Maybe an Artist, a Graphic Memoir by Elizabeth Montague is a simple, but expressive and sweet memoir about how one person became the artist they are today. It was not an easy path, filled with boys, school, friendship, social themes, and siblings, but it was one that we can all relate too. Montague added their delightful artwork to accompany the text.
This story seems simple enough, but it is the one where a young 22-year-old woman became one of the first black female cartoonists at the New Yorker. When she emailed them about their lack of perspective, she expected nothing. What she got was a response with a question: Do you recommend anyone? She said, “Me.”
And “Me” had the journey of, well a lifetime, to get there. A young girl in New Jersey in a mostly white community, she did what any kid would do. She would try to make friends, try not to stand out, stand out way too much, be the “poster child” for social themes, do art, want to be a journalist then an artist, have learning issues, learn of bigger causes than herself, and try to date (or texting Pat, the other black student in her class. Which by the way, who will play a large roll later in her life: she’ll marry him). She had to deal with older sisters, parents who sacrificed for them, and a get a track scholarship to college.
But what if she didn’t want to go to college? This and many other questions fly across the pages, and with help from her pup, Timmy (named after Timmy Turner from Fairly Odd Parents) and her drawing, she finds out “fun” and “work” can sometimes be the same thing.
In some ways this is at least 12 and up, but a strong 10 and up could read. And of course, it’s for the adult who is not only a kid at heart, but who also wants a good read.