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Library Graphic Novel Round-Up
My local public library is part of a consortium of Southern Idaho libraries, which means that I can check out books with my home library card from any of the consortium libraries, and if I’m not in, say, Boise, I can simply put a hold on the book and it will be sent to my home library. It’s interlibrary loans without the special paperwork. I love how easy it is for me as a patron, and I also love that I can get books from libraries with more … progressive collections. (No shade to my hometown library, but we’re in a very conservative area, as well as having a smaller library, so sometimes queer books are hard to find just on the shelves.)
Here’s a round-up of the books I got from the library in the last few weeks.
This brief story dips into Raquel’s life during one year in high school. The story is sweet and very light. There’s minimal angst, and it has a hopeful ending.
This book was fun and super queer! The full color illustrations were lovely and interesting. Despite the dangers the characters face, ultimately they escape the worst possible outcomes. IIRC, the authors wanted to portray period-realistic racism and issues to honor the real struggles queer and non-white people faced in the US in the 1930’s but also write a fun story with magic! I enjoyed dipping into this world.
This book made me cry in a Starbucks. Very lovely and moving.
These books were my favorite from the bunch. They are a biography of Tsai Kun-lin, a survivor of the White Terror period in Taiwan. I’m somewhat ashamed to say that despite living in Taiwan for two years, I still don’t know much about this period of Taiwan’s history. In all my trips to Taipei, I never visited the White Terror Memorial Park. I did go to the 228 Peace Memorial Park quite often, but mostly I went because it was a nice park.
I think these books should be required reading in Taiwanese schools. I wish I’d had them for my classroom. They don’t look away from the horrors that Tsai experienced, but they are depicted with a relatively light touch, appropriate for younger audiences. I knew that these horrible things happened in very recent history -- martial law only ended in 1987 -- my lifetime, and the lifetimes of the parents and grandparents of my students! I’m amazed at how progressive Taiwan has been able to become in less than 40 years, despite almost no official international support or recognition. Like all countries, it has room to improve, but seeing where Taiwan came from, through Tsai’s life, I’m astonished by the changes brought about in the country, and I hope, for the sake of all who live there now and for the sacrifices so many made in the last century, that Taiwan can avoid a wrench to the right and to authoritarianism that so many countries have taken.
My local public library is part of a consortium of Southern Idaho libraries, which means that I can check out books with my home library card from any of the consortium libraries, and if I’m not in, say, Boise, I can simply put a hold on the book and it will be sent to my home library. It’s interlibrary loans without the special paperwork. I love how easy it is for me as a patron, and I also love that I can get books from libraries with more … progressive collections. (No shade to my hometown library, but we’re in a very conservative area, as well as having a smaller library, so sometimes queer books are hard to find just on the shelves.)
Here’s a round-up of the books I got from the library in the last few weeks.
Pardalita by Joana Estrela, translated by Lyn Miller-Lachmann:
16-year-old Raquel lives in a small town in Portugal, the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else’s business. Her parents are divorced and she’s just been suspended for cursing out a school aide asking about her father’s new marriage. She has two best friends, Luísa and Fred, but wants something more. Then, from afar, she sees Pardalita, a senior and a gifted artist who’s moving to Lisbon to study in the fall. The two girls get to know each other while working on a play. And Raquel falls in love.
Using a gorgeous blend of prose poems, illustrations, and graphic novel format, author and artist Joana Estrela captures the feeling of being a teenager in a way that feels gentle, joyful, and real.
This brief story dips into Raquel’s life during one year in high school. The story is sweet and very light. There’s minimal angst, and it has a hopeful ending.
Brooms by Jasmine Walls and Teo DuVall:
It’s 1930s Mississippi. Magic is permitted only in certain circumstances, and by certain people. Unsanctioned broom racing is banned. But for those who need the money, or the thrills...it's there to be found.
Meet Billie Mae, captain of the Night Storms racing team, and Loretta, her best friend and second-in-command. They’re determined to make enough money to move out west to a state that allows Black folks to legally use magic and take part in national races.
Cheng-Kwan – doing her best to handle the delicate and dangerous double act of being the perfect “son” to her parents, and being true to herself while racing.
Mattie and Emma – Choctaw and Black – the youngest of the group and trying to dodge government officials who want to send them and their newly-surfaced powers away to boarding school.
And Luella, in love with Billie Mae. Her powers were sealed away years ago after she fought back against the government. She’ll do anything to prevent the same fate for her cousins.
Brooms is a queer, witchy Fast and the Furious that shines light on history not often told – it’s everything you’d ever want to read in a graphic novel.
This book was fun and super queer! The full color illustrations were lovely and interesting. Despite the dangers the characters face, ultimately they escape the worst possible outcomes. IIRC, the authors wanted to portray period-realistic racism and issues to honor the real struggles queer and non-white people faced in the US in the 1930’s but also write a fun story with magic! I enjoyed dipping into this world.
49 Days by Agnes Lee:
Day 1
Gotta get up. Gotta keep moving. This map – it says I have to cross over here. Wait, what’s that…?
And so begins a graphic novel story unlike any other: 49 Days. In Buddhist tradition, a person must travel for forty-nine days after they die, before they can fully cross over. Here in this book, readers travel with one Korean American girl, Kit, on her journey, while also spending time with her family and friends left behind.
Agnes Lee has captivated readers across the world for years with her illustrations for the New York Times Metropolitan Diary. Her debut graphic novel is an unforgettable story of death, grief, love, and how we keep moving forward.
This book made me cry in a Starbucks. Very lovely and moving.
The Boy From Clearwater, Books 1 and 2 by Yu Pei-Yun, illustrated by Zhou Jian-Xin, translated by Lin King:
Book 1
Taiwan, 1930s.
Tsai Kun-lin, an ordinary boy, was born in Qingshui. He grew up happily sneaking into the sugar cane fields reciting nursery rhymes he couldn’t understand, despite Japanese occupation looming over him. As war emerges, Tsai’s memories shift to military parades, air raids, and watching others face conscription into the army. After the war comes a new era under the rule of the Chinese National Party, and the book-loving teenager tries hard to learn Mandarin and be a good son. He believes he is finally stepping towards a comfortable future, but little does he know, a dark cloud awaits him ahead.
Taiwan, 1950s.
In his second year at Taichung First Senior High School, Tsai had attended a book club hosted by his teacher. This comes back to haunt him when he is consequently arrested on a charge of taking part in an “illegal” assembly. After being tortured into a false confession, he is sentenced to ten years in prison and eventually sent to Green Island for “reformation.” Lasting until his release in September 1960, Tsai, a victim of the White Terror era, spent ten years of his youth in prison, experiencing unspeakable horrors as well as unimaginable kindnesses. But he is now ready to embrace freedom.
For fans of Persepolis and March comes an incredible true story that lays bare the tortured and triumphant history of Taiwan, an island claimed and fought over by many countries, through the life story of a man who lived through its most turbulent times.
Book 2
After his imprisonment in Green Island, Kun-lin struggles to pick up where he left off ten years earlier. He reconnects with his childhood crush Kimiko and finds work as an editor, jumping from publisher to publisher until finally settling at an advertising company. But when manhua publishing becomes victim to censorship, and many of his friends lose their jobs, Kun-lin takes matters into his own hands. He starts a children’s magazine, Prince, for a group of unemployed artists and his old inmates who cannot find work anywhere else. Kun-lin’s life finally seems to be looking up... but how long will this last?
Forty years later, Kun-lin serves as a volunteer at the White Terror Memorial Park, promoting human rights education. There, he meets Yu Pei-Yun, a young college professor who provides him with an opportunity to reminisce on his past and how he picked himself up after grappling with bankruptcy and depression. With the end of martial law, Kun-lin and other former New-Lifers felt compelled to mobilize to rehabilitate fellow White Terror victims, forcing him to face his past head-on. While navigating his changing homeland, he must conciliate all parts of himself – the victim and the savior, the patriot and the rebel, a father to the future generation and a son to the old Taiwan – before he can bury the ghosts of his past.
These books were my favorite from the bunch. They are a biography of Tsai Kun-lin, a survivor of the White Terror period in Taiwan. I’m somewhat ashamed to say that despite living in Taiwan for two years, I still don’t know much about this period of Taiwan’s history. In all my trips to Taipei, I never visited the White Terror Memorial Park. I did go to the 228 Peace Memorial Park quite often, but mostly I went because it was a nice park.
I think these books should be required reading in Taiwanese schools. I wish I’d had them for my classroom. They don’t look away from the horrors that Tsai experienced, but they are depicted with a relatively light touch, appropriate for younger audiences. I knew that these horrible things happened in very recent history -- martial law only ended in 1987 -- my lifetime, and the lifetimes of the parents and grandparents of my students! I’m amazed at how progressive Taiwan has been able to become in less than 40 years, despite almost no official international support or recognition. Like all countries, it has room to improve, but seeing where Taiwan came from, through Tsai’s life, I’m astonished by the changes brought about in the country, and I hope, for the sake of all who live there now and for the sacrifices so many made in the last century, that Taiwan can avoid a wrench to the right and to authoritarianism that so many countries have taken.
