One in a Million by Claire Lordon (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: One in a Million by Claire Lordon April Spisak Lordon, Claire One in a Million; written and illus. by Claire Lordon. Candlewick, 2023 [272p] Paper ed. ISBN 9781536213676 $16.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 8-12 In this graphic novel memoir, Lordon describes her grueling teenage years as she battled a series of mysterious symptoms that eventually led to a diagnosis of a brain tumor. Unfortunately, knowing what was causing her exhaustion and headaches didn't mean there was an easy path to recovery, and multiple surgeries (including a heartbreaking first one that Claire hoped might be a cure) take away months of her high school life. With brief glimpses across several years of illness, the memoir reads like a series of snapshots, which seems like an accurate representation of what Lordon's life felt like as most elements of her adolescence got stripped away and her existence became a routine of symptoms, attempts at diagnosis, surgery, and recovery. A vulnerable preface and author's note contextualize the story, offering details about how Lordon is faring fourteen years out from the worst of it all and reassuring the reader that, most of the time, there is light, joy, potential, and hope on the other side of one's darkest moments. Art was one of few things Lordon could do even when she was ill, so the graphic novel format is particularly meaningful; the quiet, purple-hued illustrations that mirror the story are broken up occasionally with sharp, panel-crowding black and white drawings that represent the spikes of pain, anxiety, fear, and anger that sometimes took over her determined focus on embracing the things that still brought her joy while in recovery. Final art not seen. [End Page 63] Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois