Welcome to the weekend, nonfiction friends! Over the last week or so, my social media feeds have been filling up with back to school photos and celebrations. I am delighted to see all the kids in my life starting another year, and thinking about how our lives and routines get an excuse to reset in the fall.
With that in mind, this week’s newsletter features some comics about the joys and challenges of being in school, plus new nonfiction about biases and secret stories. We’re off!
Bookish Goods
I’d Rather Be Reading Sticker from ExquisteCreationsbyE
This sentiment is true today and almost every other day. Yes, please! $3
New Releases
Racial Innocence: Unmasking Latino Anti-Black Bias and the Struggle for Equality by Tanya Katerí Hernández
This book digs into a big topic – anti-Black racism in the Latino community. In it Tanya Katerí Hernández, a law professor and expert in comparative race relations, looks at how it’s possible for a marginalized group to both experience discrimination and be discriminatory against others. She notes that Latinos are the second-largest ethnic group in the United States, so understanding anti-Blackness in that community is a key part of dismantling systemic racism. This is obviously a complex topic, but this book seems like a great way to understand it better.
Diary of a Misfit: A Memoir and a Mystery by Casey Parks
This is another subtitle I just love. After coming out as a lesbian in 2002, Casey Parks assumed she’d never be able to return to her home in the South after being shunned and threatened by her community. But then her grandmother shared a secret: “I grew up across the street from a woman who lived as a man,” and asked Parks to find him. This leads Parks on a decades-long odyssey to learn what happened to Roy Hudgins—she knocks on doors, searches for diaries, uncovers nursing home records, and more. I’m so curious how these stories will come together.
Riot Recommendations
In honor of school starting up for many, this week I want to recommend two great, illustrated memoirs about high school. In both cases, the authors’ lives at home result in feeling even more awkward and out of place than most.
Passport by Sophia Glock
Because of her parents’ work, Sophia Glock grew up all over the world, living in six countries by the time she was in high school. One day, she discovers a secret about her family—her parents are actually spies. Learning this secret right as she’s starting at a new school begins a process to better understand her life, her family, and herself. I just finished reading this one and liked it a lot. The “my parents are spies” aspect isn’t as prominent as I expected, but it’s still a great story about complicated friendships, teenage choices, and learning to be who you are.
Almost American Girl by Robin Ha
Robin Ha grew up as the only child of a single mother in Seoul, Korea. That early experience was a challenge, but it formed a deep bond. When Robin is in high school, her mom announces that they are moving to Huntsville, Alabama, and that she is getting married. Robin has to attend a new school where she doesn’t speak the language, looses connection to her friends in Korea, and has to find her way with her new stepfamily. I love this book so much. The illustrations are beautiful, and Ha does an amazing job showing how difficult it was to understand her new school and community through her text and illustrations. It’s great!
For more nonfiction reads, head over to the podcast service of your choice and download For Real, which I co-host with my dear friend Alice. If you have any questions/comments/book suggestions, you can find me on social media @kimthedork or send an email to kim@riotnewmedia.com. Happy weekend!