Leaving China

January 13, 2014
The grandchild of missionaries and the son of extroverted socialites, illustrator McMullan was forced to leave China when WWII started and the Japanese occupied the country. His life became an oxymoron: always civilized, perpetually disrupted. From Vancouver to India, from public school to boarding school, McMullan writes of his struggles with bullying, uncertainty about his father’s fate back in China, but most of all with the knowledge that he could never live up to his father’s expectations. When he breaks into sobs upon being left in yet another school on another continent, his father cringes. “Oh, for God’s sakes, be a man!” he cries. McMullan never sees his father again. Watercolors on recto pages illustrate each one-page episode with careful, thoughtful lines and wash, the visual equivalent of McMullan’s prose. Early memories of beauty (“Sometimes when the peaks were lit with a particularly glorious gold and pink sunrise... I found myself called out for not doing my jumping jacks in the same rhythm as the other boys”) give the story moments of unexpected sweetness. Ages 12–up. Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. (Mar.)■

February 1, 2014
Internationally acclaimed illustrator McMullan (I'm Fast, 2012), best known for Lincoln Center Theater posters and picture books with his wife, reflects on his childhood in China and wartime journeys in search of home. Young McMullan, a nervous boy and grandson of missionaries, is born in Cheefoo, China, in 1934. He enjoys a comfortable lifestyle due to the family businesses, including an orphanage and embroidery exports. Soon, World War II dawns, and the Japanese army invades the town, causing the boy and his parents to flee to Shanghai. There, his father joins the British army, while he and his mother set sail for America. In two-page spreads, prose on the left opposite illustrations on the right, memories are recalled with vivid clarity and a quiet strength. The author's subdued but elegant drawings set the most reverent tones. Tender scenes, such as the author playing next to a rectangle of sunlight while his father bends over the piano or his fascinated examination of brush strokes on Chinese scrolls, illustrate how little moments really do have the greatest impact. Painful and terrifying recollections take shape, as well: his failure to become a "strong little fellow" in his father's eyes, a bomb scare aboard a passenger freighter or his ineptitude at boxing. These experiences, both extraordinary and ordinary, intertwine to create a memoir that resonates. (Finished, full-color art not seen.) A poignant glimpse into an artist in the making. (Memoir. 12-16)

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

February 1, 2014

Gr 7 Up-In this poignant memoir, McMullan, illustrator of Kate McMullan's bestselling I Stink picture book (HarperCollins, 2002) and creator of more than 50 posters for Lincoln Center theater productions, chronicles his childhood during World War II. Born in Tsingtao, China, in 1934, young Jim lived a life of privilege as the son of wealthy Europeans. His grandparents went to China as missionaries. They operated an orphanage for abandoned infant girls and later taught the young women to embroider. Their distinctive cutwork creations became the seeds of a profitable exporting business, the James McMullan Company. By the time Jim was born, his family was among the best known in Cheefoo, and his parents were the toast of the lavish social scene. Everything changed, however, when the war began. Jim and his mother traveled from China to Canada and to India while his father served with the British Army. While Jim had difficulty adjusting to new schools and was bullied because of his strange accent, his mother suffered from depression and alcoholism. The book is composed of one-page vignettes that face a corresponding full-page watercolor scene illustrating a pivotal moment in the McMullan family history and/or Jim's childhood. Delicate layers of pale green, soft lavender, and rich ocher tones bleed and blend into deep violet shadows-a subtle visual nod to the themes of nostalgia, isolation, and loss explored throughout the work. McMullan's compositions are both quiet and stirring in their depiction of a lonely little boy struggling to find his place in a chaotic and often unkind world. In addition to McMullan's personal remembrances, the book also offers readers a glimpse into what life was like for children growing up during this time. Fans of memoirs, students studying World War II, and aspiring artists will find much to appreciate.-Kiera Parrott, School Library Journal

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 15, 2014
Grades 6-9 *Starred Review* The first nonfiction title in the still new Algonquin Young Readers imprint, this is a memoir of celebrated artist McMullan's early years, from age 2 to 11. His was a hopscotch childhood, thanks to WWII. Born in 1934 in Tsingtao, China, he subsequently lived in Shanghai, Canada, India, then China and Canada again and, finally, in the U.S. My mother and I were now wanderers, he writes, not yet attached to any particular place. His life was not always a happy story; his mother was a deep depressive who abused alcohol, and his strict, British military-officer father died in a plane wreck. Moreover, he had a self-described nervous, timid, introspective personality, but he found much comfort in the intelligence of his visual surroundings, and, accordingly, his story is informed by a keen sense of place. The book consists of 54 chronologically arranged full-page illustrations, each accompanied by a facing page of text. The exquisite full-color pictures are filled with air and space, reminiscent of the Chinese scrolls that fascinated McMullan as a child. These pictures and the evocative text are a happy exercise in harmony. A fascinating, seamless portrait of a young life and the wartime world that will have appeal not only to young readers but to adults as well.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2014
McMullan's privileged childhood in North China (with missionary parents) was disrupted by the 1937 Japanese occupation; the rest of his childhood would be spent on the move, all over the globe. McMullan punctuates his spare narrative with character-revealing incidents. Each memory of the observant child becomes a richly evocative scene as well as a harmonious composition in this intimate and powerful autobiographical journey.

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

May 1, 2014
McMullan was born in Tsingtao, North China, in 1934 to an Irish-English missionary family. His privileged childhood was disrupted by the 1937 Japanese occupation; by 1941, he and his mother were sailing for her Canadian homeland. In 1944 the two took a freighter's "long, looping, evasive southern route" from New York to Bombay to meet his father; by 1945, the boy had circled the globe. Meanwhile, at one unsatisfactory school after another, Jimmie -- ever awkward at sports -- found bullies but few friends, though his artistic talent charmed some. McMullan punctuates his spare narrative with character-revealing incidents and memorable moments: the small boy, housebound by Japanese soldiers outside, studying painted Chinese scrolls "so quiet and subdued but somehow so alive"; a kindly boxing instructor observing that "you'll be an artist and not a boxer"; or the Himalayas as backdrop to tiny figures doing calisthenics. With an impeccable sense of place, McMullan re-creates such diverse settings in full-page art facing, and illuminating, titled pages of text: "My Father at the Piano"; "The Wrong Accent"; "The Bombing Scare." His palette is gentle: mauves and rusts ripen into peach or rose while areas of more saturated tones focus the drama. Each memory of this observant child becomes a richly evocative scene as well as a harmonious composition -- at times enlivened with telling detail, at others reduced to the utmost poignant simplicity. Like David Small's Stitches, this is an intimate and powerful autobiographical journey. A postscript, endpaper map, and acknowledgments are appended. joanna rudge long

(Copyright 2014 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)