Follow the visual story
Cartoons
Junior’s cartoons are part of the novel, not decorations. Follow them in printed-page order and notice what each image adds to the words around it.
Each short comment is one starting observation, not the only possible interpretation. Open the printed page to study the cartoon beside its exact context.
Chapter 1
The Black-Eye-of-the-Month Club
Printed page 5
Junior introduces drawing as a language that can cross barriers between people.
Printed page 6
Junior turns his wish to be noticed and loved into a comic juggling act.
Chapter 2
Why Chicken Means So Much to Me
Printed page 8
The drawing makes hunger funny and serious at the same time.
Printed page 12
Junior's labeled portraits record both of his parents' talents and unrealized dreams.
Chapter 3
Revenge Is My Middle Name
Printed page 19
Exaggerated details let Junior show how vulnerable and conspicuous he feels.
Printed page 22
A visual metaphor turns thought, fear, and imagination into something we can see.
Printed page 23
An angry Rowdy resists being drawn; the Casper reference and nearby account of his love of comics complicate the fearsome portrait.
Chapter 4
Because Geometry Is Not a Country Somewhere Near France
Printed page 27
Mary's profile mixes sharp observation with Junior's comic exaggeration.
Printed page 29
The labeled portrait turns Junior's first impression of Mr. P into visual evidence.
Printed page 31
Junior draws the thrown textbook hitting Mr. P, making his anger and its consequences visible.
Chapter 5
Hope Against Hope
Printed page 33
The small figure and large landscape make the world beyond home feel enormous.
Printed page 36
A confession cartoon reverses teacher and student roles after Mr. P admits how teachers harmed Native children.
Printed page 38
A parody of a romance cover helps Junior question a familiar stereotype.
Printed page 43
The drawing gives physical shape to Mr. P's idea that hope lies farther away.
Chapter 6
Go Means Go
Printed page 44
The image holds Junior at the moment when thinking about leaving becomes a family decision.
Printed page 47
Hope appears as a destination, but the distance makes the choice look difficult.
Chapter 7
Rowdy Sings the Blues
Printed page 51
A winged horse makes hope look almost mythical, while repeated “white” labels connect that hope to Junior’s view of Reardan.
Printed page 53
The close-up freezes the anger and hurt inside the friends' separation.
Chapter 8
How to Fight Monsters
Printed page 56
Junior turns his fear of Reardan into a cartoon monster he can name and face.
Printed page 57
The labeled figure exposes the stereotypes Junior encounters and the contradictions he feels.
Printed page 59
Junior's portrait of Penelope records attraction before he knows much about her.
Printed page 63
The crowd of words shows how repeated insults can surround a person.
Chapter 9
Grandmother Gives Me Some Advice
Printed page 69
Grandmother Spirit's portrait emphasizes the knowledge and care Junior sees in her.
Printed page 72
Eugene's motorcycle portrait connects style, movement, and possibility.
Chapter 12
Slouching Toward Thanksgiving
Printed page 83
The cartoon makes Junior's isolation visible through an exaggerated pose.
Printed page 85
A science-class joke turns conflict with a teacher into a visual comparison.
Printed page 87
The drawing compresses a long and difficult trip into one memorable image.
Printed page 88
The panels track how money, transportation, and chance shape Junior's school day.
Printed page 90
The cartoon lets Junior imagine Mary's new life while recognizing how little he knows about it.
Printed page 96
The dialogue makes Gordy's excitement about books both comic and important.
Chapter 14
Thanksgiving
Printed page 102
Junior uses a shared Thanksgiving memory to reach back toward Rowdy.
Chapter 15
Hunger Pains
Printed page 107
Junior draws Dad’s excuse about drinking beside Penelope’s similar explanation, revealing a pattern Junior recognizes in their responses to pain.
Printed page 110 · cartoon 1
The caricature lets Junior joke about romance, identity, and how other people see him.
Printed page 110 · cartoon 2
The labeled portrait records Junior's sharply critical first impression of Earl.
Printed page 112
The bird diagram turns Penelope's dream of travel into an image of flight.
Printed page 113
This portrait shows Penelope through Junior's admiring gaze, which readers can also question.
Chapter 16
Rowdy Gives Me Advice About Love
Printed page 117
Junior draws Gordy absorbed in a book, connecting the pleasure of reading with a friend who challenges his thinking.
Chapter 17
Dance, Dance, Dance
Printed page 120
The comic panels show the excuses Junior uses to hide hunger and poverty.
Printed page 121
Labels turn an old suit into evidence of Junior's worry about fitting in.
Printed page 123
A simple plate makes the cost of the evening feel immediate and concrete.
Printed page 128
The question-and-answer panels show how hard it is for Junior to say that he is poor.
Chapter 19
My Sister Sends Me a Letter
Printed page 134
The drawing places Mary's hopeful description beside Junior's more skeptical view.
Chapter 20
Reindeer Games
Printed page 137
Junior's labeled portrait makes Coach both commanding and funny, pairing a thunderous voice with ordinary physical details.
Printed page 138
Exaggeration makes the physical strain of practice visible and comic.
Printed page 141
Junior's charging pose, shout, and motion lines exaggerate his determination during the basketball tryouts.
Chapter 22
Red Versus White
Printed page 156
A visual comparison helps Junior think through differences he sees between communities.
Chapter 23
Wake
Printed page 159
A circle of people around a crying face makes grief and shared support visible at Grandmother's wake.
Printed page 162
A labeled caricature helps Junior expose the visitor's assumptions.
Printed page 166
The drawing holds laughter and tears together during the wake.
Printed page 168
The panels show several ways people speak and act around grief.
Chapter 24
Valentine Heart
Printed page 170
The short sequence uses humor to record rules, memory, and respect.
Printed page 171
Junior answers loss by turning anger at religion into a cartoon.
Printed page 172
The open book connects reading, language, and Junior's search for help with grief.
Printed page 174
The chart organizes the practical reasons grief changes Junior's school attendance.
Chapter 25
In Like a Lion
Printed page 182
The paired gyms give Junior opposite crowd reactions while he asks the same question, “Who am I?”, in both.
Printed page 187
Junior draws himself as a television star whose grateful speech ends with an urge to vomit, mixing public attention with private nerves.
Chapter 27
Because Russian Guys Are Not Always Geniuses
Printed page 204
A comic reaction makes shock and relief arrive in the same moment.
Printed page 213
The imagined Burning Love cover places a blaming voice beside a couple in flames, joining grief, guilt, and accusation.
Chapter 28
My Final Freshman Year Report Card
Printed page 214
The report-card format turns Junior's year into a compact record of struggle and progress.
Chapter 29
Remembering
Printed page 218
A remembered third-grade leap into Turtle Lake shows Junior and Rowdy holding hands, preserving their childhood closeness.