SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About/Contact
  • Previews
  • Reviews
  • Manga
  • All Ages
  • Young Adult
  • Interviews
  • News

November 8, 2011 by Robin Brenner

Question Tuesday: Windows & Mirrors

November 8, 2011 by Robin Brenner   4 comments

Graphic novels and comics, just like other formats in kids and teen media, still have a ways to go to be a medium that consistently reflects the diversity and variation in our world, but I am always happy to see titles that broaden our views. In reading Craig Thompson’s Habibi (very much not for kids) this past week, however, I was struck by how powerful the graphic format is in giving readers mirrors, reflecting themselves in the wider world, and windows, entering into cultures and communities that are outside our immediate experience.  It made me ask myself: what are my favorite titles that give us such views?

This week I’ve decided to take a look at titles for kids and teens that do an exceptional job of hanging up those mirrors and showing us the view through those windows.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

When Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis hit the shelves in the US in 2003, book clubs and longtime comics readers alike were reminded of the power of comics in showing another place and time. Most importantly, the title portrayed the complexity of what seemed to many a monolithic, impenetrable society. Along with the young Marjane, who loves her heritage and country dearly even as she challenges its flaws and quizzes her family about hypocrisies, the reader viscerally experiences just how much Iran is not its government or political propaganda alone but is as varied and contradictory as any country. While the second volume veers into teen and adult territory, the first volume appeals strongly to younger teen readers and can provoke a rich discussion.

Guy Delisle’s charming travelogues, including Pyongyang, Shenzen, and The Burma Chronicles, take readers into countries few Westerners enter and reports back with humor, attentive observations, and a clear eye for the differences and similarities that teach us as much about our own prejudices as foreign territories. Delisle relates his adventures with a reporter’s clearness, trusting readers to draw their own conclusions about his interactions with locals and tangles with political restrictions. Teen readers will find fertile ground in these volumes for discussing the sources of stereotypes and nationhood.

Barry Deutsch’s Hereville does a remarkable job showing an Orthodox Jewish community from the inside, underscoring the truth of that society despite the whimsical fairy tale touches. While giving us the delightful story of Mirka’s desire to be a troll-fighting heroine for the ages, Deutsch also relates details of daily life that might puzzle outsiders. His amiable tone keeps variations from seeming bizarre and instead explanations read as informative notes about the culture the readers now find themselves in.

Aside from all of these windows, there is just as much a need for mirrors. So many readers don’t see themselves in comics and its important to celebrate those titles that widen representation.

There’s something to be said for characters that are simply visible.  Johnny Hiro tells the tale of an ordinary guy running into all kinds of sci-fi, superhero, and adventure problems, from rampaging monsters to ronin. Johnny also happens to be half-Asian (and all hero, as the book’s tagline exclaims), and his girlfriend Mayumi is Japanese. This shouldn’t be a startling occurrence, but it’s important to remember that having a traditional, light-hearted and pop-culture-filled adventure story starring someone who’s not Caucasian is the exception. Incidental diversity of all kinds should be what we aim for in comics and media.

I turn to the outstanding series Wandering Son by Takako Shimura, recently published in a gorgeous hardcover edition by Fantagraphics, for a uncommon mirror indeed. You might expect I’m bringing up a manga series to draw the connections between Japanese culture and our own, but this series offers a far more rare glimpse: a delicate look at gender identity. In Wandering Son, two fifth graders discover they share the desire to present as the opposite gender: Shuichi wants nothing more than to wear his friend’s cute dress, while Yoshino leans more and more toward a masculine identity. By the end of the first volume, neither really even knows how to talk about what they’re feeling, and we readers must wait to see where these feelings lead. The book’s very existence could help young teens begin to think about gender expectations and sympathize with peers who might be struggling with similar questions. Japanese manga can be full of stereotypes about gender, frequently exaggerated and ridiculed for comic purposes, but Wandering Son is a stand out because it sidesteps melodrama or sensationalizing gender difference.

These are just a few of my favorite titles, but I’d love to hear from you about your favorites titles that add to our understanding of the wider world.

The Good Comics for Kids Question Tuesday column is here to do one thing: answer your questions! To send in your questions for the next Question Tuesday, please go to our form here or send out a tweet to me at @nfntrobin or to all of us at @goodcomics4kids. We will endeavor to answer as many questions as possible in our weekly column. All questions are due in by Friday at midnight so we’ll have a chance to write up the answers for the next week.

Filed under: Question Tuesday

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Robin Brenner

Robin Brenner is Teen Librarian at the Brookline Public Library in Massachusetts. When not tackling programs and reading advice at work, she writes features and reviews for publications including VOYA, Early Word, Library Journal, and Knowledge Quest. She has served on various awards committees, from the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards to the Boston Globe Horn Book Awards. She is the editor-in-chief of the graphic novel review website No Flying No Tights.

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

February 2012

Question Tuesday: Graphic Biographies too fictional?

by Robin Brenner

January 2012

Question Tuesday: Fans Taking Over

by Robin Brenner

December 2011

Question Tuesday: Weeding

by Robin Brenner

October 2011

Question Tuesday: Age Ratings Snapshot

by Robin Brenner

October 2011

Question Tuesday: What about age ratings?

by Robin Brenner

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

One Star Review, Guess Who? (#184)

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Announcing the 2023 Winners of the Annual Blueberry Literary Award!

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Review: Victory! Stand!

by Esther Keller

Heavy Medal

March suggestions: early Mock Newbery possibilities

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

The Transformative Power of Books, a guest post by David Aleman

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Newbery Medalist Amina Luqman-Dawson visits The Yarn

by Colby Sharp

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Shoujo Manga: Let's Hear It for the Girls | Mondo Manga

A Woman’s Place Is in a Graphic Novel: Outstanding Works for Young Readers Center Women in History

Free Comics, and Resources on COVID-19, in Graphic Form

13 Graphic Novels To Look Forward to in 2020 | Stellar Panels 

Eight Graphic Works that Offer Fresh Perspectives on the Past | Stellar Panels

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kat Kan says

    November 8, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    I would add the Aya books by Marguerite Abouet, although they’re probably better suited for high school age teens. Lovely, lovely color-drenched art in stories set in 1970s Cote d’Ivoire.

    And I think that Yotsuba&! does a wonderful job of showing contemporary suburban Japanese life – look beyond little Yotsuba’s silly (and fun) exploits to see the neighborhood, the little shops, the schools, the house interiors. Readers who pay attentnion to the art will get a pretty good idea of what everyday life in Japanese cities is all about.

  2. Robin Brenner says

    November 8, 2011 at 4:57 pm

    Good call on Aya — that is an outstanding series.

    That’s also good to hear about Yotsuba&! I had been trying to think of a series that did just that, so thanks. I was also brainstorming titles that add a distinct cultural note, like Kim Dong Hwa’s Color series or Marley’s Dokebi Bride or, of course, Kaoru Mori’s A Bride’s Story.

  3. Kat Kan says

    November 10, 2011 at 5:27 am

    As far as teens seeing themselves reflected in the stories, I think Gene Luen Yang’s books are outstanding for that. And Derek Kirk Kim’s Same Difference. And the anthology Secret Identities. All of these books work for Asian Americans.

  4. Kat Kan says

    November 10, 2011 at 5:28 am

    And how could I forget Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki?

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023