules. If it was me working there, I would have filed a complaint with OSHA for unsafe working conditions.

The story itself was well told. The monotony of the work days are shown by both dialogue and drawings. The only reprieve the author had was by drawing comics and making plans to attend animation school in Toronto. His relationship with his father, who got him the job, is also a part of the story. The book opens with Delisle having his annual visit with his father, divorced from his mother, and ends with his death. The relationship frames these summers working at the same plant his father worked at. 

I highly recommend this one. 5 out of 5 stars.

Idle Days

Idle Days is the story of Jerome Beauvais, a deserter from the Canadian Forces during WWII. After his defection his mother sends him to live with his grandfather in a remote house in the woods. Jerome is helping his grandfather renovate the house. After learning that the prior owner killed herself and set fire to the place, Jerome sets out to learn all that he can about the history of the home.  While Jerome works on the house, he feels more and more isolated. He has to remain hidden from the neighbors lest he be discovered. There are posters around town offering a cash reward for turning in deserters. Listening to the radio daily with his grandfather, Jerome's ghosts from combat appear and haunt his thoughts. 

Idle Days is an engaging story.  The reader can feel Jerome's pain but I could not help but dislike him. Because he was serving in WWII, a war much more important than Vietnam, Korea and some others, I did not like that he deserted his post. WWII was a war over the continuation of life as we knew it. No one should have declined to serve. Including women. That said, this is a well told story. Many of the comic book panels did not have dialogue and it was easy to "read" what was the meaning contained in them. The dialogue itself presented Jerome's inner thoughts ably. Although Jerome's conversation with his grandfather was stilted, I thought that the combination of their dialogue with the illustrations was executed skillfully.

The artwork was drawn in comic book panels and colored in deep dark oranges, reds and browns. I presume that  illustrator Simon Leclerc used this pallette to enhance the sense of isolation that Jerome was feeling. Even when Jerome was walking in the open forest, he felt the confinement of the darkness in the forest during the rare evenings when he left the cabin.  

  

Idle Days is a fantastic graphic novel.  I highly recommend it to comic book fans. 5 out of 5 stars.

Stepping Stones

Stepping Stones is Lucy Knisley's newest graphic novel. It is the story of Jen, her mother and new boyfriend Walter who have moved to a farm in the country. Jen is unhappy there and wants to live with her father in the city.  However, her mother wants her to stay and become acclimated to this new environment. Jen is given enough chores to keep her busy all day while her mother and boyfriend always have excuses to bow out of the hardest work. A few weeks later, to make matters worse, Walter's two snobby daughters arrive for the summer. 

I felt sorry for Jen. She seemed to be used as a work horse. She was also mistreated by Walter who wouldn't even call her by her correct name. His daughters likewise mistreated her, calling her names and ridiculing her country clothes.  Over the summer they became friends though. The author's note at the conclusion of the book acknowledges that Jen is really Lucy Knisley who grew up on her mother's farm. I wondered about this when I began reading because the drawings of Jen are the same as drawings of Lucy in earlier books.  

The artistry was a little different than prior graphic novels by Knisley. The introduction to all of the chapters was done with a kid's handwriting on those old composition book pages. It didn't work for me but since Jen was a child, this approach matched the story. The remainder of the drawings were consistent with the author's style, colorful panels drawn in a primitive fashion.

4 out of 5 stars.

Something New

I have read all of Lucy Knisley's graphic  memoirs but missed this one. Something New: Tales of a Makeshift Bride is about Knisley's engagement and marriage to her long time boyfriend John.  It is a humorous look into the world of all things bridal, illustrated with colorful comic strips by Knisley herself.  

As an artist Knisley wanted a DIY wedding that reflected her and John's personality. Her mother is a retired caterer who insisted that she not only get married at home but that her mother would build a barn to hold the festivities in. Knisley and her mother had built many things together before and both of them thought the barn would be easy to accomplish.  It wasn't. Nor were all of the decisions that needed to be made on items such as linens, dresses, decor, and music.  Mom basically got her way though.  

Something New is a fabulous graphic memoir and I enjoyed the author's journey to adulthood. Especially recommended for the newly engaged woman. 5 out of 5 stars.

Cub

Cub is a humorous graphic memoir about growing up in the 1970s.  One of the reasons that I loved this book is that I too came of age in the 1970s and had the same experiences that our heroine Cindy had.  It was a walk down memory lane.

The publisher's summary:

"Twelve-year-old Cindy has just dipped a toe into seventh grade drama - with its complicated friendships, bullies and cute boys - when she earns an internship as a cub reporter at a local newspaper in the early 1970s. A rare, young female reporter takes Cindy under her wing, and Cindy soon learns not only how to write a lede, but also how to respectfully question authority, how to assert herself in a world run by men, and - as the Watergate scandal unfolds, how brave reporting and writing can topple a corrupt world leader. Searching for her own scoops, Cindy doesn't always get it right, on paper or in real life. Whether she's writing features about ghost hunter's, falling off her bike and into her first crush, or navigating shifting friendships, Cindy grows wiser and more confident through every awkward and hilarious mistake."

I also was a cub reporter in the early 1970s. I wrote a weekly column for 3 years on high school activities for the Hammond Times newspaper. Reading about Cindy's joy over getting the job and her pursuit of stories to tell was enjoyable. She had a reporter for a mentor while I did not. Her journalism class experiences mirrored my own and I began to miss my former classmates. We had a good time together. Watergate was the big news story of the day. Cindy was lucky to get involved in reporting that story.

Cindy was not popular in school and when her best friend left her for the clique of desirables she was devastated. I also had the same experience and the remembrance was sobering. My life story is so similar to Cindy's that it felt like I was reading my own biography. Similarities aside, this was a fun, quick read.

5 out of 5 stars.

Almost American Girl

Robin Ha is a new author for me.  Almost American Girl is her second graphic novel, behind Cook Korean: a Comic Book with Recipes.  It tells the story of her emigration to America when she was 14-years-old.

Chuna Ha and her mother have taken many international vacations while they were living in their native Korea.  One day Chuna's mother tells her that they are going to Alabama for a visit with one her mother's friends.  Chuna doesn't think Alabama sounds interesting but packs her bags for the trip. After a month in Huntsville, Alabama Chuna's mother informs her that they are staying there permanently as she is going to marry their host, Kim Minsik.  Chuna is horrified. She hates Alabama and misses her friends in Seoul.  She did not even get the opportunity to say goodbye to them or pack up all of her belongings. While her mother arranges for their belongings to be sent to them in Alabama, Chuna, now Robin, begins her awkward assimilation into American culture.

Almost American Girl is a wonderful coming to America story.  It is told with so much emotion that the reader can "feel her pain" as she learns English while simutaneously attending school and trying to get along with her step family who ignore her most of the time.  It is easy for native born Americans to understand the immigrant experience by reading this story.

I loved the colorful drawings.  Ha used alot of color when she was showing her life in America.  When she looked back on life in Korea the author used sepia tones. You would think that she would have used the sepia for her life in America since she had such a difficult experience adjusting to life here. However, she did adjust and I assume she now enjoys living in America.

This is a must read for graphic novel fans. In addition, I think young adults would benefit from reading this story of a new immigrant. 5 out of 5 stars!

Dragon Hoops

Gene Luen Yang is one of my favorite graphic novelists. His new book Dragon Hoops is a memoir about his 17 years as a teacher at the Bishop O'Dowd High School in Oakland, CA.  The book focuses on his interactions with the school's basketball team during his last year as a teacher.

The author begins with his story as a youth.  Being unathletic he hated sports and focused on academics in school.  After he learns that his first graphic novel will be published, Yang tries to find something interesting to write for his next book.  He decides to have a talk with O'Dowd's coach Lou Richie. The men's varsity basketball team, the Dragons, is headed to the state championships.  Yang decides to follow the team all season, interviewing the athletes, the coach and former coach who had to resign due to a sexual abuse allegation.  This book is the result.

I am not a sports fan but because Yang wrote this book I was excited to buy it.  I knew he would make it interesting and he did.  The book is more than a memoir as Yang gives mini-bios of the athletes on the team as well as the history of the game.  He even has a section on women's basketball. He also delves into the race issue is basketball from all perspectives: middle school, high school and college.  I learned a lot about the game while being entertained with great writing and graphics.  With an impressive 434 color pages,  the artwork was drawn by Yang but colored by Rianne Meyers.

I loved Dragon Hoops and highly recommend it to young adult readers as well as adults.  5 out of 5 stars!

Year of the Rabbit

Year of the Rabbit is Tian Veasna's graphic memoir about life growing up under the bloody reign of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. He was born three days after the Khmer Rouge came into power and escaped with his family into a Thai refugee camp at age five. They eventually settled in France. The story covers the experiences of his mother Lina, father Khim, the baby Chan and their extended families.  After he became an adult the author interviewed his relatives to obtain information for the book.

The book opens with the families leaving their homes in Phnom Penh for safety. They expected to return in a few days but along their route they learned that the city was being permanently evacuated by the Khmer Rouge. The author, Chan, was born while his parents walked for months seeking safety. A bad decision to use forged travel permits gets them sent to a re-education camp where, for the next five years, they witness firsthand the regime's brutality.

Year of the Rabbit is first and foremost a well told story. The artwork enhances it by bringing passion into the pages. The overwhelming fear and hopelessness felt by the refugees is drawn on each page. What was interesting to me was that as Chan's family ran into old friends during these years, these friends did not stop being their friends. They offered spare food or helpful information. I expected that people would behave the opposite. The capacity of the Cambodian people for good is the amazing part of this story.

After the Spring

After the Spring, a Story of Tunisian Youth was created by Helene Aldeguer. It shows the disillusionment of young people in Tunisia after the 2011 Arab Spring. The back cover blurb summarizes the story:

"Two years after the 'Jasmine Revolution' Tunisia is unstable and facing economic hardship. Saif, Aziz, Meriem, and Chayma are among those who feel abandoned by the developing turmoil surrounding the government. Saif goes to college but worries about his younger brothers; Aziz struggles to find steady employment, hoping to gain approval from Meriem's family, while Meriem attends law school; and Chayma, after watching a man set himself on fire, considers emigration to France. As the situation becomes more serious and calls to activism in the streets get louder, each must consider in what direction their future lies."

I had this book on my wish list for six months waiting for its publication. When it finally arrived in the mail I couldn't wait to read it. However, it was not that exciting of a read. It was a quick read, but it was a little boring. The author was true to the historical facts in Tunisia but her characters were flat as was the dialogue. I have read many similar comics about war torn countries that were engaging with fully developed characters. After the Spring did not meet my expectations.

The artwork was done in black and white drawings on traditional comic book strips. With the color black being used to fill in many of the subjects drawn, the book's graphic appeal was rather dark. Personally, I like plenty of color but am not opposed to black and white drawings in general. These just seemed too dark for my taste.

3 out of 5 stars.