Mariko Tamaki (writer) and Jillian Tamaki (artist) for This One Summer
(First Second, an imprint of Roaring Brook Press)
Judges' Comments:
“This One Summer,” says the jury, “is a beautifully drawn, keenly observed story. It is told with a fluid line and a sensitive eye to the emblematic moments that convey character, time, and place—the surf at night, the sound of flip-flops, a guarded sigh—all at the meandering pace of a summer’s vacation. The Tamakis astutely orchestrate the formal complexities of the graphic novel in the service of an evocative, immersive story. At first blush a coming of age story centered on two young girls, the book belongs equally to all its cast of characters, any of whom feel realized enough to have supported a narrative in their own right. Striking, relatable, and poignant, this graphic novel lingers with readers long after their eyes have left the pages.”
2015 Advisory Board:
- Steven Herb
- Wilson Hutton
- J. Harlan Ritchey
- Scott Thompson Smith
- Sandra Stelts