Teen Book Club Event 3/13

by Meagan, Sweet Branch

​Join Sweet Branch Teen Squad member Kamryn for our penultimate Teen Book Club. This month we will be discussing the National Book Award nominated graphic novel Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka.

The event will be held on Saturday, March 13th at 2:00pm. The event will be held via Zoom, and here is the link.
​

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. - Graphix (publisher synopsis)
​
Here are a few of the discussion questions:
 

1. What surprised you most about this story?
2. What are the differences in how Shirl looks and acts on pg. 37, when she first hears of Leslie’s pregnancy, and pg. 39, when she holds Jarrett for the first time?

 
Join us next month for the last book in our Book Club series! On Saturday, April 10th at 2pm we will be discussing Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich.

​