Drawing From Memory

Say, A. (2011). Drawing from memory. New York: Scholastic Press.  One way to capture the memories of the past is though drawing them, just like Allen Say did. Through his illustrations, Say paid tribute to his mentor who guided him in his illustrations and his journey to America. As the world around him changed, so did Say’s understanding of what he was supposed to do in his life, work everyday all day doing the same thing or captivating his ever changing world around him through his drawings.

The diction of Say’s graphic novel are careful and gentle to the reader and calming as one readers his story of his journey to America.  Say is able to convey to his readers how he felt growing up in Japan wanting to become a cartoonist, even when it was disapproved of.  He elaborated his love of drawing and the struggles he endured when drawing live models and how he practiced to master the skills he needed to illustrate his pieces. 

From black and white to natural hues, Say presents his story to his readers of his experiences as a intern of a great Japanese cartoonist, Noro Shinpei.  Each page is filled with illustrations or photographs giving the reader real history, culture, and ideas of how Say lived and experienced life while in Japan.  Soft lines, peachy skin tones, and simplistic sketches, Say shows the reader both the traditional and modern dress that was worn by his culture before and during World War II.   Traditional architecture is sketched throughout the pages, as well as, cartoons that he and his mentor and spiritual father illustrated.  Facial expressions are easily identified even for a young child.  From a comic book layout to random sketches, Say portrays to his readers the courage and endurance he had to follow his dreams in becoming a cartoonist. 

Reviews 

School Library Journal

Gr 4-7-This "journey through memories" uses a scrapbook format featuring the author's photographs, sketches, drawings, and comic-style panels. Say shares his love of comics and the important influence they have in his art. The book is a poignant tribute to his mentor, Japanese cartoonist Noro Shinpei.

KIRKUS

Exquisite drawings, paintings, comics and photographs balance each other perfectly as they illustrate Say’s childhood path to becoming an artist.

Although its story overlaps with The Ink-Keeper’s Apprentice (1979), this visual chronicle is a fresh new wonder. It opens with a soft watercolor map of Japan on the left, framed in a rectangle, while on the right is a delicate, full-bleed watercolor of Yokohama’s seashore and fishing village, with two black-and-white photographs pasted on: Say as a child, and the stone beach wall. The early arc takes readers from Say’s 1937 birth, through family moves to escape 1941 bombings and then Say’s nigh-emancipation at age 12, when his mother supported him in his own Tokyo apartment. The one-room apartment “was for me to study in, but studying was far from my mind… this was going to be my art studio!” The art table’s drawer handle resembles a smile. Happily apprenticing with famous cartoonist Noro Shinpei, Say works dedicatedly on comic panels, still-lifes and life drawing. Nothing—not political unrest, not U.S. occupation, not paternal disapproval—derails his singular goal of becoming a cartoonist. Shinpei’s original comics are reproduced here, harmonizing with Say’s own art from that time and the graphic-novel–style panels, drawings and paintings created for this book.

Aesthetically superb; this will fascinate comics readers and budding artists while creating new Say fans. (author’s note) (Graphic memoir. 10 & up)

At first I didn’t really know what genre this book fell into as it addressed a memoir, narrative of history, or graphic novel because of the illustrations and comics.  When reading it, I imagined an elderly gentleman reading this out loud to a group of children, with a calm soothing voice stopping to reminisce his past and showing his illustrations and talking about certain photographs. This would be a great book to show students who want to be artists or questions whether or not it is a path in which they want to take. The book could also be used as a way to show that when you believe in yourself and follow your dreams, you can find what you are looking for as your purpose in life.