The publisher description of Drawing from Memory by Allen Say:
Caldecott Medalist Say (“Grandfather’s Journey”) presents a stunning graphic novel chronicling his journey as an artist during World War II, when he apprenticed under Noro Shinpei, Japan’s premier cartoonist.
But that does not scratch the surface. He was a young child during the war, dealing with a father who thought artists were shiftless and would never make anything of themselves. He was dealing with the war, his parents divorce, living with his seemingly judgmental grandmother, and at age twelve was told if he did well in school and was able to win a spot in another prestigious school, his family would pay for him to live on his own.
And that is just the beginning of the book. We continue when he finds himself as an apprentice to Shinpei, maneuvering his friendships, and dealing with school work and his teachers (in and out of school) that helped him with his art and eventually helping in deciding if he should leave Japan with his distant father (and his new family) to live in the States.
And again, that is just the surface of things. This book (while they say it is a graphic novel, it is formatted as a larger picture book), has many layers. The style is Say’s but with a unique quality of almost “moreness” to it, but nevertheless is saying, “These are Say’s works.” The more you read, the more fascinating things become. The layout is chronological, but sometimes can be a bit disjointed in the flow, but at the same time, that is not a real issue, it just means you need to go slowly, enjoying it.