January 20, 2021 | YA Review

Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction

Krosoczka, Jarrett

2018, Graphix

Graphic Novel

Grades 7 - 9

Print copy at library; audiobook and Playaway available through interlibrary loan; eBook and eAudiobook available through  Boundless

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.

Hey, Kiddo is a profoundly important memoir about growing up in a family grappling with addiction, and finding the art that helps you survive.

Read a review by Ann Reeves:

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