Tales of a Seventh-Grade Lizard Boy by Jonathan Hill

Abstract

Reviewed by: Tales of a Seventh-Grade Lizard Boy by Jonathan Hill April Spisak Hill, Jonathan Tales of a Seventh-Grade Lizard Boy; written and illus. by Jonathan Hill. Walker US/Candlewick, 2022 [288p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781536216462 $24.99 Paper ed. ISBN 9781536216509 $14.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781536228830 $14.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 5-8 Tommy knows that his lizard(ish) community could not survive deep inside the Earth any longer, but he also really, really hates middle school and wonders if a slow death from too few resources would have actually been better than the human world, where he must disguise himself to fit in. He eventually makes a friend in Dung Tran, an immigrant from Vietnam who is much more comfortable in his exiled status at school than Tommy (or his true name, Booger Lizk't), and Dung's support and encouragement is eventually enough to push him into exploring some life-changing truths of his own. This clever and subtly deep graphic novel explores immigrant identity via lizard beings in a respectful and thoughtful way; the lizard identity is never played as a joke or cheap comparison, offering readers a chance to view outsider status through the lens of something that challenges all ideas of casual tolerance. In the end matter, Hill describes his Vietnamese American family and the cultural elements he drew from (including a detailed description of why he chose to have Dung speak stilted English in spite of that often being used as a harmful stereotype), but those elements are also clearly embedded in the text. Vivid colors, wry humor, and playful ignoring of traditional panel structure lighten the heaviest moments, firmly focusing this story on working toward better things. Copyright © 2022 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois