How to Draw a Secret

November 11, 2024
Debut creator Chang recounts a time of personal and familial tumult in this introspective graphic novel memoir. For the past five years, 12-year-old Taiwanese American aspiring artist Chang has been keeping a huge secret from her friends: her bàba moved back to Taiwan for work and the family—­including her mother and older sisters Em and Jess—has seen him infrequently since. Though the tween wants to enter a district-wide art competition, the theme of “What Family Means to Me” leaves her questioning what to draw. Upon their grandmother’s death, the siblings and Mom must travel to Taipei, where the youth reunites with her father. She also learns more about her mother’s resilience throughout the years, as well as the real reason surrounding Bàba’s departure. Chang cleverly denotes Taiwanese dialogue using dashes to represent aspects of conversation she doesn’t understand and smartly utilizes journal entries to display her youthful interiority. The sunny color palette and emotive facial expressions inject lightheartedness into the tween’s grappling with her parents’ secrets and her own shifting perspective. Readers will root for her growth as an artist and budding adolescent as she embraces the sometimes messy parts of life. Ages 8–12. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House.

December 15, 2024
A San Francisco sixth grader grapples with the burden of keeping a heavy family secret. In this debut graphic novel inspired by the author's own life, Taiwanese American Cindy lives with Ma and older sisters Jess, a Yale-bound senior, and Em, a student at Stanford. B�ba lived with them, too--until he moved back to Taiwan four years ago, ostensibly for work. Their father's absence is a confusing situation the girls have been instructed to keep secret. When the teacher of avid, talented artist Cindy encourages her to enter a contest with the theme "What Family Means to Me," she's torn between revealing the uncomfortable, murky truth and wanting to depict a "perfect" family; she harbors secret hopes that winning with an idealized portrait might encourage B�ba to come home. During a sudden family trip to Taiwan to attend their paternal grandmother's funeral, the sisters learn why B�ba really left. Will Cindy be able to express her feelings and portray her family's complicated truth? The appealing cartoon-style illustrations have soft, saturated tones, emphasizing the characters' facial expressions and making their complex, shifting, and overlapping emotions ring true. The panels and perspectives are creatively varied, and interspersed pages from Cindy's journal highlight her inner thoughts. Chang makes the emotional strain that emerges from secrecy clear, and the book refreshingly and bracingly addresses the topic of non-nuclear Asian American family configurations. A moving portrayal of a family processing fraught, messy changes.(Graphic fiction. 9-13)

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March 1, 2025
Chang's fictionalized graphic memoir delves into the complexities of a family harboring a secret: Cindy's father moved back to Taiwan four years ago, leaving her, her mother, and her older sisters on their own in San Francisco. Cindy is shy and quiet, but excerpts from her journal accented by doodles reveal a twelve-year-old full of emotion. While she longs for a picture-perfect family, her mother is overwhelmed with household responsibilities and her older sisters are focused on college. Her grandmother's death reunites the fractured family in Taipei, where Cindy learns the truth about why her father left. She discovers her authentic voice and embraces vulnerability to deepen her relationships with those around her. The panel-to-panel flow is occasionally broken up by tight panels showing her phone as she inspects a photo or her hands as she draws pictures, bringing readers closer to the protagonist's inner world. Chang's animated facial expressions reveal her vibrant personality and lighten the mood. Colors range from warm hues to soft and muted shades. Nostalgic earth tones are used in a flashback to her mother's difficult backstory, while darker reds and pinks are used after a pivotal cathartic moment. Kristine Techavanich

(Copyright 2025 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

February 7, 2025
Grades 4-7 Faced with an assignment to depict the meaning of family, art-loving tween Cindy is perplexed. Though pretty content to be the dreamy artist following in the wake of her two accomplished older sisters, her life hides a shadow--her father has been gone for four years "for work" in Taiwan, and her stoic mom pretends everything is fine. When the family travels from San Francisco to her grandmother's funeral, Cindy's fears about seeing her dad again are justified: his secret is revealed, leaving her to grapple with a new half brother and a fractured sense of family. With simple line art and a saturated palette, debut creator Chang uses inventive layouts and expressive faces to capture a roller coaster of emotions. Cindy's notebook sketches chronicle her conflicting feelings; readers will relate to this reflective, independent thinker who's feisty yet loving. Themes of redemption and forgiveness unfold with humor and honesty, while lighthearted sibling exchanges balance heavier moments. Enriched by Taiwanese cultural details, this semi-autobiographical tale offers a poignant exploration of family, acceptance, and what it means to love imperfect people.

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