Dear Dad: Growing Up with a Parent in Prison—and How We Stayed Connected by Jay Jay Patton

 

I randomly found the ebook edition for Dear Dad: Growing Up with a Parent in Prison—and How We Stayed Connected by Jay Jay Patton while searching Hoopla's comic offerings. The title and topic caught my attention right away. I have never had a parent incarcerated in prison. So, the thought of how an incarcerated parent stays in touch with their children (or vice versa) while serving time in prison never crossed my mind.

I wanted to learn more about this topic, so I decided to read Dear Dad: Growing Up with a Parent in Prison—and How We Stayed Connected by Jay Jay Patton. I'm so glad that I did. I started and finished reading Dear Dad in one day as it is a quick read due to it being written in comic book form. Dear Dad is a work of nonfiction and also a memoir. 

Jay Jay Patton writes about life without having a father around for a number of years during her childhood due to the fact that her father was serving time in prison. They stayed in touch via letters. Jay Jay's father learns computer coding while in prison. Once released from prison, Jay Jay and her family move back in together with her father as a family unit. It's then Jay Jay's father begins to work as a computer coder. Jay Jay herself is smart in both math and science like her father. Jay Jay eventually learns coding herself from her father and the two of them create an app to help connect children with their incarcerated parents. This way, families can stay in touch will the parent is serving time in prison.

I like this book and how Jay Jay and her father stay connected while he was in prison through letter writing. I also liked how they bonded afterwards through computer coding when Jay Jay's father was released from prison. They used their computer coding skills to create an app to help others stay more easily connected when a parent (or parents) are in prison with their children. However, Dear Dad wasn't perfect. I felt like their was gaps in the timeframe or things that would have been relevant information to share about the Jay Jay's life. Plus, the artwork was good, but not great.

Below is the publisher's summary for Dear Dad: Growing Up with a Parent in Prison—and How We Stayed Connected by Jay Jay Patton from the Goodreads website:

As far back as nine-year-old Jay Jay Patton can remember, her dad, Antoine, has been in prison. Growing up in Buffalo, New York with her mom and younger brother, she's only visited him twice. Instead the two have sent each other numerous letters. Jay Jay's letters can take weeks or months to reach her dad, and some never even get delivered. What's it going to be like having Dad home?

This powerful coming-of-age sequential-art memoir shows Jay Jay Patton's life of growing up with a dad in and out of prison. The experience led her and her dad to develop a powerful father-daughter bond and create Photo Patch, a life-changing application that connects children to incarcerated parents.

I am giving Dear Dad: Growing Up with a Parent in Prison—and How We Stayed Connected by Jay Jay Patton a rating of 3.5 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!