Arnoldi, Katherine. The Amazing “True” Adventure of a Teenage Single Mom Hyperion: New York, 1998.
Katherine Arnoldi is an American writer and graphic novelist. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from SUNY Binghamton. In 2006, she established The Katherine Arnoldi Scholarship Fund for Teenage Mothers. This is a $500 award given to a teenage mother who has completed her first semester of college awarded during their second semester.
As an advocate for young single mothers, Arnoldi began by creating a cartoon zine about her life as a teenage single mother navigating the road to college, in order to hand out with FAFSA forms and college applications at a community center in New York’s Lower East Side. The zine was picked up and published as a graphic novel, by Hyperion in 1998.
The book comes as a long hardcover and the pages alternate from standard four panel pages or full-page illustrations. The illustrations are accompanied by large hand-written text, in all caps. The Amazing ‘True’ Adventure of a Teenage Single Mom is illustrated in a loose black & white cartoonish style that makes bold use of black, with dense cross-hatching and intricate detail, and with panel borders. The panel borders occasionally contain commentary on the panel or story. For example, a panel border showing Katherine with a black eye repeats “emergency” the whole way around. Abstract backgrounds evoke anxiety and fear as well as love and happiness by employing varying types of expressive squiggly lines.
Arnoldi weaves optimism with the harsh realities of domestic abuse, teenage parenting, sexual assault, and worker exploitation. While teenage parents are often stigmatized and presented in a negative light, Arnoldi presents a positive view of a smart and passionate young mother who loves her child deeply, who is a good parent, and who faces many challenges and ultimately, succeeds. The book also shows how to apply to college and seek out financial aid and day care (pre-Internet), as well as information about domestic abuse and sexual assault. Arnoldi’s work is informative, helpful, inspiring, and relatable.
In 1999, The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Single Mom won two American Library Association awards and the New York Foundation of the Arts Award in Drawing. Arnoldi was also nominated for a Will Eisner Award in the graphic novel category. The Amazing “True” Adventure of a Teenage Single Mom was a Booklist Monthly Selection in November 1998 and named one of the American Library Association’s Top Ten Quick Picks for Teen Readers. It is suggested for Grades 9 and up. It has been recommended for both middle and high school libraries, and would also be useful in other settings such as Planned Parenthood, Women’s health clinics, and school counsellors’ offices.
Katherine Arnoldi is an American writer and graphic novelist. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from SUNY Binghamton. In 2006, she established The Katherine Arnoldi Scholarship Fund for Teenage Mothers. This is a $500 award given to a teenage mother who has completed her first semester of college awarded during their second semester.
As an advocate for young single mothers, Arnoldi began by creating a cartoon zine about her life as a teenage single mother navigating the road to college, in order to hand out with FAFSA forms and college applications at a community center in New York’s Lower East Side. The zine was picked up and published as a graphic novel, by Hyperion in 1998.
The book comes as a long hardcover and the pages alternate from standard four panel pages or full-page illustrations. The illustrations are accompanied by large hand-written text, in all caps. The Amazing ‘True’ Adventure of a Teenage Single Mom is illustrated in a loose black & white cartoonish style that makes bold use of black, with dense cross-hatching and intricate detail, and with panel borders. The panel borders occasionally contain commentary on the panel or story. For example, a panel border showing Katherine with a black eye repeats “emergency” the whole way around. Abstract backgrounds evoke anxiety and fear as well as love and happiness by employing varying types of expressive squiggly lines.
Arnoldi weaves optimism with the harsh realities of domestic abuse, teenage parenting, sexual assault, and worker exploitation. While teenage parents are often stigmatized and presented in a negative light, Arnoldi presents a positive view of a smart and passionate young mother who loves her child deeply, who is a good parent, and who faces many challenges and ultimately, succeeds. The book also shows how to apply to college and seek out financial aid and day care (pre-Internet), as well as information about domestic abuse and sexual assault. Arnoldi’s work is informative, helpful, inspiring, and relatable.
In 1999, The Amazing True Story of a Teenage Single Mom won two American Library Association awards and the New York Foundation of the Arts Award in Drawing. Arnoldi was also nominated for a Will Eisner Award in the graphic novel category. The Amazing “True” Adventure of a Teenage Single Mom was a Booklist Monthly Selection in November 1998 and named one of the American Library Association’s Top Ten Quick Picks for Teen Readers. It is suggested for Grades 9 and up. It has been recommended for both middle and high school libraries, and would also be useful in other settings such as Planned Parenthood, Women’s health clinics, and school counsellors’ offices.