I.D.: Stuff That Happens to Define Us

by Kate Scowen, Peter Mitchell (Illustrations)

Everyone remembers that first love. Or the first all-out fight with a parent or sibling; the feeling of being let down by someone you love; losing something or someone that matters to you; struggling to fit in. I.D. collects 12 first-person accounts about life's pivotal moments and offers each as an incisive graphic narrative. With raw honesty, and illuminated by Peter Mitchell's bold, gritty illustration style, these true stories tackle the universal experiences from childhood and adolescence that stay with us forever. Each anecdote, and accompanying reflection, reveals how individual identity can be shaped by common themes of growing up. By turns thoughtful, painful, funny and fierce, I.D. powerfully demonstrates that what happens to define us in youth doesn't have to confine us forever.

Genres: Nonfiction, Graphic Novels

160 pages, ebook

First published January 15, 2010

About the author

Kate Scowen’s interest in youth and youth culture developed while she was attending Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. During this time, she volunteered at a local community center as a counselor for high-risk youth. The strong connection she made with one girl in particular sparked her interest in the lives of these kids; what made them who they were, where they were going and how they might get there.

Before she left for London, England to pursue her graduate degree, Kate got her first “real” job working as a counselor in a group home. This experience opened her eyes to the realities of the lives of the kids sent there and how their life experiences played out in the world around them. Kate left Peterborough to study Social Policy and Planning at the London School of Economics, which turned out to be a unique opportunity to dig deeper into the world of youth culture. Kate spent her free time that year volunteering with youth-based organizations and interviewing youth and program staff for her dissertation on contemporary youth culture.

After graduating, Kate moved to Toronto where she got a job working in a residential program of the Children’s Aid Society. Following that, Kate worked with high-risk youth in a community-based program in Toronto’s Kensington Market for more than seven years. In 1998, Kate decided to spend more time at home with her three daughters and began working as a consultant. She remains immersed in youth culture through her volunteer work, her writing and through the lives of her children and their many friends who drift in and out of her house and are a constant source of amusement, frustration, and inspiration.

Reviews

[Forest · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I will start by stating that I love the concept of this book. I love what the writer was trying to get across to readers. A few pages in, I immediately connected to the feelings of the people who are featured. This made me feel that I.D. was relatable and I wanted to continue reading (plus, I love a quick page turner!) But soon, that feeling got lost in the countless amount of extremely cut down, poorly summarized serious situations that this book focuses on. I understand that having each situation summarized was the point, however, sometimes the situations seemed minimized. I feel like less stories with more detail added would have done well. The interview questions at the end of each mini story were nothing short of anything special. I honestly enjoyed how the font was made to look like a teenager's hand writing and I personally like how the illustrations are rough looking. I was going to rate it 3 stars but I took half a star off.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not quite sure what to make of the collection of stories other than it is very relatable and would be easy to share. Each story is 2-3 pages in a "teen" handwritten-type font with harsh and raw etchings from their experiences. These experiences range from being kidnapped by their father during a divorce, a sibling's suicide, discovering her sexuality, or learning that she can be her own person free from her mother's domineering personality. Then, after each story is a 1-page Q&A about how the experience affected them.

Definitely different, but direct. Each story could stand alone and fit a therapy session or reach out to show someone "I understand what you might be going through."

[Bmw800 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Happened upon this in the library. A lovely find.

[Canadian Children's Book Centre]

Reviewed by Nicola Dufficy


The struggle for identity is a theme that rests at the heart of so many books geared towards teens. In a market saturated with titles capitalizing on these ideas, Kate Scowen offers a refreshing and gutsy take on the topic. i.d. is a book that will resonate with teens quite simply because its stories are based on real experiences.

The strength of Scowen’s collection lies in her ability to resist the urge to tell stories that have happy endings. The personal accounts in this book are honest and heart wrenching. Language is sparse — there is no room for unnecessary embellishments. Each story gets straight to the point, packing its punch and hitting the reader with full force. It is clear that we are not to read this book and expect to find joyous resolution. We are reading to discover we are not alone in our experiences; that what hurts us does not have to define us.

i.d is a visually appealing book. The ‘handwritten’ text encourages a feeling of intimacy; it almost seems as though you are reading a diary. Peter Mitchell’s illustrations bring to life the voice of each narrator, skilfully enhancing rather than intruding on the story. The illustrations give a sensation of movement, as though we are swirling in the mind of the person recounting their experience. Together, these features create a book that is rich in both content and design.

Teenagers aged 13 and up will enjoy i.d.’s brutal honesty and the fact that, rather than preaching a message, this book encourages independent thought. Kate Scowen’s i.d. is a book that should be in every high school library and would provide an excellent springboard for discussion in the classroom.

Canadian Children's Book News (Summer 2010, Vol. 33, No. 3)

[Sarah]

Anguished, if gorgeous, life stories (focused on definitive moments) followed by brief Q&As with each storyteller, all illustrated by messy, funny scribbles almost like those teenagers -- the supposed audience for this book -- might ink in the margins of textbooks or on handouts. (That the illustrations are apt is not to diminish the talents of he to render them.) Nabbed from the library because it was turned out, looked interesting, this tiny book reminded me how huge our capacities and of the beauty we can find in the ugly, perhaps when we are that young, in the midst of teenagehood, especially. I.D. is a kind of graphic novel and is kind of akin My So-Called Life. I reveled in these pages, reminded of who I'd been and how I became who I am.

[Celise · Rating 1 out of 5]

How was this White Pine nominated? Now they're just pissing on us teens.

No one's going to make me feel guilty for rating this book low just because it's touchy. The drawings were indecipherable, the writing scratchy and irritating. The interview questions were redundant and the answers, nothing new. I know it's real life, but other books actually made me feel something whereas this one I had to roll my eyes at. Cool, dude gets beat up when being a drunken idiot with his friends. Occupy three pages with that story, promise never to do it again, NEXT!

[Barbra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Things happen in our lives that define who we are based on how we handled different situations. Twelve teens talk about love-lost, parent fights, abuse and not fitting in, and how they dealt with the situation so they could move on. Sketchy illustrations accompany the thoughtful, funny, and painfully honest narratives. There is a resource section with Hotline numbers for both Canada and the US as well as books and website links for kids who are in need of advise or help. An enlightening book for mature readers ages 14 and up.

[Joella · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are moments that help define a person. This book is about the hard moments many young adults have to deal with and how those moments change their lives. After each moment there is a question or two that the various young adults answer to let the reader know what happened after those moments. A hard (and sometimes painful)look at what defines these teens.

[ke-sha · Rating 1 out of 5]

[Video Review Coming Soon)


Now to start off I don't Hate this book because that would Imply I had any feeling what's so ever toward this book I don't. it was highly forgettable. I read barely a week ago and the details have basically escaped me completely.It just wasn't interesting or enlightening in any way shape or form.

[Evonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of very short stories by people who survived their childhoods. It focuses on resilience and the strategies that kids use to keep themselves sane. The font is very large and childish which suggested to me that I couldn't take it too seriously -maybe a kind of stereotyping. After each anecdote there's a short Q&A about resiliency. That's perhaps the best part of the book.

[Kay Farmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would be a good book to for open discussion with a group of teens, either in a classroom setting or with parents and their children. It has some great resources for young adults and care-givers.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read of 12 short stories about defining moments in the authors' lives: experiences of violence, loss of childhood, estrangement and abuse.

I really, really liked the artwork.

Very well put together.

[Karen Kenney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Library Blind Date Mystery Challenge (last book). Could be a very helpful book for teens knowing they are not alone in their particular trials. However, I think the title and covers need reworking so they might actually even take the book off the shelf.

[Willow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting. The personal accounts were very simply stated in a matter-of-fact way. Maybe overly so. Something I might expect to see in a High School counselling office.

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

Simply presented. Could be more in-depth.

[BCPL Youth Services Librarian]

Click to see book in BCPL's online catalog

[Artslyz · Rating 3 out of 5]

12 first person stories about things that change your life - being abused by a parent, etc. I liked the illustrations but I found the handwriting (font?) annoying.

[Emily Rozmus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple and quick, the true stories and breezy illustrations will nevertheless remind teens that they are not alone.

[Spencer Julien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting look at how we classify ourselves through more formal guidelines such as gender and race and also the things that shape us as people.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would like to get this for my school to have in the YA section.

[Teresa Reid · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book, I really did. I was hoping it would give examples of anxiety and instances that I could relate to, or that my children could, but it didn't really turn out that way. I didn't find it all that compelling, and the illustrations were pretty mediocre. Now I feel like I'm being too harsh. It just wasn't my cup of tea.