"Mexikid": A comic-adventure-real-life-coming-of-age story

“Mexikid” by Pedro Martín

Recommended Age: Grades 5-9

Awards Won:

•  2024 Pura Belpré - Author and Illustrator Awards
• Newberry Honor

Pedro Martín was a middle-school-aged child with a big imagination in the late 1970’s. That’s when he, his two parents,  and his 8 siblings took a lengthy road trip from central California to Mexico to bring his Abuelito home to live with them. What could have been a long and stressful drive instead turns into a grand adventure in Pedro’s child’s-eye perspective, stuffed full of action, Fanta, sibling pranks, corrupt border guards, and car trouble.

Many memorable characters fill the narrative of this graphic memoir, but the central relationship is between Pedro and his Abuelito. Pedro had met him during previous trips to Mexico, but he only remembered distant and formal interactions.

As the family caravan gets ready and then starts driving, Pedro starts imagining his Abuelito as a larger-than-life war hero, based on stories from Pedro’s father and sister about his time as a supplier to troops during the Mexican Revolution from 1910-1917. He imagines him as a comic book hero, in multi-page spreads that visually reference golden-age adventure and superhero comics.

Pedro’s view of his family matures over the course of the book, as he learns how to admire and get to know his Abuelito in a more grounded and reality-based way.

In addition, this memoir chronicles Pedro’s changing insecurities and confidence about his Mexican-American identity. He feels too American to be fully Mexican, but he also feels like he must be Mexican. This book could be of specific interest to students who are curious or concerned about their own cross-cultural identity.

The family is introduced with national symbols

This book is also partially a travelogue about the family’s journey through Mexico. Pedro’s father manages to find new friends and their distant relations in every town they stop in, so the trip they take is from an insider’s perspective. This turns this book into a universally relatable portrait of a beautiful and inviting country. This aspect, along with the nuanced and loving family dynamics, the vibrant and expressive comic art, humor, action, and misfortunes, combine to make this into a book I enthusiastically suggest adding to everyone’s shelves for children 10-14.

A travel-focused spread in the iconic style of Diego Rivera

A final note: if your library has a graphic novel section, this should be added as a prime example of a graphic memoir. This sequential art tradition has been innovative and active in the world of comics made for adults for decades, and this work could be a great way to introduce the concept to young people.

Word count before this: 402 words

Content warning for the book  (Minor spoilers ahead):

The book includes age-appropriate toilet humor, stressful but nonviolent altercations with immigration officials, cartoonish violence from the distant past, a scene about the skeleton of a family member, and a chapter that deals with the injury and death of a wild animal.