Drawing from Memory by Allen Say

My last read reminded me that I had a copy of Drawing from Memory by Allen Say that I needed to read. This graphic novel memoir tells the story of how Say grew up to be an artist, something some members of his family may have had a hard time accepting. As an adolescent boy, Say's family sent him to live on his own in the big city while he attended school. During his time there, before immigrating to America with his father and stepmother, Say apprenticed himself to a cartoonist he very much admired. Say writes and draws about the people who were important in his life as he was first working on developing his craft.

I enjoyed this little book more than I thought I would -- it was a fascinating picture of the life of a student/artist in Tokyo in the late 1940s and early 1950s. My copy is actually a galley, sent to me by a friend who got to meet Say in person -- so my galley is signed, with a little sketch by the author: