Pushing Hope: An ­Illustrated Memoir of Survival

Gr 9 Up–A powerful illustrated memoir of one of the Central Park Five, who were exonerated in 2002. At 14, Raymond Santana loved art, riding his bike, and hanging out with his friends. His life changed forever when he and other Black and Latinx teens were falsely arrested for raping a white woman jogger. Raymond and the others were questioned and harassed for over a day and coerced into videotaping false confessions. Santana presents these events and those that followed, including his conviction, time in jail, and exoneration, with boldness, pain, and much emotion. Readers will feel anger, heartbreak, and hope as they witness Santana transition from a fun-loving teen to wronged prisoner and artistic entrepreneur. The spare language and rhythm of the words give the narrative a lyrical feel. The design pops with brilliant colors, large font in complementing colors, and Brown’s incredible graffiti-style art. As Santana shares the atrocious moments, the palette changes to grays and blues, and the concluding celebratory scenes become vivid with primary hues again. The illustrations are created using a combination of traditional tools—pencil, watercolor, ink, and collage elements—as well as digital techniques in Photoshop. Santana’s art has been his guiding light, and he was able to pursue his love of design and fashion by creating his own T-shirt line.