Kantorovitz tells the story of how her family emigrated from Morocco to France. . .The cartoonish art style is enchanting, and Kantorovitz makes effective use of color and panel layout to convey mood…Readers, particularly those who grapple with challenging parental relationships or escape into art, will find that this witty memoir speaks to their own experiences.
—School Library Journal
In charmingly illustrated panels, readers are invited into the small triumphs and sorrows of cartoonist Kantorovitz’s youth. . .the overall tone of this story is comforting, warm, calm, and deeply satisfying. Quietly appealing for young readers with a taste for realism.
—Kirkus Reviews
In this graphic memoir, Sylvie shares her experience growing up on the grounds of a small French teacher’s college where her father served as principal, and quietly blazing her path toward a career in art. . .The graphic format and the years-long span of Sylvie’s narrative coverage invite a broad range of readers—those looking back from the border of independence, and those looking forward to life of their own making.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
This tightly composed illustrated memoir spans Kantorovitz’s childhood from the late 1960s through the 1970s…Like a photo album, chapters distill ordinary events, glossing over them without erasing troubles… Introspective, this chronicle traces a winding path, concluding with optimism and promise
—Publishers Weekly
Author-illustrator Kantorovitz’s graphic memoir is an engaging and thoughtful story of an observant child who grows into a young adult eager to pursue teaching and art. . .The book’s design is open and friendly…Even at a hefty 350-plus pages, the book looks so approachable that it will likely attract a wide range of readers who will discover a strong story about navigating family, school, and friendships while finding one’s purpose.
—The Horn Book
The portrait that the modern child encounters in this illustrated autobiography is enviable, really, even if in the author’s life, as in every life, a little rain does fall. . .Children of gentle and artistic temperament will find a kindred spirit in Sylvie Kantorovitz and perhaps take encouragement for their own moments of travail and independence.
—The Wall Street Journal
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