A weekly recommendation to level up your book matchmaking.
Genre: Memoir, Graphic Novel
Age Range: 13-17
Summary: This graphic novel follows Chuna’s teenage years, starting as a 14-year-old in Seoul, South Korea. Raised by her single mom, Chuna loves the vibrancy of city-life and is devastated when she and her mom move to Alabama for her mom to marry a man named Minsik. Realizing that their life is in America now, Chuna changes her name to Robin and tries to fit in by drawing comic book figures. As time passes, Robin’s art helps her form a new community, even though her new family is unwelcoming and her mom’s marriage deteriorates. Robin and her mom have to figure out how to thrive in the US — even if that means starting over again.
Teaching with Almost American Girl
Recommend this book to students who:
- Loved Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga when they were younger and are ready for an older mother-daughter migration story.
- Enjoyed Huda F Are You by Huda Fahmy for its first person, coming-of-age, identity exploration story.
- Read Messy Roots by Laura Gao and appreciated the Asia to American immigration journey.
Read it for these themes:
Gender Expectations: As a single mother, Robin's mother was shamed in South Korea and then shamed again in Alabama for not always putting her husband's needs first. Readers see Robin's growing understanding of the pressure her mother faces and how her mother pushes back.
Building Authentic Friendships: We see Robing try (and fail) to make friends in Alabama, until she joins a comic drawing class. Once she leans into the hobby that she loves best, she makes real and lasting friendships.
My two cents: This beautifully illustrated graphic novel is both a coming-of-age memoir and a true story of why people migrate. If your students are trying to make sense of the push and pull factors that drive families to move, this is one story to help them grasp the concept.
Resource of the Week
Help students write their own migration stories with our Human Migration Personal Narrative writing activity. A series of graphic organizers guide students to brainstorm, interview a family member, and then publish their own stories.
Have a good one and learn everything you can,
Hannah
