Enlighten Me is a mindfulness/meditation graphic novel for the 10 and up crowd. There is a little bit of a social theme added with the racism the school bully directs towards the narrator, but the idea is how to deal with the emotions and a situation that triggers and not necessarily this particular situation. The entire book is mostly in “thought bubbles” as the narrator and his family are at a silent retreat, and therefore, unable to talk once there. But to allow the teachings of Buddha to be introduced, there is a character that is allowed to speak. Minh Lê’s graphic novel is probably not for the active child who likes action stories or for the traditional graphic novel reader and therefore that makes this a hard book to recommend. I was not “loving it,” but I actually think I might read it again. There is a lot going on, but also it is fairly straightforward, yet I probably missed a few things.
The illustrations of Chan Chau are pleasant and cozy. They also have illustrated a few of the Baby-Sitters Club graphic novels and they have the same style. It gave off vibes of Parachute Kids written and illustrated by Betty C. Tang in particular for me. They were not “glossy” (though I read via a reader’s copy, therefore, the final product might be different), but were colorful and smooth. They had a soft approach to them.
I liked the idea of how the narrator of the story thinks of his life in a “video game” mode. It shows the personality of the character and allows it to be relatable to the reader. However, I am unfamiliar with modern games, so I am not completely sure if the Donkey Kong format is relatable. I also liked the telling of the Jataka tales. Which I was familiar with before this book but had only recently been seriously reintroduced to them. And this was a nice refresher course, but more “kid friendly.”
However, I did have two small issues. I either missed the oldest sibling’s name, or she is never mentioned by name and second, I have only once seen a kid stay quiet for over an hour once, but I know she would not have been able to last an entire weekend (even with the bribe of timing herself with my watch and trying to beat her brother at the Quiet Game) like the kids in the book did. Yet, in the long run, these are small bumps in the road to this due in mid-September 2023 book.
