YA Biography: This Land Was Made for You and Me: The Life and Songs of Woody Guthrie

Partridge, E. (2002). This land was made for you and me: the life and songs of Woody Guthrie. New York: Viking.

Reading Level: 1020L

Interest Level: Grades 7 - 12

This emotional biography of Woody Guthrie echoes strains of “Out of the Dust,” which probably just goes to show you how similar fortunes were in the Depression-era Dustbowl. This work goes far more in depth into Guthrie's personal life, describing his sister and mother's tragic deaths and how his interactions with the desperate poor of the Depression era influenced his music. Carrying a guitar that declared "This machine kills fascists," Woody galvanized a generation to accept no less than the right to collectively negotiate for fair wages and a decent life.

Use with a unit on the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, or the history of unions in the United States.

YA Biography: My Friend Dahmer: A Graphic Novel

Backderf, D. (2012). My friend Dahmer: a graphic novel. New York: Abrams ComicArts.

I actually first heard about this biographical graphic novel while watching one of those serial killer bios on the cable channel Investigation Discovery. Author Derf Backderf appeared on the show to discuss his experience as Dahmer’s high school buddy, and also probably to promote his book about it. I was intrigued. Like a lot of people, I’m fascinated by the idea that monster serial killers once went mundane places like middle school. Again, like everyone else, I’m also always searching for an explanation for their actions, some traumatic link that makes their existence rational and less frightening. “My Friend Dahmer” tries to meet these needs, but succeeds only on the former, and, honestly, reading about Dahmer’s daily life felt more voyeuristic than detached and interested. While Backderf does try to explain what events may have made Dahmer different, it feels forced and dramatic, inauthentic. If messy divorces are all it takes to create a sociopath, then a lot of us are screwed. I also felt like the illustrations were very meh, for lack of a better term. They aren’t very well proportioned and they lack depth, although Backderf clearly is trying. All in all, this bit of graphica doesn’t have enough merits to outweigh the controversies of keeping it in the classroom. 

Edited to add: After explaining the concept of this graphic novel to a friend, I realized it actually has some brilliant qualities, even if they many not be deliberately so. For example, the emphasis on Dahmer's attention getting faux-spasms as a solution to his invisibility mirrors the entire trajectory of his adult life, in which he's grown famous worldwide as an irredeemably evil killer of boys. So there's a nugget of social commentary there, that we as a society reward negative, psychotic behavior.

YA Biography: Stitches

Small, D. (2009). Stitches: a memoir--. New York: W.W. Norton & Co..

Reading level: No lexile level, graphica

Interest level: Grades 9 – 12

I felt like Small tried to cover too much ground too fast in this YA graphic memoir. I wanted more detail, and more character development. The story is very depressing – another tale of parents who probably didn’t want to be, including a resentful lesbian mother. The most interesting element was Small’s recounting of his parent’s botched attempts at medical care – truly unforgivable for a parent that’s a doctor. Small’s artwork is also very moody and impressively conveys his young self’s sense of isolation through dark panels and odd proportions.