Stitches by David Small

Module 10/SLIS 5420/August 9-15

Bibliography

Small, David. (2009). Stitches: A Memoir. New York: W.W. Norton and Company
ISBN: 978-0-393-06857-3

Summary

David's father is a radiologist, and as an errant therapy to cure his son's sinusitis, exposes David to over 400 x-rays as a child. As a result, David gets cancer - but his parents don't acknowledge or address David's illness for years. Small, through his graphic novel, takes the reader through his sad, lonely life as a child of a mother who appears to be apathetic toward her children and husband and a father who cares more about his career than the health of his family.

My Impressions

This was a quick read, and although a downer, was quite enjoyable. The illustrations were the best part of the novel and told the story, many times without words, deftly - but the characters and plot seemed a bit shallow. I feel as though Small could have given me more. Because it was such a quick read, and skimmed the surface of David's childhood - by basically giving the gist of what happened to him and what he and his family are doing now - this book will go over well with young adults reading their first memoir. David Small, at the end, talks about how if the memoir were about his mother, not him, he would have delved into more detail about her issues, etc., but I feel as though he could have given more context to all of his family members, including himself. We see, in the beginning, that he likes to draw, but he uses this only a few times to illustrate his character as a child. We learn about his mother's mother, but then we never find out about his family history of mental illness. I felt like I was left with many questions. Maybe he will do a follow-up, but I think Small could have made this a bit longer, or at least a few volumes and added more detail to this interesting story.

Reviews

Publishers Weekly: Starred Review. "In this profound and moving memoir, Small, an award-winning children's book illustrator, uses his drawings to depict the consciousness of a young boy. The story starts when the narrator is six years old and follows him into adulthood, with most of the story spent during his early adolescence. The youngest member of a silent and unhappy family, David is subjected to repeated x-rays to monitor sinus problems. When he develops cancer as a result of this procedure, he is operated on without being told what is wrong with him. The operation results in the loss of his voice, cutting him off even further from the world around him. Small's black and white pen and ink drawings are endlessly perceptive as they portray the layering of dream and imagination onto the real-life experiences of the young boy. Small's intuitive morphing of images, as with the terrible post-surgery scar on the main character's throat that becomes a dark staircase climbed by his mother, provide deep emotional echoes. Some understanding is gained as family secrets are unearthed, but for the most part David fends for himself in a family that is uncommunicative to a truly ghastly degree. Small tells his story with haunting subtlety and power." (Sept.)
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School Library Journal: Starred Review. Grade 10 Up–"Small is best known for his picture-book illustration. Here he tells the decidedly grim but far from unique story of his own childhood. Many teens will identify with the rigors of growing up in a household of angry silences, selfish parents, feelings of personal weakness, and secret lives. Small shows himself to be an excellent storyteller here, developing the cast of characters as they appeared to him during this period of his life, while ending with the reminder that his parents and brother probably had very different takes on these same events. The title derives from throat surgery Small underwent at 14, which left him, for several years, literally voiceless. Both the visual and rhetorical metaphors throughout will have high appeal to teen sensibilities. The shaded artwork, composed mostly of ink washes, is both evocative and beautifully detailed. A fine example of the growing genre of graphic-novel memoirs." –Francisca Goldsmith, Halifax Public Libraries, Nova Scotia

Suggested Library Use

I think graphic novels should be promoted more frequently as an excellent genre to engage reluctant readers and to introduce students into genres they might not otherwise pick up. Stitches is a great book to introduce teens to nonfiction and memoir.