Hey, Kiddo

I got a copy of Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction by Jarrett J. Krosoczka that someone was giving away and decided to give it a read. It's a graphic novel format memoir of author/illustrator Jarrett Krosoczka. The book description reads, "In kindergarten, Jarrett Krosoczka's teacher asks him to draw his family, with a mommy and a daddy. But Jarrett's family is much more complicated than that. His mom is an addict, in and out of rehab, and in and out of Jarrett's life. His father is a mystery -- Jarrett doesn't know where to find him, or even what his name is. Jarrett lives with his grandparents -- two very loud, very loving, very opinionated people who had thought they were through with raising children until Jarrett came along.Jarrett goes through his childhood trying to make his non-normal life as normal as possible, finding a way to express himself through drawing even as so little is being said to him about what's going on. Only as a teenager can Jarrett begin to piece together the truth of his family, reckoning with his mother and tracking down his father."

This was a good read. I was really amazed by all that Jarrett went through as a kid and how he sorted through a lot of difficulties to make the life he has now. I originally read it to see if it'd be a good book for my daughter to read (since she loves graphic novels), but it has quite a bit of bad language, so I don't think I'll recommend it to her at this point. But I thought it was an engaging, meaningful book, and I liked the lesson of the power of adults who love and believe in you even when you don't have that in your birth parents.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)