My background is in English and editing (though I admit editing my own work isn’t my strongest area of expertise). Therefore, when I read a book my adult editor comes out. They pick apart things in a story that most people won’t see, or if they do, they accept it as just a quirk of the story. With the graphic novel My Tokyo Summer: A Graphic Novel by Abby Denson and illustrated by Utomaru, I found myself “editing” the content, the flow of things and where the story was going and not as a reader.
Therefore, when I realized I was analyzing I said, “You’re reading for fun. Enjoy.” and “This is for ages at least 8 to 14 (the younger reader can do it, but probably best for 10 and up just due to concepts) and they won’t care if that “feels right” or not.” When I finally got out of my own way and just enjoyed it as I had told myself, I found My Tokyo Summer to be a cute story about art and friendship.
Two girls who both love art. One is from a small town in the USA; the other from a city in Japan. One moves to New York City for school, the other visits New York City with her sister. In a chance encounter, the Japanese girl sees the American girl’s artwork and is an instant fan. One letter written from Japan back to the states and a friendship is born. Years later, the NYC girl is able to spend a summer in Japan and the girls can finally meet. And the rest is history.
Focusing more on the dynamic of the girls and how one experiences Japanese culture for the first time, and less on the art, the artwork angle does come into play as well. As well as the graphic novel/comic world of the times such as zines, self-published comics, women in the art form and more. It is fun, clever, not over-the-top and enjoyable. It is based on the actual story of the author and her Japanese friend, with the manga-anime-like artwork creator Utomaru becoming the third point of the adventure.
At the time of writing this review, the book was not available and therefore, I read via a physical reader copy. It is currently available to order.
