I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir

by Malaka Gharib

Overview

“A portrait of growing up in America, and a portrait of family, that pulls off the feat of being both intimately specific and deeply universal at the same time. I adored this book.”—Jonny Sun
 
“[A] high-spirited graphical memoir . . . Gharib’s wisdom about the power and limits of racial identity is evident in the way she draws.”—NPR

WINNER OF THE ARAB AMERICAN BOOK AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • The New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews

I Was Their American Dream is at once a coming-of-age story and a reminder of the thousands of immigrants who come to America in search for a better life for themselves and their children. The daughter of parents with unfulfilled dreams themselves, Malaka navigated her childhood chasing her parents' ideals, learning to code-switch between her family's Filipino and Egyptian customs, adapting to white culture to fit in, crushing on skater boys, and trying to understand the tension between holding onto cultural values and trying to be an all-American kid.

Malaka Gharib's triumphant graphic memoir brings to life her teenage antics and illuminates earnest questions about identity and culture, while providing thoughtful insight into the lives of modern immigrants and the generation of millennial children they raised. Malaka's story is a heartfelt tribute to the American immigrants who have invested their future in the promise of the American dream.

Praise for I Was Their American Dream

“In this time when immigration is such a hot topic, Malaka Gharib puts an engaging human face on the issue. . . . The push and pull first-generation kids feel is portrayed with humor and love, especially humor. . . . Gharib pokes fun at all of the cultures she lives in, able to see each of them with an outsider’s wry eye, while appreciating them with an insider’s close experience. . . . The question of ‘What are you?’ has never been answered with so much charm.”—Marissa Moss, New York Journal of Books

“Forthright and funny, Gharib fiercely claims her own American dream.”—Booklist

“Thoughtful and relatable, this touching account should be shared across generations.”– Library Journal

“This charming graphic memoir riffs on the joys and challenges of developing a unique ethnic identity.”– Publishers Weekly

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525575115
Publisher:	Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed
Publication date:	04/30/2019
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	89,679
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.70(d)
Lexile:	GN490L (what's this?)

About the Author

MALAKA GHARIB is an artist, journalist, and writer based in Washington, D.C. She is the founder of The Runcible Spoon, a food zine, and the co-founder of the D.C. Art Book Fair. She lives in a row house with her husband Darren and her 9-year-old rice cooker.

Reading Group Guide

1. What is the significance of the title? What does the American dream mean to you? What does it mean to other members of your family—parents, siblings, grandparents?

2. What is Malaka’s family like? What are their values? What kind of environment have each of Malaka’s parents tried to create for her and her siblings? From where do you think they draw their strength?

3. What do you think of the graphic memoir format? Do you think the illustrations and interactive elements (the paper dolls, mini-zine, microaggressions bingo, and Tagalog flashcards) enhance or detract from Malaka’s story? Why or why not?

4. As a first-generation Filipino-Egyptian-American living in California, Malaka often felt as if she didn’t belong. As an American visiting her Egyptian family in Cairo, she felt like an outsider, too. How do you think Malaka’s relationship to belonging affected her sense of self?

5. By the time she reaches high school, Malaka has been influenced greatly by the pop culture of the late ’90s and early 2000s. As a young woman of color, one of the things she grapples with is the glorification of whiteness. Did pop culture influence you to act or look a certain way when you were a teenager? Do you remember any positive representation of people of color in the media? How does representation affect the way teenagers think about themselves and the world?

6. In high school, Malaka and her classmates used specific labels to get to know one another. Words like whitewashed, poser, banana, twinkie, and FOB, each have their own distinct meaning. What do you think of labels—are they helpful? Offensive? Unifying? Divisive?

7. Fill out your own microaggressions bingo. If you had to create your own bingo board, what would be on it?

8. One of the most shareable items from a particular culture is food. What role does food play in Malaka’s story? How does her relationship with food reflect her relationship with her heritage? Does it change over time?

9. Describe the writer’s voice. Which aspects of Malaka’s character do you identify with or like the most, the least?

10. In the first chapter, Malaka’s mom implores, “You have to be better than us.” What does this mean to you? Has Malaka’s story reflected an answer to her mother’s plea? How? Do you think you are “better” than your parents?

Editorial Reviews

02/25/2019

This charming graphic memoir riffs on the joys and challenges of developing a unique ethnic identity. With a Catholic Filipino mother, whom she lives with in Southern California; a close-knit extended Filipino family; and an Egyptian Muslim father and mother-in-law, whom she visits in the summer after her parents’ divorce, Gharib tries to find a balance between the cultures that are her heritage. It proves difficult at her racially diverse high school, where aligning with a specific group is integral to fitting in, and almost equally so at Syracuse University, where Gharib discovers that her constant exposure to white people in pop culture didn’t prepare her for the clash of living among them—or the pressures (and guilt) of assimilation. Gharib’s enthusiastic, if naive, scribbly art style is reminiscent of Lynda Barry in the way it captures moments of chaotic Filipino family life. With the inclusions of recipes, Tagalog flashcards, tongue-in-cheek charts, an excerpt from her high school zine, and even a “Microaggressions Bingo” card, Gharib’s storytelling remains upbeat through life’s ups and downs. This lighthearted narrative, self-reflective but never angst-ridden, has wide appeal. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Malaka Gharib’s graphic memoir I Was Their American Dream tells the story of her experience as a first-generation American of Filipino and Egyptian descent. Gharib’s red-white-and-blue graphic palette serves as the perfect frame for her journey as she navigates questions of belonging, loyalty, and identity with heartwarming humor and critical wit.”—Kenyon Review

“A heartwarming tribute to immigrant families and their descendants trying to live the American dream.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Malaka Gharib tells the origin story of a person, somebody with hopes and fears and dreams. . . . Malaka looks to the future, to the expansive family that she has built and inherited, across continents and cultures. This memoir is as much a tribute to them as is her own coming of age story.”—Jeff Daughterty, BookTrib

“With a sincere approach, this graphic memoir will bring to mind Persepolis, but it is absolutely on its own quirky wavelength.”—Henry Chamberlain, Comics Grinder

"I Was Their American Dream is a pure and utter delight. With both a deft lightness and a deep poignancy, Malaka Gharib perfectly captures the feeling of growing up—of being a child of immigrants, of being a woman of color, of being thrown in the mix between cultures, of love, of family—with nostalgia, humor, and heart. Her words and illustrations are wittily observed and emotional in equal measure, able to draw a laugh and a tear over the span of a single page. I Was Their American Dream is a portrait of growing up in America, and a portrait of family, that pulls off the feat of being both intimately specific and deeply universal at the same time. I adored this book."—Jonny Sun, author and illustrator of everyone’s a aliebn when ur a aliebn too and New York Times best-selling illustrator of Gmorning, Gnight! by Lin-Manuel Miranda

From the Publisher

★ 06/14/2019

Gr 7 Up-In this graphic memoir, Gharib recounts her experiences growing up as a first-generation American. Her father was Egyptian and her mother Filipina, and she often felt like an outsider, not only in her California hometown but also within her own family. She details her struggles balancing vastly different religious expressions, social customs, and language barriers. Gharib attended a high school with a diverse student body, where she encountered other first-generation Americans, and attempted to talk about her ethnicity by asking other teens of color the well-meaning but misguided question, "What are you?" As a young woman of color, the author grappled with her complicated feelings about the overwhelmingly white images in the media. As an adult she married a white man from the South and shared her culture in an accepting relationship. Ultimately, she concludes that cultural heritage is a crucial part of identity. Gharib details her transformation in simple, self-deprecating cartoons. She peppers the narrative with interactive elements like microaggressions bingo, mini-zine pages, and a paper doll sequence that highlights her attempts to literally wear different aspects of white culture as she navigated her adult life. VERDICT This engaging memoir is an uplifting ode to Gharib's bicultural background, her immigrant parents, and her road to self-acceptance. An essential purchase.

School Library Journal

★ 2019-01-28

A graphic memoir about being half Filipino, half Egyptian—and 100 percent American.

After her parents' divorce, debut author Gharib spent her school years with her Filipino relatives in Cerritos, California, and summers with her father and his new family in Egypt. She honestly recounts the challenges she faced as a biracial child trying to appease both sides of her family, providing detailed (and oftentimes humorous) insights into her parents' cultural differences, both significant (her mother is Catholic while her father is Muslim) and nuanced (food, etiquette, expectations for her behavior). Gharib thoughtfully explores the gradations of diversity and what they meant to different people. In elementary school, Filipino classmates commented on her less-than-Filipino name and appearance. In high school, surrounded mostly by students of color but still feeling marginalized due to her bicultural, biracial heritage, she was criticized for her obsession with white culture. Readers also experience Gharib's transition to college and her first job—far away from her family and requiring huge adjustments as she entered mostly white worlds. She eventually married Darren, a white man from Tennessee. Charmingly unsophisticated illustrations, predominantly—and appropriately—colored in red, white, and blue, and Gharib's authentic voice make her story personable and accessible. Dispersed throughout are unique interactives, including a bingo chart of microaggressions, a mini zine tutorial, and Tagalog flashcards.

A heartwarming tribute to immigrant families and their descendants trying to live the American dream. (Graphic memoir. 13-adult)

Kirkus Reviews