This YA/Adult graphic novel is a finalist for the national Book Award.  David Small is a widely celebrated children’s book illustrator and is also a Caldecott winning artist.  He is also recognized for his work that regularly appears in the New Yorker, the New York Times and many other publications.  Stitches is a profound and moving memoir using predominantly black and whitewash drawings to depict his life growing up in Detroit.  David narrates the story starting at age 6 and the story follows him through early adulthood.

 David is the youngest in his family and is born with sinus problems which his doctor father attempts to cure with repeated radiation treatments.  Ultimately, this causes David to develop cancer and later he is operated on to remove the growth in his neck along with his vocal cords--all leaving him unable to speak.  He is never told he has cancer and finds out by reading a letter locked in his mother’s desk one day.  In addition to all the health problems, his mother is frustrated, angry, and abusive and eventually David will discover a dark, hidden secret about her.

The shadowy drawings portray his story in a dream like sense, but the image of his scar after the surgery is especially disturbing.  Stitches is also a profound metaphor for how David’s family members hold together their outwardly normal but unhappy lives.  This is a  somber story that leads to a hopeful and eventually happy and successful life for David Small.

Barb Farrell Swenson, Children's Librarian