When I Was a Kid: Childhood Stories

Best known for his art on coffee cups, artist Boey collects a series of prose and cartoon recollections of his childhood in Malaysia, originally posted on his popular blog, Iamboey.com. Some of the tales are poignant and universal—Boey’s memory of his father helping him build a matchstick plane reveals much more about their relationship than the light-hearted cartoons imply. Some are laugh-out-loud funny, while others give a clear picture of the tensions Boey felt living on the border between Malaysia and Singapore during his youth. And some reveal a kid who can be a real jerk. (On music class, Boey writes that sometimes he’d steal other kids’ recorders, “because it was easier than asking them to lend it to me. I just knew very early, that if you asked someone for help, you owe them a favor, and I didn’t want to deal with that bullshit.”) Interspersed photographs help ground the stories in the real world, an objective counterpoint to Boey’s amusing subjective memories. The cartoon-to-text ratio is low at times, but the illustration style creates a light tone and lends humor to some otherwise bleak childhood memories. (July)