In this graphic memoir, white-presenting gay boy Damian and his older brother live with their grandmother Nanny; their mother died when they were toddlers. Nanny cared for the boys, trying \u201creally hard to fill the mom-shaped hole\u201d in their lives and to \u201cbe the mother who had never been there for her.\u201d Now in eighth grade, Damian recounts how he still feels like an outsider. Whenever these feelings overwhelm him, his imagination takes him into the past, sometimes to Nanny\u2019s childhood with her two sisters in foster care, a time that inspires many of the stories she tells. Sometimes he tries to imagine what his mother\u2019s life was like when she was his age, a more difficult endeavor since Damian\u2019s connection to her exists through photographs and stories \u201cgathered over time from anyone who knew her.\u201d In the muted artwork that features many close-ups of people\u2019s faces, Alexander expertly captures small moments of worry. The story\u2019s movement through different time periods (distinguished by different color palettes) offers glimpses into the interlocking lives of a family separated by tragedy. Like real life, the book doesn\u2019t have a neat resolution, but it does offer a sense of closure as Damian realizes how positive Nanny\u2019s influences have been and how the concept of a mother is broader than he originally believed. The author\u2019s note includes photos along with more information about Alexander\u2019s family.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In this graphic memoir, white-presenting gay boy Damian and his older brother live with their grandmother Nanny; their mother died when they were toddlers. Nanny cared for the boys, trying \u201creally hard to fill the mom-shaped hole\u201d in their lives and to \u201cbe the mother who had never been there for her.\u201d Now in eighth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6899"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}