I selected this graphic novel because it has won several awards.The book won the 2022 ALA Alex Award and the 2023 Cartoonist Studio Prize for Print Comics. In addition, it was one of The Washington Post's 10 Best Graphic Novels of 2022, one of New York Public Library's Best Books of 2022 and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2022. I had high expectations for it. However, I did not like it much.
High Desert is a coming-of-age graphic memoir by the creator of Afro-punk, James Spooner.
We read about him as a teenaged African American boy who has to deal with identity, racism,
teen love and belonging in the isolated California desert that he lived in with his white single
mother. James searches for community by being punk. James thinks going to a new high school will bring him new friends but he finds that he is just one out of 15 African American students at the school. The African
Americans are gangbangers while the white students are racist. Some are skinheads. James
doesn't know where he fits until he meets Ty, a young black punk who introduces him to the
school outsiders, skaters and unhappy young rebels caught up in the punk groundswell
sweeping the country. His life changes with a new punk haircut and becoming a bass player
in a band.
I did not understand the slang. After looking up several pages worth of slang I gave up. The
story was actually judge dialogue between James and his fellow students at various moments
in school. There was no plot. I felt sorry for James, though. He had a rough adjustment to his
new community and didn't feel his mother understood him. I read several reviews of this book
and all were positive. These reviewers had the same life experiences as James. While I didn't
like the book I would definitely recommend it for my friends' kids who might be feeling just
like James.
