A First Time for Everything

This is Santat at his best.

Gr 5-9—In 1989, 13-year-old Santat headed off to Europe for three weeks at the insistence of his parents. They couldn't travel much anymore on account of his mother's lupus and wanted him to have that experience. Santat was less than thrilled, having just wrapped up junior high with more negative experiences than positive ones. Like the title indicates, this memoir explores young Santat's first coming-of-age experiences. We see his first time away from home without parents, first discotheque, and first taste of beer in a German beer hall, among many others. One particular highlight is his first chance at young love with a golden-haired girl named Amy. This was also a trip for Santat to take his art seriously and share it with others without fear of being bullied. Santat's artwork in the story is as great as you'd expect, with the European cityscapes often bathed in golden hour light. All the loveliness is juxtaposed with the strong and often hilarious reactions of teenagers. Flashbacks done in a moody blue show the reality of Santat's former life. An author's note indicates how the story diverges from real life details and acknowledges that travel as a teenager in 1989 was much different than it would be today. Santat's emotional journey is easy to track and culminates in a surprising experience at Wimbledon. While Santat's story is his own, readers will have a worthwhile time relating to him. VERDICT A thoughtful memoir with lots of humor and heart. Hand this to fans of Real Friends and the "Berrybrook Middle School" series. Recommended for all.—Gretchen Hardin

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Conveying milestones that include first Fanta, first kiss, and first disco, this emotionally perceptive graphic novel memoir from Caldecott Medalist Santat follows a teen's arc from invisible to invincible. "Life was good" throughout Santat's childhood in small-town Camarillo, Calif., where the only child helped his mom with errands, hung out with friends, and "did normal kid stuff." Middle school, however, is one mortification after another, and Santat feels trapped by his self-imposed isolation--a protective measure against bullying. But in the summer of 1989, just before he starts high school, Santat's parents nudge him into a three-week European tour, and life is never the same. Interstitials in a simplified color palette flash back to prior school humiliations, while exuberant full-color panels in Santat's signature style convey the trip, including the dreamy reality of early freedoms, the nervous comedy of teen antics, and the wonder of viewing "things I'd only seen on postcards, in textbooks, and in movies." As Santat finds friends and a way of being himself, what slowly emerges is one person's hope in and relief at experiencing the world as a bigger place, finding a space in it, and realizing that both adults and peers are rooting for him. Ages 10-14. Agent: Jodi Reamer, Writers House. (Feb.)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

[A] great read among a crowded field, especially for sensitive middle-grade boys.

[A] relatable story of self-discovery... the perfect balance of humor and poignancy.

Without preachiness or condescension, Santat gives readers a story that is both a reassuring hug and a nudge to get out there and experience the world beyond what they know. —The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Dan San tat perfectly captures all the humor, confusion, awkwardness, and pure joy of being a young person stepping out into the world. Read this book! You're going to love it, and you are going to laugh and cry so much! —CHRISTINA SOONTORNVAT, two-time Newbery Honor Winner 

A humane, hilarious, and gently awkward story of seeing [your] world open up for the first time. It almost makes me wish I was a teen ager again. Almost. —VERA BROSGOL, New York Times-bestselling creator of Be Prepared

Dan's book manages to capture all the things that make you fall in love in the first place—awkwardness,
humor, a bit of teen pathos, and most of all, sincerity and vulnerability. —LEUYEN PHAM, New York Times-bestselling illustrator of the Friends series 

A hilarious, beautiful, and cap tivating memoir about the cringeworthy catapult into adolescence. —JARRETT J. KROSOCZKA, National Book Award Finalist creator of Hey, Kiddo

Praise for Lift

The story is beautifully told through Santat's expressive characters and dynamic panels of sequential art..... [It's] an entirely immersive experience that children will reach for, again and again, like their own magic button. —Booklist, starred review

Praise for Drawn Together

[P]erfectly paced to express universal emotions that connect generations separated by time, experience, and even language. —School Library Journal, starred review