Category Archives: Memoir

Review: Whale Eyes by James Robinson

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Whale Eyes by James Robinson

Whale Eyes: A Memoir About Seeing and Being Seen
James Robinson
Illustrated by Brian Rea
Penguin Workshop
Published March 18, 2025

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About Whale Eyes: A Memoir About Seeing and Being Seen

From Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker James Robinson comes a breathtaking illustrated memoir for middle-grade readers (and adults, too) inspired by the viral, Emmy-nominated short film Whale Eyes.

Told through an experimental mix of intimate anecdotes and interactive visuals, this book immerses readers in James’s point of view, allowing them to see the world through his disabling eye conditions.

Readers will get lost as they chase words. They’ll stare into this book while taking a vision test. They’ll hold it upside down as they practice “pretend-reading”…and they’ll follow an unlikely trail toward discovering the power of words.

With poignant illustrations by Eisner Award-nominated artist Brian Rea, James’s story equips readers of all ages with the tools to confront their discomfort with disability and turn confused, blank stares into powerful connections.

My Review

I loved this book. It’s kind of written in two parts. The first part is really accessible to kids, packed with a lot of illustrations and examples of how James Robinson sees the world. Some of the illustrations show words written upside down or at different angles. One page includes an eye test that readers can perform by folding the page a certain way.

The second half of the book is a little more dense and is where Robinson talks more deeply about his journey with documentary filmmaking. It describes how he began filming about a passion project and then, in college, made a twenty-four-minute video about his visual disability, strabismus. That project led him to collaborate with the New York Times to make a series of videos about different people’s experiences living with disabilities.

Even though this part of the book will appeal more to older readers, I think Robinson relates important reflections about his childhood, what he’s realized about disability, and what he wishes adults had told him about it when he was younger. The writing throughout the book is smart and appealing.

Documentaries Mentioned in the Book

Here are some links and brief descriptions of video documentaries that James Robinson made and released as NYT Opinion pieces. All three are mentioned in the book. These are YouTube links, so they are available to watch for free. I watched all three. They are thoughtful and deeply engaging. I spent the afternoon after I watched them sending the links to friends and family members.

I Have a Visual Disability, And I Want You to Look Me In the Eye NYT Opinion Piece: This is a twelve-minute documentary about James and how he sees the world and how we see him. He writes about filming this video in the book.

I Have Face Blindness. This is How I Recognize You. NYT Opinion Piece: This documentary, also produced by James Robinson, introduces viewers to a man named Paul who has prosopagnosia, or face blindness.

I Stutter. But I Need You to Listen. NYT Opinion Piece: Another documentary produced by Robinson about writer John Hendrickson.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to thoughtless and hurtful comments made by kids or adults about James’s eyes.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Layers: A Memoir by Pénélope Bagieu

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Layers: A Memoir
Pénélope Bagieu
Translated by Montana Kane
First Second
Published October 17, 2023

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About Layers: A Memoir

Following the Eisner-award-winning Brazen, Pénélope Bagieu pens her first autobiographical work in this hilarious and bitter-sweet graphic memoir.

Pénélope Bagieu never thought she’d publish a graphic memoir. But when she dusted off her old diaries (no, really―this book is based on her actual diaries), she found cringe-worthy, hilarious, and heartbreaking stories begging to be drawn.

In Layers, Bagieu reflects on her childhood and teen years with her characteristic wit and unflinching honesty. The result is fifteen short stories about friendship, love, grief, and those awkward first steps toward adulthood.

My Review

I have to agree with the endorsements calling this book “hilarious.” Pénélope’s recollections about her childhood and transition to adulthood are so relatable. She’s awkward and earnest, and I both laughed and cried reading this memoir in vignettes.

The book opens with a chapter about when her parents got her and her sister two kittens. Her cat is exceptionally clingy and causes all sorts of mayhem, but Pénélope absolutely loves her. She recalls the phases of cat ownership, and how hard it is when we have to say goodbye to our furry friends. She captures the emotions of pet ownership so perfectly.

Several of the chapters or stories focus on Pénélope’s adventures in romance. She has unrequited crushes, friendship betrayals, and a wild week with an early boyfriend, which culminated in her hitchhiking to see a gynecologist. She has an incredible way of showing that confident naïveté that feels so classic to a teen experience. I felt so much nostalgia reading this book.

This is the first book by Bagieu that I’ve read, but after reading about her other work in her author biography, I’ve already got more of her books on my reading list. I’m pretty sure I’m going to need sources of joy in the coming year.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Brief, strong swearing.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing and references to sex. A couple of panels show topless ladies (one image references something shown on TV on certain days when the author was growing up). One scene shows Pénélope and her boyfriend nestled together. We infer that they’re having sex based on body positions, but there’s no graphic nudity other than the above.

A couple of scenes reference sexual assault. It’s two stories told side by side, one when Pénélope was a child and one when she was older. In the younger scene, she spends the night with friends, and a boy gets out of bed and comes to her in the middle of the night. All we see are their eyes, but it’s clear Pénélope is scared and uncomfortable. She sneezes loudly and wakes up her friend, and the boy goes back to his own bed. Similarly, in the later scene, she’s gone to sleep, and a man touches her. She tells him to stop, and he acts entitled to her body. When she refuses him again, he kicks her out of his apartment. In both instances, she worries about telling someone else and being blamed for what happened.

Spiritual Content
A loved one promises Pénélope that she’ll sense her presence with her after she dies. Pénélope imagines or senses arms wrapped around her later when she feels sad. One image shows two angels who’ve sent the translucent, hugging arms.

Violent Content
References to unwanted sexual advances and feeling unsafe.

Drug Content
Pénélope and her friends smoke cigarettes in some scenes.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

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Between the World and Me
Ta-Nehisi Coates
Spiegel & Grau
Published July 14, 2015

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About Between the World and Me

“This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.”

In a profound work that pivots from the biggest questions about American history and ideals to the most intimate concerns of a father for his son, Ta-Nehisi Coates offers a powerful new framework for understanding our nation’s history and current crisis. Americans have built an empire on the idea of “race,” a falsehood that damages us all but falls most heavily on the bodies of black women and men—bodies exploited through slavery and segregation, and, today, threatened, locked up, and murdered out of all proportion. What is it like to inhabit a black body and find a way to live within it? And how can we all honestly reckon with this fraught history and free ourselves from its burden?
 
Between the World and Me is Ta-Nehisi Coates’s attempt to answer these questions in a letter to his adolescent son. Coates shares with his son—and readers—the story of his awakening to the truth about his place in the world through a series of revelatory experiences, from Howard University to Civil War battlefields, from the South Side of Chicago to Paris, from his childhood home to the living rooms of mothers whose children’s lives were taken as American plunder. Beautifully woven from personal narrative, reimagined history, and fresh, emotionally charged reportage, Between the World and Me clearly illuminates the past, bracingly confronts our present, and offers a transcendent vision for a way forward.

My Review

I listened to an audiobook version of this book that was read by the author. It’s a pretty short book, only about 150 pages divided into three chapters. The first two are much longer than the third chapter.

This is Coates’ letter to his son, and it’s about his experience as a young Black man and his thoughts and experiences about becoming a father to a Black son. While this was published in 2015, it could have been written today. Everything in these pages feels just as relevant today as it did almost ten years ago.

One of the things that the author talks about is his relationship to history and education. Some of the ways he describes his interest in or quest to learn more about history really resonated. He talks about wanting history to have one cohesive narrative in which historians agree, and that instead, he found the opposite: lots of voices with different takes on historical events and their significance.

He also talks about realizing that we simplify historical figures into something that we want them to be. This doesn’t allow room for who they truly were because it removes part of their stories. I want to reread that passage in particular because it’s so true, and he says it so well.

Coates also talks about someone he knew in college whose life was cut short when he was killed by a police officer. He returns to this story several times through the book. Again and again he talks about the idea that in this world, safety means having control of your body. And there are situations in which he does not have a guarantee of that control, including in encounters with police.

He refers to “people who think they are white” many times, which I think comes from a quote attributed to James Baldwin. That gave me some food for thought as well, as it really highlights the made-up-ness of race and the self-assigned value of whiteness. Again, a really concise way to say a big idea, something the author does really well.

Overall, this book delivered a lot of ideas that I want to let percolate. I loved reading this vulnerable, wise letter from a father to his son. It makes sense that this one got the awards and acclaim that it has. It’s definitely worth reading.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Includes use of the N-word very infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to falling in love, getting married, and having a child.

Spiritual Content
Coates himself does not believe in God, but he references others that do and the power of that belief in others’ lives.

Violent Content
References to racist comments. Vague references to street fights. References to police violence and death at the hands of a police officer.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
Random House
Published April 21, 2009 (Orig. 1969)

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About I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide.
 
Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned.
 
Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read.

“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity.”—James Baldwin

Thoughts About Reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

As I read this book, I thought back through my English literature education. Other than at least one poem by Langston Hughes in seventh grade, I can’t remember specifically reading any Black authors. It’s possible we read poetry by Maya Angelou. I especially do not remember ever reading about life in segregated America from a Black perspective, which seems like a huge thing when I think about it.

It is honestly a little bit alarming to me that I’m this old and just now reading I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings for the first time. I’ve read a pathetically small amount of classic literature by Black authors and/or authors of color in general. This is a problem I’m working to fix.

My Review

I love the way the author describes things. Some of the descriptions are pure poetry. Others vividly recount a moment or experience with such specificity that I felt like I was there witnessing the scene.

I listened to the audiobook version, read by the author, which I deeply enjoyed. She sings the hymns written in the text. She reads in a way that shows off the beauty of the poetic descriptions in the text while inviting the reader into each moment.

As I mentioned above, I think this is the first book I’ve read that shows segregated life in America from a Black perspective. (The more I think about it, the more I think that should absolutely be a requirement for high school literature. Wow.) I’m not sure I will ever forget the scene in which Maya and her brother hide her uncle in a vegetable bin and pile onions and potatoes on top of him because they’ve been warned that the Klan will be riding through their town looking for someone to harm.

The author describes the people in her life really well, too. As I read, I could sense both her admiration and her frustration with her mother and grandmother. These were both strong women with different values. They protected her and wounded her, sometimes knowingly, and sometimes without meaning to do so.

Conclusion

I’m so glad I read this book. It’s haunting and beautiful. There are some scenes that are hard to read (see content warnings below), but I really believe books like this are important. I am looking forward to reading more of Maya Angelou’s work.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A couple uses of the N-word as Maya heard it used. In one scene, she lists other derogatory terms she heard used.

Romance/Sexual Content
A man abuses Maya (a child) multiple times, the last time being the most violent. Descriptions are brief. It’s hard to read, but it does show the trauma and the complicated feelings and conclusions she drew from the experience as a child.

Maya worries about her body’s development. She reads about lesbianism and intersex conditions at the library and then speaks with her mom, who helps her understand that what’s happening to her body is normal development. There’s a little bit of biological description here.

One scene briefly relates Maya’s first (consensual) sexual experience. It’s not very specific except to relate how functional rather than romantic it was.

Spiritual Content
References to attending church and singing hymns. Maya’s grandmother, Mama, believes that if you’re good, God will love you.

Violent Content
Brief mentions of harm to children. Maya’s uncle threatens to burn her on the stove if she can’t answer his questions. She believes, looking back, that he never would have harmed her. Reference to a woman hitting a child’s legs with a switch if they didn’t wash properly or teachers striking the palms of students with rulers if they disobeyed.

Maya’s grandmother hits her as punishment for using the term “by the way,” which her grandmother considers swearing.

Drug Content
Several scenes reference adults smoking cigarettes.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.

Review: Boy vs. Shark by Paul Gilligan

Book Review and Content, Graphic Novel or Adaptation, Historical, Memoir, Middle Grade 8-12, Nonfiction, , , , ,

Boy vs. Shark
Paul Gilligan
Tundra Books
Published October 15, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Boy vs. Shark

A hilarious middle-grade graphic memoir about boyhood, toxic masculinity and a shark named Jaws. For fans of Guts and New Kid.

In the summer of 1975, 10-year-old Paul Gilligan doesn’t have a whole lot to worry about other than keeping his comic books untarnished, getting tennis balls off roofs and keeping up with the increasingly bold stunts of his best friend, David.

And then Jaws comes to town.

Suddenly everyone is obsessing over this movie about a shark ripping people to pieces. And if you haven’t seen it, not only are you missing out, you’re also kind of a wimp.

Needless to say, Jaws leaves young Paul a cowering mess, and underlines the growing gap between him and David as well as the distance between where he stands and the world’s expectations of a boy’s “manliness.”

And when Jaws himself becomes a kind of macho Jiminy Cricket for Paul, what is a scared and overwhelmed boy to do?

My Review

I really like the way that the author handled references to the movie Jaws in the text. Some of the characters verbally reference different scenes. After Paul watches the movie, he relates what happens in some of the scenes with balloon animals as characters. The absurdity of the images helps keep the content from being scary and overwhelming. I thought that was a really nice touch.

I also appreciated the complexity of the relationships in the novel, especially Paul’s relationship with his dad. Paul’s dad embraces some toxic ideas about who Paul should be as a young man, which causes Paul a lot of stress. At the same time, though, his dad imparts a strong ethic of personal responsibility, which helps guide Paul through a difficult situation.

It’s always great to see three-dimensional parent characters in Kidlit, and in this instance, the fact that the ideals Paul’s dad holds up as masculine are not all good or all bad makes it easier to understand Paul’s feelings of confusion and hurt when he doesn’t perfectly fit his father’s ideals.

I really enjoyed this graphic memoir. The use of the movie worked really well to illustrate the theme, and Gilligan creates a compelling balance of humor and heart in his exploration of masculine values and growing up.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 10 to 12.

Representation
Paul’s best friends are an Asian American boy and a Black boy.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to plot points from the movie Jaws. Some bullying in which an older boy makes comments about a younger kid. A boy manipulates others into stealing something from a store.

Drug Content
In one scene, a boy has a bottle of wine under his shirt, which he drops.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Star-Spangled Jesus by April Ajoy

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Star-Spangled Jesus: Leaving Christian Nationalism and Finding a True Faith
April Ajoy
Worthy Books
Published October 1, 2024

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About Star-Spangled Jesus

A hilarious and eye-opening account of leaving Christian Nationalism behind to follow Jesus better.  

April Ajoy wouldn’t have called herself a Christian Nationalist when she performed her original song “America Say Jesus” on the Jim Bakker show, or when she participated in Jesus Marches across America, or when she posted cringe-worthy videos on YouTube to campaign for Mitt Romney. April just considered herself a good faithful, Republican, and determined to make America a Christian nation once again.

But as her view of the world widened, Ajoy began to see cracks in her steadfast beliefs and recognized the ways her conservative politics and religion were intertwined in her mind. Did God really bless America? Is it actually by His red, white, and blue stripes that we are healed?

Ajoy, TikTok influencer and co-host of the Evangelicalish podcast, shares funny stories from her time deep within Christian nationalism, exploring how aspects of evangelical culture such as purity pledges, product boycotts, Satanic panic, and end-times theology have all been exploited to advance the Christian Nationalist narrative. She also illuminates the ways nationalist thinking has infiltrated our churches and political arenas, shaping not only modern evangelical culture but also American public policy and international relations.

Part memoir, part guidebook, part call to action, Star-Spangled Jesus explores how the fight to make America a “Christian nation” has damaged us all and shows how one woman left Christian Nationalism and why America should too.

My Review

Well, this was a cathartic read. Whew. Yeah, I did not know that I needed the validation of reading someone else experiencing some of the weird stuff that you grow up with in the Evangelical movement. The book is also pretty hilarious.

I’m close to the author’s age, so we had some similar experiences growing up in the Evangelical church. Some of the stories she tells—even the cringey ones—resonated with me a lot more than I’m comfortable admitting. Wowza.

I cackled through Ajoy’s stories about her fears about the rapture and heaven. It’s weird how deeply those ideas can get into your head and how they play out when you suddenly find yourself entirely alone at home.

It was also validating to read about the questions Ajoy asked herself on her journey. She encountered information or situations that went differently than her upbringing in the church led her to expect. Instead of ignoring those signposts, she began asking herself hard questions about what those things meant in the context of her faith.

I am encouraged to see people like April Ajoy boldly sharing the experience of taking a hard look at faith and carving a path forward through deconstructing harmful ideology. We need voices like these.

If you were raised in the Evangelical movement or a church that uplifts Christian Nationalism but have walked away from those ideas, I think you’d enjoy this book. I also think people who have never had this experience for themselves but are curious about what it’s like and want to read about it in a funny, that-was-then kind of way will find a lot to love about Star-Spangled Jesus.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
April is a white Christian woman married to a nonbinary person.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief, vague references to sex. (April relates once worrying about the world ending soon and thinking that she wants to have sex before she dies.)

Spiritual Content
Lots of discussion about Christian faith, beliefs, and practices.

Violent Content
Brief references to the 9-11 attack. References to some homophobic ideas that April was taught and believed as a teen and young adult.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.