Furthermore, the most emotional and the most humorous moments throughout the entire novel were always making a bigger impact because of the art.īeyond how much I enjoyed the art of the book, I was so sucked in by the story. I loved the art style, and throughout the entire story I felt like the rendering of characters and their emotions was so effective, and it really made me connect to them on a deeper level than if it’d been told purely through prose. Even in black and white, the pages of this book hold so much life and color.
HIMWARI HOUSE has an engaging and compelling story, and it’s told so beautifully through both its words and art. Prior to this year, I’d read very few graphic novels (or webcomics, manga, etc) and I’m so glad that I’ve been able to read so many excellent ones over the course of the year, and that I’m no longer missing out on so many beautiful stories. HIMAWARI HOUSE was a five star read for me, and definitely one of my favorite graphic novels that I’ve read so far this year. She is the illustrator of George Takei’s graphic memoir THEY CALLED US ENEMY. Dialogue balloons have characters speaking accented English with their pronunciations written out phonetically in an endnote, Becker says, “Our accents are not a point of shame but a point of pride, because after all, what is an accent but proof of the ability to speak more than one language?” Hilarious and tender situations abound as this insightful graphic novel explores, among other topics, how language can either separate or bring people together.įrom the January/February 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.Harmony Becker was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. 9/19) smartly uses speech balloons to re-create the feeling of being a language learner, showing, for example, only Japanese characters when Nao can’t understand a word of rapid-fire Japanese but providing both Japanese characters and English translation when she does understand, with blurry lines standing in for the words she isn’t getting.
Becker (illustrator of Takei’s They Called Us Enemy, rev. Frequent use of manga art styles adds depth and detail to the story of Nao’s roller-coaster year. Nao’s housemates include two other non-natives, Korean Hyejung and Chinese Singaporean Tina they tell Nao they simply want to experience life abroad but both hide complicated backstories, revealed in sections related from their points of view. “Only half” Japanese and lacking language fluency, she struggles to fit in. In this expertly crafted graphic novel, recent high school grad Nao, born in Japan and raised in the American Midwest, spends a gap year in Tokyo.
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