Beautiful illustrations and well written. I'd love to see more literary graphic novels from this author.

This is a tough subject and it's well written. Not a feel good story but the art and subject make for a dramatic read. I would use this for an adult book club or a tough issues YA book talk.

Heart-breaking and beautifully drawn, I loved this graphic novel. Halim captures the fragility and tenderness very well and look forward to seeing more work from this author.

Europe Comics made one of my all time favorite graphic novels and so you may be able to guess how excited I was to read this, however, it was very unfortunate when my laptop died and I lost the downloaded copy of those book and now that it's archived I have no way of reading it. I have no doubt that it must have been a very good stories and makes me sad that I lost the chance of reading it.

Rating is given on whatever little I could read.

A heartbreaking graphic novel that I will recommend over and over again. The subject matter is dark, but the author tackled it well. I found myself getting pulled into the story, and devoured it in less than 20 minutes. The monochromatic artwork was stunning, and fitting the story perfectly. Simply beautiful.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I truly appreciate it!

3.75 stars

"A child is a person and is therefore the property of no one." - Françoise Dolto.

Illustrations and art = Perfect! Very dark and unlike anything I've come across before with blue-grey-black-white colour palette which communicated the tone and setting of the story brilliantly.

The start with a bit of history about children and the acquisition of language was intriguing and pulled me in instantly because as someone who has studied all about it for her psychology and language A level exam, it was interesting to read about, especially the part with the experiment conducted by the Holy Roman emperor Fredrick II of Hohenstaufen.

Overall, the plot was heartbreaking and succeeded at depicting abuse children face at the hands of their suffering parents and how that vicious cycle of violence continues on because it gets normalised for the victim and then they do the same with their children. I appreciated the author's holistic approach to the issue at hand and the potential reasons behind it e.g. teen pregnancy, mental health, Brenda's mom being a victim of violence, lack of a support system in terms of childcare and so on. Some parts though felt repetitive, others got too dreamy and at times it was difficult to navigate the plot with the constant back and forth between the past and present.

Inhalt

Mit ihrer aggressiven Mutter hat es Brenda nicht leicht. Ihre schnellen Stimmungswechsel sind für das junge Mädchen nicht leicht zu ertragen, da sie am meisten darunter zu leiden hat. Trotzdem sorgt sie so gut wie möglich für ihre Mutter und wird selbst zu einer kleinen Mama. Doch als ihr neuer Stiefvater einzieht und Brenda sich um ihren Halbbruder sorgen muss, gerät ihr Leben außer Kontrolle …

Meine Bewertung

Vorab eine Triggerwarnung: Dieser Comic beschäftigt sich mit Themen wie häuslicher Gewalt, die sich unter anderem auch gegen Kinder richtet. Wer das nicht erträgt, sollte bitte jetzt schon aufhören zu lesen, ich werde für die Rezension etwas ins Detail gehen müssen.

„Little Mama“ von Halim war bisher mein schlimmster Comic. Nicht, weil er schlecht war, sondern weil er auf einer emotionalen Eben sehr schockierend und ergreifend gewirkt hat. Ich hatte wirklich Mühe, mich zum Weiterlesen zu zwingen, weil ich beim Lesen so eine unfassbare Wut, Trauer und Verzweiflung im Magen hatte. Allerdings fand ich das Thema zu wichtig, um diesen Comic abzubrechen, weil er sich zudem sehr wahrheitsgetreu und realitätsnäh mit der Ohnmacht befasst hat, die in einer solchen Situation herrschen kann.

Der Comic startet vor Brendas Geburt. Ihre Mutter, die selbst noch ein Teenager ist, hat deutlich damit zu kämpfen, dass ihr Freund sie sitzenlässt. Schon am Anfang von Brendas Leben bekommt man die Verzweiflung mit, die die Familie immer weiter einspinnt, je älter das Mädchen wird. Abgeschoben zur Großmutter, damit die Mutter Party machen kann, geschlagen, wenn sie nicht schlafen will: Brendas Kindheit ist von Gewalt geprägt und niemand tut etwas. In der Schule wird man auf ihre blauen Flecke aufmerksam, aber es wird nicht publik genug gemacht. Auch die Jugendamtmitarbeiterin, die Brendas Fall betreut, darf wegen fehlender Beweise nichts ausrichten.

Es ist unglaublich, wie sehr einen ein Comic zum Weinen bringen kann. Wie bereits erwähnt hat mich dieses Thema und die Darstellung sehr belastet. Auch die Farben des Buches sind sehr gedämpft, werden immer dunkler, und je weiter man mit der erwachsenen Brenda ihre Therapie erlebt, desto schlimmere Geschehnisse kommen ans Licht. Es ist diese Hoffnungslosigkeit, die einen gefangen hält, man möchte helfen, weiß aber nicht wie – und das ist der springende Punkt, weshalb ich dieses Werk vorstellen und ins Rampenlicht rücken möchte.

Es ist kein Geheimnis, dass solche Unmenschlichkeiten täglich passieren – auch in einem Land, das Gewalt in der Erziehung unter Strafe stellt. Und täglich sehen Menschen zu, ahnen etwas, tun aber nichts. Weil ihnen niemand glauben wird, weil ohnehin nichts passiert, oder weil sie einfach nicht wissen, wie sie helfen sollen. Comics wie „Little Mama“ sind gerade deshalb besonders wichtig: Sie rütteln auf, regen zum Nachdenken an, und vielleicht, wenn es nur einen Menschen gibt, der dadurch zum Telefon greift, bevor es zu spät ist, erfüllen sie ihren Zweck. „Little Mama“ ist definitiv nichts Softes. Es ist schonungslos, brutal und ehrlich. Es tut richtig weh, von Seite zu Seite mehr zu erfahren. Aber gerade weil diese Themen nie aufhören, relevant zu sein, ist es wichtig zu zeigen, was Folgen von häuslicher Gewalt sein können und wie die Kinder ihr ganzes Leben lang drunter leiden.

„Little Mama“ war für mich definitiv ein Comic, den ich nicht vergessen werde. Brendas Geschichte hat mich mitgenommen und an den Rand meiner Nerven gebracht, gleichzeitig halte ich es für unheimlich wichtig, darauf aufmerksam zu machen. Weil wir als Menschen, die fühlen und Kinder schützen sollten, nicht wegsehen dürfen. Weil es in unserer Verantwortung liegt, zu helfen.

Note: I received a digital review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Its catchy and cute-looking cover led me to this comic, then I have got a heart-breaking, real-life story with a little silver lining at the end.

Brenda's days are, sadly, not part of an extraordinary life. Unfortunately, there are many kids who are suffering from aggressive and abuser parents. Halim's comic / graphic novel (which word is better here?) will take you to the true core of a child's life like Brenda. Sometimes yes, it's sad and hard to read but it might bring you closer and make you more emphatic to these kinds of cases. In that part, Little Mama does great job.

Some words on Halim's style: I loved how he used some tricks in his figures, (mainly at the very end), but some parts could be tricky, hard to follow.

Content Warning: Abuse

Brenda is living in a domestic war zone trying to survive her hostile mother who later on introduces a violent boyfriend. Born to a teenage mother, she learns to depend on herself in all things concerned earning her the nickname of “Little Mama”. Proud of being independent, Brenda also feels the need to protect her mother even if it means getting hurt in the process.

There’s redemption and forgiveness that pervades the illustrations. Imagery of butterflies and suffocating/escaping underwater are metaphors for Brenda’s feelings throughout the stages of her life. Little Mama deals with forgiveness as a device to move forward and at first I had reservations. I personally do not believe you are obligated to forgive someone if they haven’t earned it or do not want it. Prematurely forgiving an abuser can result in a false sense of security before their next episode which happens often to Brenda and her mother. You began to think that they can change easily because they feel remorse, but it’s an act of betrayal when they lash out and attempt to justify it. It’s never their fault obviously because they were doing just fine until you incited their wrath. To be frank, it’s a co-dependent relationship as the abuser blames the victim and the victim feels guilt so they decide to stay. Brenda has to reconcile with her decision to walk away and what it means to those she left behind.

It was difficult reading the comic because there is graphic content depicting the abuse. I think it was necessary in order to hone in on the emotional rollercoaster that is an abusive home life. These include imprisonment, insults, and starvation. This only gets worse as Brenda grows older and both her and her mother face abuse from Vincent. At times, I was shocked and others I felt frustrated. Running parallel to Brenda’s story is one about a social worker trying to intervene. Her perspective mirrors the audience which helps ground the story to discuss the role of outsiders amidst abusive relationships. How do we properly broach it and how difficult it is to not cross the line.

The comic is engaging with a medium that can reach young readers who might not fully understand the extent of abuse aside physical ones. Maybe it’s intentional that Brenda is personified as a little girl in the future timeline to track her mental transformation and interpretation of painful memories. It can just be confusing at times as there aren’t clear transitions. I recommend a second read as it does change how the reader perceives events from the first time around.

Cover Review:
The gray cover needs to be darker so that the yellow title doesn’t fade so much. It’s hard to read it as well as lessen the impact of the glowing stomach. As it is now, the cover lacks impact.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange of a fair review!

This was a story of teen pregnancy and resultant child neglect and abuse and poor life choices, which effectively forced the young kid to become the mother of the household, but it was so heavy-handed and scrappy and the black/white/grayscale line drawing artwork so sketchy that it failed for me.

It was also sometimes hard to tell which character we were looking at and even what exactly was happening on occasion. It had the feeling, to me, of being unfinished - like a draft story roughed-out in some very quickly scribbled panels rather than something that was designed and crafted, and labored over. I did not like it.

The overall feel of the work was not helped by the copy protection "system" that was employed here. The format had purportedly extra protection built into it such that it was not possible to download it - a reviewer like me, who can only get the ebook (which is fine - it saves a tree here and there!), has to read this one on a web page. If you close the page, you then have to go through the laborious process of accessing it again.

Worse, there is no means of conveniently navigating from one page to another on my tablet, except by sliding each individual page up or down the screen. If you want to go back and check something at the start, it's a long chore in a two hundred page comic like this one.

The idea behind this is to protect the work by specifically assigning it to a person's email address, and I can fully understand the need for protection of copyrighted work, but in practice, it offers no protection since anyone who can read something like this on their screen can take a screen-shot and copy it quite anonymously that way. So to me it made no sense and all it offered in practice was an inconvenience and annoyance to honest reviewers who would never abuse the privilege we have of getting an advance review copy of a work.

So I have to say that other than the one or two other such books I already have lined up for review, I will not be requesting any more books to review that have this kind of protection on them. It's far too much of a hassle and inconvenience and simply not worth my time as a 'volunteer' reviewer, not when I'm also trying to put in time on my own projects.

As for this particular volume, I cannot rate it favorably because it simple did not tell a worthy tale for me. This is an important topic and it deserves a better medium than this to relate it.

The artwork is very simple, black and white. The story, however, is heartbreaking. A young child had to be the parent in the relationship. Her parent's actions have a lasting effect and she has to learn to cope with it and grow as a person.
TW – child abuse

Brenda was named Little Mama by her own mom because she performed on the role of the mother. She was the one who took care of her sibling, Kevin, as well as doing the chores at home. Brenda matured at a very young age because of the setup in their family. When her mom and its boyfriend, Vincent, finally decided to live together, Brenda's situation became worse because Vincent always scolds and hurt her physically.

The story of Little Mama will make readers feel a lot of emotions while reading this gripping and compelling graphic novel. Readers will undoubtedly but pity Brenda's condition, and fury against her mom and Vincent for making a living hell on her life. Brenda's tale educates everyone about abuse and that we should help those who think are suffering from this ordeal, and that forgiving is a key for moving on.

A dark portrayal of a dark story. This is about child abuse, so content warning for that.

It's well done for the most part, but it can be a bit hard to follow at time. I'm willing to give that some of the benefit of my doubt, because the format I read it on is not the format it was designed to be read in, I'm sure. I also thought it might have been in translation, which typically may add to some of the more confusing bits of the story, but I'm fairly certain it was not translated (though there are translated song lyrics in the story). It was almost like, in certain parts, there was something missing that might've clarified what was going on...but as they weren't there, I was left confused.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not usually the person who needs it all spelled out for me, but with the format and the story itself, it would've been nice to have clear resolve all around. It also would've been nice to understand why everything that was included had been included, because, again, I was left feeling confused.

This was a solid story, of course, but very difficult to read due to the content. I also felt like it didn't offer much in the way of actual resolution (the "resolution" that is there confused me) or advice for those that may be going through the same thing.

I also was not a big fan of the lettering/font used for this graphic novel, or of the art style. These are not typically things I lower my rating for, but here, it just continued to add to my overall confusion of what was going on. This, too, could've been because I read this as an egalley when I'm sure it was meant to be read in a physical format.

Forever giving everything the benefit of the doubt, you know?

Received from Netgalley/the publisher for free to review.

The end felt like the 'lessons' were a little overly laid out, but overall a really good piece. The mother is especially well depicted, with genuine love and sympathy but never let off the hook for her transgressions.

This is a hard read and although the subject matter is dark, I think it’s dealt with in a meaningful way. The ending seems a little too rushed and a bit too tidy for me.

An interesting graphic novel with a great bend towards tough philosophical questions. Cool art and colorwork throughout.

A story of child abuse told from the perspective of the adult child in therapy. It's a difficult read, but a really illuminating one - and the art is stunning, like a cross between Nate Powell and Jim Mahfood. One of the best (if most gut-wrenching) graphic novels I have read so far this year.

This is a child abuse story. I need to start with that, because sometimes it is too much to read read.

This is the story of Brenda, the child of a teenage mother, who hates being saddled with her. Her mother is both imature, and has no support system, other than her own mother, who she doesn’t talk to enough.

This image, so common to all mothers, of their children driving them crazy. Only, with bad mothers, the situation turns to child abuse.
<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-631" src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Screen-Shot-2018-06-17-at-5.17.11-PM.png" alt="Little Mommy"/>

In this image, we see the authorities recognizing that there is Something Wrong™, but are unable to do anything about it. They do report what they persieve as abuse to the proper authorities, but the proper authorities are slow to move on these things.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-630" src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Screen-Shot-2018-06-17-at-5.17.24-PM.png" alt="" />

The story is being frame with the adult Brenda seeking help. We see her as she feels, and goes through the memories. Here is one such memory she has of her abuse.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-629" src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Screen-Shot-2018-06-17-at-5.19.56-PM.png" alt="" />

The story is mostly frustrating because the authorities cannot, or will not act on the information they see before them, because of a blotched case, years ago, where they prosecuted partners for child abuse, when that was not the case.

Sad, harrowing, gut wrenching. You know Brenda survives, because she is telling the story, but beyond that, you’re not sure how well she survives. Well done. Sad, but well done telling.

#LittleMama #NetGalley
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

I usually find it difficult to be emotionally affected by graphic novels. Because of how quick they are, it is hard to be invested in the characters. That is not the case with Little Mama. I think it's impossible not to be moved by this terrifying and powerful story. Even though I probably spent under 2 hours reading it, I think it will stick with me for a long time. Being told in a graphic format helps this story convey horrific scenes of abuse without using words, which is uniquely powerful. For me, it also makes the theme somewhat easier to digest because there are not long descriptions of abuse that might become too uncomfortable, but the gravity of the situation is still maintained. This was not an easy book to read, but it was well worth it.

'Little Mama' by Hakim is a difficult graphic novel to get through. It deals with a harsh subject in a pretty harsh way.

Little Brenda was born to a teenage mother who is pretty bad at being a mother (or even a grown up). Little Brenda takes the brunt of her mother's anger. People outside the home take notice, but Brenda learns to cover things up for her mother's sake. She also takes care of things at home, earning her the nickname of Little Mama. When her mother gets a new boyfriend, and becomes pregnant again, things get worse for Brenda until she does what she has to do.

The art is good. The story is just so gruesomely dark. There is a lot of honestly raw emotion, and I don't know that I could recommend this to victims of abuse, because it shows a broken system, and a child that has to live in a broken home for years. This may be the case for real victims, but it feels like the framing story treats things too lightly and doesn't offer much in the way of advice, and the glimmer of hope it does offer seems too simple.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.