children's/teen/adult nonfiction (4th grade and up?), graphic memoir - Black/mixed race (Nigerian dad, white Ukrainian mom) Canadian hockey star

Aliu relates his childhood coming to Canada and being teased for speaking Russian, his parents scraping together the money to enroll him in hockey, and navigating a predominantly white (and frequently racist) sport that regularly abuses younger players in the name of "hazing" and eventually being able to stand up against the racism that unfairly banished him to the minor (sub-minor?) leagues. Language (notably the n-word) is blacked out, though "ass" does appear in the text on page 82.

Very readable story about hard work, persistence and creating meaningful change. ( )

Very powerful, honest autobiographical work by hockey player Akim Aliu. I hate that this is his story, and that his excellence on the ice is rewarded by consistent racism and bullying by his own team mates and by the hockey industry as a whole. We must do better. Aliu has a fascinating background, coming as a bi-racial immigrant from Russia to Canada, and as a Black player who loves hockey. I hope this shines a light on some of the bad behavior and helps forge a path for more diverse players of all kinds. ( )

Good memoir! Akim breaks the fourth wall often to give added information, and, while distracting, it doesn’t break the flow of the story.

As I get older, I start feeling wearier of the (true) stories of black and mixed raced people having to continually put up with, endure, and survive virulent racism. No one should be having to put up with this type of garbage!

I do have to side-eye the portrayal of one of the two visibly black women in this book. I don’t doubt at all that event happened, but the optics of media in general always portraying black women as bitter and jealous gets old.
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3.5 Stars. This probably should have started with chapter two, chapter one is basically fragments/teasers of what’s to come in Akim Aliu’s story, so kind of unnecessary and potentially confusing.

Chapter two onward offers much more clarity and for the most part unfolds chronologically.

I was most engaged with the first half of this graphic novel, it was really interesting to learn about Akim’s parents, his grandfather, how race affected their interracial family as they lived in Europe, Africa, and Canada. I also liked that once in awhile the fourth wall is broken adding a bit of personality and occasional humor to a story that’s otherwise centered on serious subject matter.

The hockey portion was a little too familiar for me as it covered precisely the same ground as Aliu’s essay, various interviews, documentary appearances, etc. I guess I was hoping that in addition to those pivotal moments this would expand a bit more on his life in and out of hockey, maybe dig more into the day to day of continuing in a sport that wasn’t welcoming, more on what kept him going, maybe see a few more moments of the joy he hopefully experienced in the game, and show more of phasing out of being a player and into advocacy, how emotionally tricky that transition may have been for him, instead this pretty much delivered the same information/moments already discussed in other mediums, just this one has illustrations.

I always think of a book as a vehicle to delve deeper than an article or a short television interview is able to go, so it was slightly disappointing that this didn’t do that quite as often as maybe it could have, but this would still be a good place to start for those who are less aware of Akim Aliu’s story and to gain a better understanding of the challenges facing diverse athletes in a sport that proclaims to be “for everyone” but sadly continues to fall short of that motto. ( )