This one contains children. (Acknowledgement of the vaguely creepy title.) On each spread, the right side iOh, I love me an insightful pictorial work.
This one contains children. (Acknowledgement of the vaguely creepy title.) On each spread, the right side is a full-page image of the child's bedroom. The left side includes a portrait of the child against a neutral background, and a paragraph of text about the child, including information such as school, work, what they want to be when they grow up, etc. At the beginning, Mollison includes a relatively short introduction, which talks about how he started working on the project. The ending includes a world map, designed in the same aesthetic as the cover, which indexes where the children featured are from, globally.
At first, I felt that the tiny size of the font in the only words on these pages was a problem - it is very small - difficult to read, in fact. However, minimizing the text feels like both a creative and methodical choice, as you are forced to treat the text almost as an afterthought, and definitely a compliment to the pictures, rather than the other way round. If you have trouble reading small fonts, I recommend that you come prepared with a magnification device - the words are definitely worth the read.
I found myself exclaiming out loud as I read a high proportion of these pages. One draws certain conclusions from these images, and then, often, those conclusions are shown to be... not necessarily the actual reality of this specific child. Also, the photographer was born in Kenya, and raised in Oxford, England. The way he talks about these kids feels different than the way I usually hear people talk about children. I was particularly fascinated by the bit about the kid in England dealing with mental illness. The system of restrictions on him is significant in its difference from this phenomenon in the United States.
Just a small sampling of the standouts to me: The punk from Scotland who's had a Mohawk since she was six. The "mummy's boy" from Italy. The heartbreaking beggar from Nepal. The eleven year old, bedroom all in camo, who owns two guns, but prefers to hunt with crossbow, and has a pet lizard named Lily. The 14-year-old who's been pregnant 3 times. The tearful five year old who lives in a shack and wants to be a nurse.
In the cases of children with dedicated bedrooms, with the privilege of décor, I wanted to know who had chosen that décor, and how it was chosen. I noticed the high number of children who wanted to be a teacher or medical person when they grew up, and this made me think about the question of Who are the idols of our culture? Mollison more-or-less alternates children on the two ends of the class spectrum.
Suffice it to say, I found this book thought-provoking. I finished it, and immediately handed it to my partner so she could read it too. Library-users: Cool pictorial books like this often hide deep in the nonfiction stacks. Put this book on hold!...more
These kinds of books are like the This American Life of coffee table books, in the most literal way. I love it.
Each spread features one full-page-bleThese kinds of books are like the This American Life of coffee table books, in the most literal way. I love it.
Each spread features one full-page-bleed, high-quality photographic portrait of a teen who identifies as part of the QUILTBAG community. The other side of the spread contains text which paints a verbal picture of the individual. The words don't fixate on their QUILTBAGness, necessarily - this project is more about taking a snapshot of what actual teens are like during this age of transition. The world - particularly amerika - is changing. And these teens will be the adults of tomorrow.
This one is not quite as largescale as many other books of its type: the pages are maybe 8 inches tall. But these are portraits of individuals, not Material World-style shots of detail. So the size is ok. This is a book you can curl up with.
As a youth-services professional, I spend a lot of my time talking with and about teenagers. But my exposure to specific teen stories is rarely broad. And in our roles as advocates, we speak for teens a LOT. Reading this book felt like a spot-check - a quick-and-dirty scan of whether my perception of their perspectives is near to the mark. Maybe it will be useful in that way for you, too....more
Super amazing poignant collection of photos with great great captions from many. I really enjoyed keeping it on my kitchen counter to flip through whiSuper amazing poignant collection of photos with great great captions from many. I really enjoyed keeping it on my kitchen counter to flip through while people cooked. Touching, heart-warmy, but so so real too....more
It's a beautifully designed book, and the story is inevitably heart-breaking.
It chronicles the relationship of the author withMade me cry, of course.
It's a beautifully designed book, and the story is inevitably heart-breaking.
It chronicles the relationship of the author with his significant other, who died while they were still engaged*.
Letters chronicling their travels, photographs of their adventures, drawings of her in the hospital, postcards from one to the other. It's a bit of a mishmash, a jumble, a potpourri of memories. There's a beauty in the mixed-bag feeling.
I never got the sense of who either of these people really were, though. I don't even know what she did as a career. And I didn't get the sense that she was particularly likable.
I wonder what is missing from the apparently-longer original paperback version.
That doesn't make it any less affecting, though.
My favorite parts where the traditionally paneled graphic novel sections - about their hijinks getting to France and of her funeral. Makes me really hope he does some autobio work in the future.
*I guess that's a spoiler, but really, you should know what you're getting into....more
Totally agree with reviewers who struggle with the small sample size and region, pointless booklist at the end, and the lack of clarity regarding how Totally agree with reviewers who struggle with the small sample size and region, pointless booklist at the end, and the lack of clarity regarding how the interviews were gathered.
That said, these are pretty beautiful examples of the teens getting lengthy chances to express themselves. This does mean that they are speaking their truth, which can be subjective and different from prevailing understandings and definitions. And sometimes these statements are repeated by the author/editor as fact. For example: the definition of "intersex" on page 121. Also, one of the teens talks about having PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome):
The third doctor [...] said that I had PCOS. PCOS means that during my development in the womb, it wasn't clear whether I wanted testes or ovaries. That's how I understand it, but maybe a doctor will give you a better explanation.
Has anyone ever heard this before about PCOS? Because it was total news to me, which seems odd since I have the thing.
I appreciated the pictures (where included) and the longform chapters on each kid. I appreciate that we are living in a time where queer issues shift on a constant basis. That one person's identity is not necessarily a constant. That even though I feel like there might be a better word for this subtitle than "transgender," that my definitions aren't absolutes either.
It's messy, writing about people. Especially as an outsider of the group you're trying to capture (an assumption on my part about Kuklin). I do these little interview vids of teens at events at the library, and I KNOW how tricky it is to edit a teen so that they are authentically shown. Just having this cover on your display shows safety. And maybe that's enough.
Fun book full of large pictures of birds and fun facts about them. Not as many weird attributes as I was hoping for, and sometimes the bird photos didFun book full of large pictures of birds and fun facts about them. Not as many weird attributes as I was hoping for, and sometimes the bird photos didn't fully satisfy me (I want a photo of the attribute and a clear shot of the bird as well). Also, I think it would have benefitted from maps on each page with the bird's geographic regions marked (you know, like in the bird books). But I'm a map person. Sometimes (ok, often) the text got into either cheesey humor or boring content, so I don't think I'll be selling it to my primary audiences any time soon. But it was a fun one to have around the house for the last few days of my mom's visit for us to read parts of to each other....more
The Scientists in the Field series profiles scientists working in areas from astronomy to wildlife forensics. This volume in the series features Tom MThe Scientists in the Field series profiles scientists working in areas from astronomy to wildlife forensics. This volume in the series features Tom McCarthy, “the blue-eyed, bearded conservation director of the Seattle-based Snow Leopard Trust.” The writer and photographer for the book take readers on a trip with McCarthy to the Altai Mountains in Mongolia, where he studies the native snow leopards. The book is full of full-color photographs and illustrations, with sidebars on various aspects of Mongolia and scientific research. McCarthy’s entourage members are each described. In addition to the cultural, scientific, and narrative information, attention is paid to the way that McCarthy came to the field, describing his journey through education and previous jobs. This real-world perspective is beneficial for kids who may be interested in the field as their career. Although occasionally the text overwhelms the photography, overall, this is a well-rounded book about a little-known topic and region of the world....more
Surprisingly small for a photo-book. Each spread shows a black and white photo of an odd job, with a title, location and description on the opposite pSurprisingly small for a photo-book. Each spread shows a black and white photo of an odd job, with a title, location and description on the opposite page. Gross (Colonics Therapist) to obscure (Duckmaster), it's fun to watch the parade. Some of them don't seem like they could possibily support someone, and some of the descriptions seem to hint that some are only partial occupations. Which was a little disappointing, as I thought this would be a good source of "look all the bizarre stuff you can do full-time" for teens, but if they're only part of a job or a part-time job, it loses some of the impact for me. Fascinating, entertaining, and a good quick read none-the-less....more
It's a cool idea - put cameras in the hands of teens and invite them to create a photo book. They write the copy, they take the pictures, they lay it It's a cool idea - put cameras in the hands of teens and invite them to create a photo book. They write the copy, they take the pictures, they lay it out. It's a great large-scale project.
What ends up rising to the surface as a theme (at least for me) is exactly how and how much school sucks. It's very thoroughly articulated and you can feel the "I'm writing an essay and it's actually about my life for once" vibe shining through.
But for me, it ended up feeling like Yearbook-Class-Goes-Wild.
The layouts are fairly yearbook, most of the photos are eh, the text is reportish. I would definitely recommend it to teachers and other "let's change the education system from the inside" types, but I don't see many kids getting much out of reading it. Personally, I stopped reading the text about a third of the way through and just flipped for the photos.
I saw a documentary with film footage from teens in a project like this that showed more of their private lives, more of their homelife. Though this has chapters supposedly about their neighborhoods and home lives, the photos in those chapters are less than illuminating.
Definitely worth having in a library collection - I'm all for giving teens a voice - but more for the educator types....more
What a cool concept. This is a book that shows pictures of people and the avatars they created online. It includes some basic facts about each pair, aWhat a cool concept. This is a book that shows pictures of people and the avatars they created online. It includes some basic facts about each pair, and includes an excerpt of the person talking about their avatar, their relationship to gaming, gaming in general, etc. Totally fascinating. Sometimes the avatars look identical to their creators. Sometimes they look completely different. And that's pretty much all I had to say to a teen to get his eyes to light up. Such a fun book to flip through. I read it all the way through, which exposed some issues. For one thing, this came out in 2007, which means the content gathering must have happened in the couple of years before that. So the games the people were playing were different. Second Life has a huge presence (are people still even using that?). The CG isn't always very good compared with what we're used to currently. And the book itself is tall and skinny, which can sometimes be difficult to hold open while you read. Totally worth flipping through, and would definitely catch teen interest, but I'm not sure how low to booktalk this. Jr. high? Would definitely be fine content-wise, but might be a bit sophisticated for wide-release at that level....more
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