Akim Aliu: Dreamer

In this moving graphic novel memoir, Nigerian Ukrainian hockey player Akim Aliu recounts his childhood as the only Black hockey player on his high school team. After his father is released from an unjust imprisonment in 1995 Ukraine, the family moves to Toronto, believing they need to leave for Aliu to “succeed and prosper in life.” Known as the “Black boy with the ’fro who only spoke Russian,” Aliu is often met with anti-immigrant and racial epithets from classmates. Despite these stressors, Aliu is excited to join his school’s hockey team. He soon realizes that if he does well during a game, “all of a sudden, you’re approachable. You’re one of them.” Even so, he contends with prejudice both on and off the ice, as when an opposing team’s coach calls him a racist slur following a goal. Though the volume’s nonlinear timeline sometimes disorients, gregarious fourth-wall breaking lends humor, as when Aliu remarks “so I jumped way ahead of myself” after an aside. Clear, crisp artwork and richly saturated colors by De la Vega and Williams, paired with Aliu and Elysée’s conversational dialogue, result in a riveting, animated account. Ages 8–12. (Feb.)