DRAWING FROM MEMORY by Allen Say ~ Culture 5

DRAWING FROM MEMORY by Allen Say

Author: Allen Say

Title:  Drawing From Memory

Illustrator: Allen Say

Publisher:  Scholastic Press

Publication Date: 2011

ISBN:  9780545176866

Plot Summary

This graphic novel biography chronicles the early life of Caldecott Medalist Allen Say when he lived in Japan during WWII. Say asked for and received tutelage from Noro Shinpei, Japan’s premier cartoonist. Say’s watercolor paintings, original cartoons, vintage photographs and maps encourages the artist in all of us.

Critical Analysis

Readers who know nothing about author and illustrator Allen Say will be quickly hooked on this autobiography-turned-quasi-graphic-novel. The black and white pictures over Say’s drawings add interest and authenticity to the text, making you want to turn the page to find out what happens next. Say’s drawings and photographs hit all the cultural markers making this an excellent example of Asian Pacific American literature. Say uses a variety of skin colors, hairstyles, facial features, and body types to represent the people of Japan from a drawn picture of his smiling first-grade grammar school teacher to a stark black and white drawing of police battling protesters. Clothing ranges from traditional Japanese (his mother’s old uncle) to 1950s-era modern clothing (Miss Saito the music teacher and his friend Orito-son). His line-art drawings of his various dwellings vary from traditional Japanese architecture to 1950s cities with various modes of transportation included - like fishing boats at the seashore or the smooth lines of a taxi in the city.

Say describes in his text that his father and grandmother disapproved of his drawing talent and desire to become a cartoonist. “Grandmother had lived alone until I came, and I made her unhappy. ‘Drawing again!’ she would say. ‘You’ll never amount to anything!’ She sounded just like my father, who believed artists were unrespectable” (p. 15). At the age of 12, Say was given a one-room apartment to attend a prestigious school – and he lived there by himself! It was during this time that Say found a sensei and father figure in Noro Shinpei, a famous cartoonist: “Sensei drew the characters and the speech balloons. Tokida put in the backgrounds. I inked the skies and hairdos and clothing. There was no other place in the world I wanted to be” (p. 30).

And then suddenly Say’s father sends news that he is moving to America and wanted Say to join him. Say decides to leave Japan, Shinpei, and his mother, sister and grandmother. He cleans out his one-room apartment and burns all of his drawings and sketchbooks: “By the end of the next day, my room was empty except for my drawings and sketchbooks. I took them out to the vacant yard and made a bonfire. In an hour they turned to ashes. I felt free…” (p. 56). Now the reader realizes the point of the book’s title: Drawing From Memory.

I admit that I fell hard for this book and Say’s life story. I was disappointed that the story ended abruptly in Japan when Say was 15 years old. Did his father ever accept him as an artist? Did his family ever learn of his success as an artist? What did he think of America when he first arrived? I feel there should be a sequel to this soap opera!

Reviews

• Booklist (2011): “His narrative is fascinating, winding through formative early-teen experiences in Japan as he honed his skills and opened his eyes to the greater world around him. This heavily illustrated autobiography features Say’s characteristically strong artwork. The visually stunning sequences include a standout scene in which the young artist and a friend stumble upon a massive demonstration, which is depicted as a huge crowd of people that snakes down one page and is stopped short by a brick wall of police on the next. The scrapbook format features photographs, many of them dim with age; sketchbook drawings; and unordered, comic-book-style panels that float around wide swathes of text and unboxed captions, and the overall effect is sometimes disjointed. Still, as a portrait of a young artist, this is a powerful title that is both culturally and personally resonant.”
• Kirkus (2011): “Aesthetically superb; this will fascinate comics readers and budding artists while creating new Say fans.”
• VOYA (2011): “Say’s autobiographical story introduces readers to Japanese culture of the 1940s and 50s. Teens will envy the extreme independence accorded to Say at such an early age. The mixture of text, sketches, and photographs illustrates Say’s development as an artist and provides a glimpse into his youth and the lives of those closest to him. This book is sure to appeal to reluctant readers. Its brief text and plentiful graphics make it a quick but fulfilling read, and leave the reader wanting more.”

Awards

• 2011 Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Book Award, gold
• 2012 Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Medal, honor book
• 2013 Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award for Children’s Literature, winner

Connections

• Learn more about author and artist Allen Say at the publisher’s site for him: http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/authors/allensay/author.shtml
• Teachers can use this book as part of a teaching series on authors and illustrators. Other examples could include H.A. Rey, Dr. Seuss, Marc Brown, Stan and Jan Berenstain, etc.
• Learn more about Allen Say from the interviews of him on TeachingBooks.net

Bibliography

Cover, Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Personal photograph by Amy Wilson. November 12, 2017.

Say, Allen. Drawing From Memory. New York, NY: Scholastic Press, 2011. ISBN 9780545176866