"A wonderful book about figuring out who we are and who we want to be
when we grow up. It's also about being an American--especially a
first-generation American." --Roz Chast
This graphic-novel debut from an acclaimed picture book creator is a
powerfully moving memoir of the author's experiences with family,
religion, and coming of age in the aftermath of World War II, and the
childhood struggles and family secrets that shaped her.
It's 1950s New York, and Marisabina Russo is being raised Catholic and
attending a Catholic school that she loves--but when she finds out that
she's Jewish by blood, and that her family members are Jewish survivors
of the Holocaust, her childhood is thrown into turmoil. To make matters
more complicated, her father is out of the picture, her mother is
ambitious and demanding, and her older half-brothers have troubles, too.
Following the author's young life into the tumultuous, liberating 1960s,
this heartfelt, unexpectedly humorous, and meticulously illustrated
graphic-novel memoir explores the childhood burdens of memory and guilt,
and Marisabina's struggle and success in forming an identity entirely
her own.