Sticky Notes: A Reader Response Blog

The Basics Title: Persepolis Author: Marjane Satrapi Genre: Graphic Memoir / Autobiography Publication Year: 2000 (original French edition; English translation 2003) Pages: ~160 Awards & Recognition Angoulême Coup de Coeur Award (France’s top comics festival) ALA Notable Book New York Times Notable Book First, a Quick (No-Spoilers) Summary Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel about growing up in Iran during and after the Islamic Revolution. The story is told through Marjane’s perspective as a child and then a teenager, which gives the narrative a really unique balance of innocence and awareness. We see her trying to make sense of massive political and cultural shifts while still navigating everyday life, family, school, identity, and growing up. The graphic novel format makes complex history feel accessible, but it never waters anything down. Instead, it brings you closer to the human experience behind the headlines. It’s personal, political, and deeply gr...

Details, detail, details Title: American Born Chinese Author: Gene Luen Yang Genre: Graphic novel / Contemporary realistic fiction with elements of mythology Publication Year: 2006 Pages: 240 Awards & Recognition Printz Award Winner (2007) National Book Award Finalist (Young People’s Literature, 2006) Eisner Award Winner (Best Graphic Album, 2007) First, a Quick, Spoiler-Free Summary This story weaves together three seemingly separate narratives. The first centers on the Monkey King, a powerful figure from Chinese mythology who struggles with how he is perceived and sets out to change his place in the world. The second follows Jin Wang, a Chinese American student trying to navigate school, friendships, and the everyday pressures of fitting in. His story captures moments of awkwardness, small wins, and difficult choices as he grows up. The third introduces Danny, a seemingly typical American teenager whose life gets turned upside down by the annual visit of his over-the-top cousin, ...

Howdy readers. Here is the blog for Book 7, fresh off the fingers.  Book Details Title: They Called Us Enemy Author: George Takei, Justin Eisinger, and Steven Scott (illustrated by Harmony Becker) Genre: Graphic memoir / historical nonfiction Publication Year: 2019 Number of Pages: 208 Major Awards and Recognition American Book Award (2020) Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (2020) Eisner Award Nominee for Best Reality-Based Work YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award Finalist A Brief, Spoiler-Free Summary They Called Us Enemy tells the childhood story of George Takei, best known to many people as Sulu from Star Trek, but here writing about a much earlier chapter of his life. As a young Japanese American during World War II, Takei and his family were forcibly removed from their home and imprisoned in U.S. internment camps following the signing of an executive order by the POTUS. The graphic memoir follows his family’s journey through multiple camps and the c...

Okey dokey folks...welcome back. If you are just joining us, we are talking about book 6 of my Young Adult Reader Response Blog. Buckle up cause this is a great book. Book Snapshot Title: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Author: Sherman Alexie Genre: Realistic Fiction / Semi-Autobiographical Memoir Publication Year: 2007 Pages: 230 Major Awards and Recognition National Book Award for Young People’s Literature (2007) American Indian Youth Literature Award (2008) Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Honor Book (2008) Also widely known for appearing on banned and challenged book lists in several school districts A Brief, Spoiler-Free Summary The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is written as a memoir-style narrative told through the voice of Arnold Spirit Jr., better known as Junior. Junior is a teenager growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation who decides to transfer to a mostly white high school off the reservation in hopes of finding better opportunities. The stor...

Howdy folks. Welcome back. Let's talk book five. Free Lunch by Rex Ogle is a young adult memoir published in 2019. Clocking in at 208 pages, this National Book Award Finalist for Young People’s Literature tells the story of Ogle’s seventh-grade year navigating poverty, abuse, and the daily realities of being “the free lunch kid.” It’s categorized as YA nonfiction/memoir, but it reads with the pacing and emotional pull of a novel, which makes it incredibly accessible for adolescent readers. In addition to being a National Book Award Finalist, Free Lunch has earned multiple starred reviews and was widely recognized for its unflinching honesty about childhood poverty in America. It’s one of those books that quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) demands attention. A Brief, Spoiler-Free Summary At its core, Free Lunch follows Rex during his middle school years after his family falls into extreme poverty. His mom is struggling. His stepdad is abusive. Money is scarce, like, really sca...

  Okey dokey. Let's talk about The   Crossover (240 pages), award-winning novel-in-verse by Kwame Alexander. This young adult contemporary story centers on basketball, brotherhood, and family, but it does it all through poetry. That alone was enough to make me curious. I had never read a novel in verse before, and honestly, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But from the opening pages, I was hooked. But, this book didn’t just resonate with me, it resonated with a lot of people. The   Crossover won the Newbery Medal (2015), was named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book, and appeared on numerous American Library Association and best-of-the-year lists. It’s one of those rare books that is both critically acclaimed and wildly accessible to young readers. A Quick, Spoiler-Free Summary At its core, this is a story about twin brothers, Josh and Jordan Bell, who live and breathe basketball. Their dad is a former professional player, their world revolves around the court, and their bond i...