{ "item_title" : "The Talk", "item_author" : [" Darrin Bell "], "item_description" : "Winner of the NAACP Image Award in Outstanding Graphic NovelsWinner of an Alex Award from the American Library AssociationWinner of the Libby Award for Best Comic/Graphic Novel of the YearFinalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in NonfictionNominated for an Eisner Award for Best Graphic MemoirNominated for an Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic NovelNamed The Year's Best Graphic Novel by Publishers WeeklyNamed one of Publishers Weekly's Top Ten Best Books of 2023Named one of NPR's Books We LoveNamed one of Kirkus' Best 2023 BooksNamed one of the Washington Post's 10 best graphic novels of 2023One of TIME Magazine's Must-Read Books of the YearShortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction 2024Booklist Editors' Choice: Graphic Novels, 2023New York Public Library's Best New Comics of 2023 Top Ten PickChicago Public Library's Best Books of 2023 Top Ten PickNamed one of School Library Journal's Best Graphic Novels of 2023Named one of The Guardian's Best Graphic Novels of 2023Darrin Bell was six years old when his mother told him he couldn't have a realistic water gun. She said she feared for his safety, that police tend to think of little Black boys as older and less innocent than they really are. Through evocative illustrations and sharp humor, Bell examines how The Talk shaped intimate and public moments from childhood to adulthood. While coming of age in Los Angeles--and finding a voice through cartooning--Bell becomes painfully aware of being regarded as dangerous by white teachers, neighbors, and police officers and thus of his mortality. Drawing attention to the brutal murders of African Americans and showcasing revealing insights and cartoons along the way, he brings us up to the moment of reckoning when people took to the streets protesting the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. And now Bell must decide whether he and his own six-year-old son are ready to have The Talk.", "item_img_path" : "https://covers1.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/1/25/080/514/1250805147_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "29.99", "online_price" : "29.99", "our_price" : "29.99", "club_price" : "29.99", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

Overview

Customers Also Bought

Details

Like many little boys, Darrin Bell wanted a water gun when he was 6 years old. Unlike the white boys in his neighborhood with slick black water guns, he received a bright green one, accompanied by “The Talk” from his mom. She explained that “the world is… different for you and your brother. White people won’t see you or treat you the way they do little white boys.” It’s The Talk that parents of Black children are all too familiar with in America. Bell is a Pulitzer Prize winner known for his editorial cartoons and for being the first Black cartoonist to have his comic strips, Candorville and Ruby Park, nationally syndicated. The Talk, Bell’s striking debut graphic memoir, utilizes wit and emotional openness to chronicle the ways in which racism has shaped his life, from a police officer terrorizing a young Bell over his green water gun to protests in 2020 over the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Most of the book is illustrated in shades of blue, with flashbacks that come on suddenly and disjointedly—like real memories do—in yellows reminiscent of sepia photographs. Flashes of red are often used during intense moments, and one particularly philosophical page uses a purple that only appears again during the climax. Hyperrealistic pop culture items placed throughout both unsettle the illustrations and ground the reader within the timeline of Bell's life, from the early 1980s until present day. At the end, Bell even includes some of his most iconic editorial cartoons. This book is heavy, both emotionally and physically. The size allows Bell to use graphic conventions unlike those he’s usually confined to in a four-panel newspaper comic strip, frequently doing full-page illustrations or removing the panels all together. But during several important conversations, including The Talk between Darrin and his mother, as well as The Talk he has with his own son, Bell returns to an even grid of panels that hearken back to his old format and emphasize how important each moment is. The deeply honest conversation Bell is able to have with his son is especially compelling when presented in contrast with a much more limited conversation about racism he had with his father, shown through a flashback. Witnessing their generational growth filled me both with empathy for Bell’s father and with hope for what Bell’s radical truth-telling can bring.