Challenge Corner discussion

Mira Jacob's touching, often humorous, and utterly unique graphic memoir takes readers on her journey as a first-generation American. At an increasingly fraught time for immigrants and their families, Good Talk delves into the difficult conversations about race, sex, love, and family that seem to be unavoidable these days.

Inspired by her popular BuzzFeed piece "37 Difficult Questions from My Mixed-Raced Son," here are Jacob's responses to her six-year-old, Zakir, who asks if the new president hates brown boys like him; uncomfortable relationship advice from her parents, who came to the United States from India one month into their arranged marriage; and the imaginary therapy sessions she has with celebrities from Bill Murray to Madonna. Jacob also investigates her own past, from her memories of being the only non-white fifth grader to win a Daughters of the American Revolution essay contest to how it felt to be a brown-skinned New Yorker on 9/11. As earnest and moving as they are sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, these are the stories that have formed one American life.

I'm reading the audiobook which is a little strange because it's a graphic novel, but it says it has a full cast, so!

25% (view spoiler)[ I actually don't love the art style and am glad I read as an audio! The full cast is great. (hide spoiler)]

50% (view spoiler)[ This is very poignant. I especially love the conversations on colorism and how POC can still be racist in different ways. (hide spoiler)]

Finished (view spoiler)[Overall I really enjoyed this! I didn't like the art style, but the audiobook was great and I loved the writing. An awful lot of food for thought in here! (hide spoiler)]

25% (view spoiler)[Going into education, this is really important. Kids have these questions, and people don't know how to address them. I think it's the right time for an own voices memoir detailing these conversations and what they look like with young children.

p.47 - "M.V. doesn't ask about it because she's four. And even if she were older, she'd still be white."

I resonate with this line from Mira's friend Allison. As a kid, I never had these questions, and I never realized others did even at such a young age. In today's world, it's hard to know how to approach these topics with kids, and books like this are good guidance for all parents, teachers, and caregivers. (hide spoiler)]

Melanie wrote: "I'm reading the audiobook which is a little strange because it's a graphic novel, but it says it has a full cast, so!"

That sounds like an interesting experience. And yeah, the art style is throwing me off a bit too. I'm curious as to why she decided to use black and white for everything.

62% (view spoiler)[I like the dual timeline on this, especially when the past is interspersed with the present. How do we talk about these things with kids, and what do we say? How do we tell stories in a meaningful way without causing fear of everyone around us in children? (hide spoiler)]

Celia wrote: "25% ."

Oh! Good point

Celia wrote: "62% [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ Yes I love the dual timeline! I think it was a really good choice for this book! (hide spoiler)]

80% (view spoiler)[I grew up in the era of Obama. I was eight years old when the first black president took the world by storm, or seemingly so at eight years old. Everyone I knew idolized him. As kids, we saw possibility and change as reflected by adults in my community.

I tutored a ten-year-old (white) boy with special needs whose first experience with real knowledge of politics and the presidency was Trump. His parents are very progressive, and after the session I was talking to his dad about current events. The boy came up and just said, "I don't like Trump, when is he going to leave?" This was early 2020, just before the pandemic hit. I wonder if the boy and his brothers (around 7 and 4 at the time) had said similar things to their parents often.

I think this was the first time I realized how growing up in the Obama presidency affected me, and conversely, how growing up in the Trump presidency is also affecting our society today. Mira Jacob touches on this as she approaches the issue of how to talk to her son about current events, and I imagine these conversations would have been even harder in families where kids think they look different from their parents, or from those around them as a whole. It is so important to teach kids what it means to be an American as a person who is different, and who can make a difference. (hide spoiler)]

FINISHED (view spoiler)[This is an incredibly powerful and thought-provoking book that is a rare graphic novel that has so much more in the words than the art, but the art helps to illustrate everything in the way that it happened. (hide spoiler)]

Thanks for asking to BR this Melanie. I'm really glad I had the chance to read it and check it off my list since I won an ARC in a giveaway two years ago, it was definitely something I needed right about now.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I really did too! Thank you for the br :)

Melanie wrote: "I'm so glad you enjoyed it! I really did too! Thank you for the br :)"

Absolutely! Thanks for the BR request, I would have forgotten about this one and I've been meaning to read it for a while.