Jarrett J. Krosoczka

The powerful, unforgettable graphic memoir from Jarrett Krosoczka, about growing up with a drug-addicted mother, a missing father, and two unforgettably opinionated grandparents.

Hey, Kiddo

Sarah Sammis

This memoir has three main threads. There are the biographical events. There is his art and how he became the graphic artist he is today. Finally there is the coming to terms with his life and his family.

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Raven K

The author's note..really made me emotional. This book was phenomenal.
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Reread #1: This book is just..so touching and you actually feel like you’re growing up with the author. It’s an emotional story for sure, and rereading it was definitely a journey.

Lara Engle

This book feels honest. It's also well-drawn and well-told. I liked it and I think my students will, too.

Izza

3.5 stars | I really enjoyed the way he told the story of his childhood, but the art style wasn't my favourite.

renee badenoch

I loved this book. Jarrett Krosoczka writes very movingly about his relationship with his drug-addicted mother and his grandparents who raise him. Not only did I appreciate the complexity of the story (especially in the deeply loving, but often hurtful relationship between Jarrett and his mother, and his mother and her parents), but the art was beautiful. The colors are soft blues, yellows, and browns, and the panels are not lined, giving the whole book a very gentle feel that helps mitigate some of the harshness of the subject matter.

Kayla Roy

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

Hand this to every budding artist or teen who needs to know that even though life can be difficult it gets better, family are the people who love you and care for you, and sometimes your best friend for life is the kid next door. Perfect for students in IB Visual Arts, Krosoczka is a coach-storyteller committed to hope and healing.

Nadine 

This is where graphic novels can really make a difference. Krosoczka writes not only of his reality growing up but of a reality that is engulfing parts of America in the case of parents with addiction issues and around the world - the reality of your family not necessarily consisting of your biological parents - think of all the children of migrant workers being brought up by their grandparents or relatives. 
The fact that it's in a graphic novel format just makes it so much more accessible to the kids who need to read this, but for whom a traditional memoir would fall into the cracks of TW/DR. And that's before one starts looking at the other themes - of an enduring passion, of realising a dream, of persistence under adversity. And that love doesn't always look like fluffy rainbows and unicorns.

Caroline Lewicki

This is a powerful graphic novel with a meaningful message. It covers addiction, abandonment, following your dreams..it really packs a punch. I highly recommend it.

Samantha Seeman

Wow what a childhood! I have to say, despite a lot of terrible situations and such, the author does an amazing job with making the reader connect to every single character. You want to dislike the grandma sometimes for being so rude, you want to hate the mom for choosing drugs over her son, but somehow you find sympathy and even like for these characters, despite their flaws. Hey Kiddo is a graphic memoir of the author Jarrett Kroscoczka’s life growing up. His mom was addicted to heroine, he didn’t know his father (until much later) and came to grow up under the supervision of his much older grandparents. This is a story of finding friends, art and family in the worst circumstances. I watched the author’s TED Talk after completing the book, where he talks a bit about his past shaping his successful career.

Makayla Reed

I know this was a memoir, but I just never was able to connect with the story or the character.

Hey, Kiddo

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