Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett Krosoczka

An autobiographical graphic novel about Jarrett Krosoczka’s childhood and how he overcame the absence of his father and mother. 

General Information:

• Age Range: 12 and up
• Price: $8.15
• Grade Level: 7 – 9
• Lexile Measure: 510
• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Graphix (October 9, 2018)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0545902487
• ISBN-13: 978-0545902489

Plot:

Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett Krosoczka is a graphic novel that recently became a National Book Award Finalist. It is an autobiographical look into Jarrett’s childhood and his relationship with his mother and his grandparents who ultimately raised him. Jarrett grew up with his mother dipping in and out of his life as she dealt what ultimately was a losing battle with Heroin addiction. His Grandparents raised him and did a wonderful job even though they were not perfect either with both of them being described as “chain-smoking, hard-drinking people with sailor mouths”. Ultimately Jarrett uses his love of art and drawing to either advance himself or help cope with what was happening in his life at the time and the book shows how perseverance and doing something that you love coupled with support from some loved ones can set your life on the right track.

Reading and Interest Level:

Hey, Kiddo is marketed by Baker and Taylor for grades 7-9 and ages 12-14, though I think the interest level for this book should be extended throughout high school as the book is a slice of life of Jarrett and would appeal to older teens as well.

Evaluation:

Hey, Kiddo is an extremely well written and valuable piece of literature that libraries should be including on their shelves. The story has terrific pace and the art is subtle but tells an incredible story on its own without Jarrett’s excellent dialogue. This book is something that so many teens could relate to and is written and drawn in an engaging and highly entertaining way. It is effective by explaining various problems within Jarrett’s childhood while also highlighting the positives and how the mixture of the two plus his drawing really paved the way for who he has become today.

Bibliotherapeutic Value:

The bibliotherapeutic value of this book is so immense that I could write an essay on the topic, however, I would like to just highlight some topics that personally hit home and I am sure will resonate with teen readers. This book touches upon the idea of being in foster care or at the very least having your parents lose guardianship over their children. It deals with the hold that addiction has on families and how it can be passed down from parent to child whether it be drug and alcohol or something else. Teens can see that they may not be the only one who had a childhood similar to Jarrett’s. Personally this book has many parallels to my own life and childhood and I found great value in reading it which leads me to believe that their are likely many others as well.

Issues Present:

The issues present within the book may end up being frequently challenged due to its marketed age group. It is marketed for middle schoolers and young high school teens and there is a lot of drug references, swearing and the images can provoke powerful feelings. This book is extremely new so I have not found anything on it being officially challenged yet but it would not be surprising as it contains various subjects that tend to be darker. There is frequent smoking and drinking depicted in the images as well as Jarrett dealing with other more typical childhood problems.

Defending the Title:

In defense of the book however it is clear that this book takes on tougher subject matter but it does so without being graphic (very important in a graphic novel as the visualization is a very powerful tool). All of the things Jarrett talks about are very real issues that many kids and teens may have previously gone through or may be going through at the current time. Also many of the issues end up having long term impact of people that they have to deal with the rest of their lives. Some are born with super addictive personalities due to the drug use while in prenatal care, others may be bullied relentlessly causing social trauma and a lack of social skills. This book addresses these issues and is a terrific tool for kids to be able to gain insight into their plights or maybe plights of their close friends to gain a better overall understanding.

Book Talk Idea:

The book talk idea that I have for this book would be to follow Jarrett’s interactions with his mother throughout the story. I think that the letters that he chose to put in the story make for some interesting interactions and could spark a good dialogue within the book discussion. Since it is a graphic novel there are  no page numbers for me to give as examples but their are numerous possibilities. For example when Jarrett was talking about his birthdays he mentions the time his mom showed up and held his birthday in the middle of summer at a McDonald’s just to surprise him and let him enjoy a birthday with friends.

Genre:

The genre of Hey, Kiddo is Teen Non-Fiction – Biographical. Its subject matter follows the childhood of its author Jarrett Krosoczka and how he dealt with his families issues while growing up.

Similar Reads:

Authors Website:

http://www.studiojjk.com/

Awards Won:

None at the moment though is is up for the National Book Award. Book just recently got published.

Professional Reviews:

https://www.hbook.com/2018/10/choosing-books/review-of-the-week/review-hey-kiddo/

https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=This-Was-a-Book-I-Needed-To-Write-Jarrett-J-Krosoczka-On-Hey-Kiddo

https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jarrett-j-krosoczka/hey-kiddo/

Why I chose to read this book?

At Warren Newport Public Library, where I currently work, I order the graphic novels and manga for the juvenile and teen sections. I came across this book months ago to pre-order before I even knew about this class. I found a lot of parallels between my early childhood and what Jarrett had to go through which really intrigued me. Also I like a good graphic novel and the art in Hey, Kiddo is exceptionally well done. When you combine all those factors together it really got me interested and that is why I chose to read this book.