You all know the tag line of The Real World: Seven people are chosen to live in a house to find out what’s “real.” In 1993, in San Francisco, the world was given an unexpected, and perhaps unasked for, gift — through watching this hyped reality soap opera, we all got to live with someone who had AIDS. That young man, Pedro Zamora, touched the entire country — but for author Judd Winick, fellow cast member, he was simply one of his best friends. Here he relates the story around and after the television show and the life-changing effect Pedro had on him. This is the book that got me really into graphic novels. Like Maus, it has won awards, and like Maus, it made me both laugh and cry. If you must read only one graphic novel, this is the one.
Pedro and Me: Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned ISBN: 9780805089646 By Judd Winick Henry Holt & Company, 2009 (new edition)
Teen Librarian, Public Library of Brookline | She/Her
Robin E. Brenner is Teen Librarian at the Brookline Public Library in Massachusetts. She has chaired the American Library Association Great Graphic Novels for Teens Selection List Committee, the Margaret A. Edwards Award Committee, and served on the Michael L. Printz Award Committee. She is currently the President of the Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table for ALA. She was a judge for the 2007 Eisner awards, helped judge the Boston Globe Horn Book Awards in 2011, and contributes to the Good Comics for Kids blog at School Library Journal. She regularly gives lectures and workshops on graphic novels, manga, and anime at comics conventions including New York and San Diego Comic-Con and at the American Library Association’s conferences. Her guide, Understanding Manga and Anime (Libraries Unlimited, 2007), was nominated for a 2008 Eisner Award.
You all know the tag line of The Real World: Seven people are chosen to live in a house to find out what’s “real.” In 1993, in San Francisco, the world was given an unexpected, and perhaps unasked for, gift — through watching this hyped reality soap opera, we all got to live with someone who had AIDS. That young man, Pedro Zamora, touched the entire country — but for author Judd Winick, fellow cast member, he was simply one of his best friends. Here he relates the story around and after the television show and the life-changing effect Pedro had on him. This is the book that got me really into graphic novels. Like Maus, it has won awards, and like Maus, it made me both laugh and cry. If you must read only one graphic novel, this is the one.
