Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

11 reviews

staticsmouse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0

I wasn’t expecting this to be a comic book going in. My review is skewed because I started this book exhausted with the intent to finish and that’s what I did. I thought it was beautifully drawn and it was dark in message but it was a good story. I don’t like how it’s hard to figure out what page you are on because only half the pages have page numbers.

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vagorsol's review against another edition

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3.5

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msalishajane's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

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mandi4886's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

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temporarilyhuman's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

The author's note at the end is a must read. There more than anywhere else in the book we see the author's growth and understanding, especially in regards to his mother.

The inclusion of photos of actual letter and drawings gives this book a little something extra that helps it hit home. I think it was a very good choice to include them.

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pockymonster_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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maggie333's review

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dark emotional funny inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

this book is beautifully put together. it has really helped me come to terms with addiction in y own family.

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kbhasi's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Unlike Jarrett's other works which are fiction and aimed at children, this is a memoir (non-fiction) and is aimed at young adults, at least from what I recall reading author interviews. Based on what I've seen in other reviews on Goodreads, this may confuse some readers who may be more familiar with his other works, which are aimed at children, so I thought I'd attempt to clarify.

Yes, this is a graphic novel, which means that I can read it! (I have Asperger's, and seem to have trouble reading regular novels)

Also, to prove that this is a book aimed at young adults and adults, I should mention that some of the dialogue in this book contains strong language, but I feel this is a story that shouldn't be censored, and I can handle it in this context as I'm an adult and this is technically non-fiction, while I can't handle strong language in fiction.

This book covers most of the author's past and how he came to be, which is in no way a stereotypical childhood.

This was my introduction to this author's works, and I discovered it through news of it winning the Harvey and Audie awards, as well as the official Twitter page for Scholastic Graphix. Before reading this, I never knew that just like me, he too had a rocky past, but I'd say he had it worse, at least before the turning point, and eventually coming out. To say the least, there are A LOT of moments in this book that I can relate to, despite having grown up in a completely different part of the world and generation to him.

Besides this, when it comes to the rest of his works, which are instead aimed at children, he's best known for the "Lunch Lady" series, which I may eventually take a look at, as a number of the fiction books I read are aimed more at preteens. As of posting this review, he also has "Draw Every Day with JJK" and "Origin Stories with JJK" videos on YouTube (the former on his kid-oriented page, the latter on his adult-oriented page), which are additional sources of inspiration for me!

If it weren't for this book, I'd think Jarrett was just another successful author. Honestly, reading this book and seeing where he is today as an award-winning author, motivates me. I'm sure there'll be the day where I can collect and piece together enough (mostly negative) memories of my childhood and teenage years to make a book out of, which will of course have to be in the format of either an illustrated or graphic novel as I have trouble reading regular novels. 😔

I'm trying to resist the urge to mention how it ends, but the story feels not necessarily like an emotional rollercoaster ride, but more like an emotional long-distance train ride. I can understand why it won a Harvey Award in 2019.

I'm looking forward to reading (and possibly listening to) 'Sunshine', his second memoir, which appears to be a midquel that takes place in between some of the events mentioned on pages 262-263 (chapter 8) of this book (reader app page numbers 270-271 in the digital edition). I forgot to note down the time code for the audiobook.

Audiobook specific info:

You could listen to the audio or read the print/digital book on their own, but I decided to read the book while listening to the audiobook.

While it may be slower to read this way, the audio not only adds an extra dimension to the reading experience, but also helps me uncover certain elements in the graphic novel that I wouldn't otherwise notice as someone who never grew up in the US, one of the smaller things being the correct pronunciation of 'Worcester' (Jarrett's hometown) and various other names that I got wrong when reading the book on its own, but there were many other elements, such as descriptions of what certain characters were doing.

I would also take notes while reading, primarily in order to compare moments from his childhood to those of mine, of which many memories would resurface after many years while reading. (Of course, a separate note as I was reading a public library copy)

This is actually the first audiobook I've ever listened to, besides that one time I was surfing through audio channels on an in-flight entertainment system in the late '00s or early '10s and came across what I didn't know at the time could've been an audiobook.

The art style in the print and digital editions do carry a special meaning (explained at the end of the book, even in the audio!), but the audio is quite an experience in and of itself, especially with the cast. The inclusion of the original voices of some people, as well as some of their children playing the roles of their younger selves, and licenced music in accordance with what was actually played back then, really set this apart from what I think a regular audiobook of a regular novel would be like. Yes, the audiobook has end credits.

The audio doesn't feel like what I can picture of a typical audiobook of a regular novel, that's for sure, rather, it's more like a radio show (according to another person somewhere else, and I agree), and the full cast, plus sound effects and music, do complement the print/digital being a graphic novel!

(This review was originally posted to Goodreads. I'm mentioning this as I find Google Play Books to repost Goodreads reviews without linking to the original posts and crediting the original user who posted the review)

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ellav's review

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dark emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

This book was so inspiring, and it was just an awesome story of a person struggling with family addiction. I loved the story of how he became what he wanted to be despite his terrible family situation. I think this book is a must read for anyone struggling with addiction, or who has experienced others with the same problem. It will definitely change the way you look at things.

I loved the illustrations, because they worked so well for the concept of the book and the chapter headers we so cool. It was such a wonderful idea to include personal letters and pictures, because it made the experience seem even more intimate and real. Also, the pineapple wallpaper was just such a great touch 😊

This book broke that cliche of the traditional happy family. It showed real life with people that had real problems. This is a book I would recommend to anyone, because people need to see this.

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ina_loves_books's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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