A powerful memoir, related with complexity and trust and a bit of hope. Highly recommend. ( )

I really enjoyed this book and did not expect to. I did not expect to because I'm a bad person who's really tired of reading about racism. I also tend to think graphic novels are gimmicky. But this was wonderful and I wished there was more of it. ( )

Gr 10 Up—Bell’s experiences illustrate racism’s effect on the way Black youth learn to navigate the world and also
on society at large. Dramatic art breaks out of a confining panel structure, making the story bigger yet more
personal. The final result is a beyond powerful memoir.

The Talk is the graphic novel memoir of Darrin Bell as he recounts his childhood and growing up as a Black man as he decides how to best give his own son The Talk.

This novel goes from Bell’s coming of age story where he finds his voice through cartooning and becomes well aware of just how dangerous his teachers, neighbors, and police see him. He also talks about how much his mom advocated for him as well as trying as hard as she could to protect him; his dad on the other hand had failed to teach him how to be a Black man in America.

There’s a lot to process in this book - a lot that Black Americans have to go through just to live their day to day lives. It’s honest. It’s raw. It’s very moving. ( )

In The Talk, political cartoonist and artist Darrin Bell recounts his childhood experiences of racism and the conflicting messages he received from family, teachers, and loved ones that led him to understand the ways in which racism weave throughout U.S. society. As a mixed race child, he never quite felt that he fit in either white or Black communities, but he had to deal with how people from each community viewed him. Worse, the messages he received from popular culture conflicted with what opportunities were available to him and he eventually learned that those messages were largely tailored for white audiences and the fact that people of color enjoyed them was incidental to their creators. Bell slowly began to develop his voice and learn how he could use it in middle and high school, finding the power of political cartoons to convey complex ideas with his high school newspaper. His cartoons became a career, giving him a sense of control in a world that limited his power due to his identity. The Movement for Black Lives refocused his work, leading to this book in which he tries to explain racism to his son in a better way than it was explained to him so that his son doesn’t have to learn these lessons the hard way. A great, all too relevant book, Bell flexes his artistic talents throughout and continues to show the power of image to convey complex issues while connecting with all audiences. ( )