I Am Alfonso Jones
By Michael Berry,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Powerful graphic novel explores police brutality.
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What you will—and won't—find in this book.
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What's the Story?
At the start of I AM ALFONSO JONES, things are looking up for Alfonso. His dad is about to be released from prison, he has a job as a bike courier he likes, and his classmate Danetta seems to be returning his romantic interest. But while shopping for a suit, Alfonso catches the attention of a police officer, who mistakes a coat hanger for a gun and shoots Alfonso dead. That's only the beginning of this story, though, as Alfonso awakens to find himself traveling aboard a train populated by the ghosts of police shooting victims. Alfonso's new companions in the afterlife help him find a different perspective, while his living friends and relatives grapple with their grief.
Is It Any Good?
Police brutality and the birth of the Black Lives Matter movement are subjects that require a sophisticated touch, and this passionate graphic novel has the urgency and skill to do its story justice. I Am Alfonso Jones mixes real-life characters with a fictional cast of well-defined individuals, including Alfonso, his mother, and his potential girlfriend. Author Tony Medina and illustrators Stacey Robinson and John Jennings bring Harlem and its past and present residents vividly to life. If the drawings sometimes feel crowded, their message still comes through: that justice is a constant struggle.
I Am Alfonso Jones will serve as a springboard for discussion of uncomfortable issues and attract a readership interested in issues of race, class, and gender.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how I Am Alfonso Jones portrays the issue of police violence against people of color. What are some situations that can devolve into violence against African-Americans?
Alfonso is shot while holding a coat hanger. How are such mistakes made in real life? What actions might prevent such a tragedy?
Is police brutality a subject that benefits from the graphic novel form? What effects are available in comics that aren't in a work of text only?
Book Details
- Author: Tony Medina
- Illustrators: John Jennings, Stacey Robinson
- Genre: Graphic Novel
- Topics: Activism, Friendship, Great Boy Role Models, High School
- Book type: Fiction
- Publisher: Tu Books
- Publication date: October 12, 2017
- Number of pages: 168
- Last updated: November 30, 2020
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