Sophia Allen
Lantern Staff
Tillie Walden’s memoir, “Spinning,” is a unique book that was very enjoyable to read. Following Walden through her teenage years, much of this graphic novel was drawn through the lens of figure skating, a sport that she participated in for much of her childhood.
One feature that struck my eye is the beginning of the chapters. Each was named after a turn or jump and featured a simple drawing of Walden performing it.
While many teens and college students can relate to studying for exams, hanging out with friends and other common activities, “Spinning” also includes some things that people may not have experienced like weekends spent traveling to and competing in competitions, hours getting lost in a sketchbook and getting up very early to go to practice.
A central point of this book is Walden’s sexual orientation, both during questioning and coming out. This is very important as out of about 2.7 billion books published in the year, only 260 included LGBTQ+ representation. In the book, Walden includes the story of her first girlfriend and several scenes coming out to various family members and friends.
An interesting detail in “Spinning” is that when Walden drew her younger self, she changed the art style inside the paper. This helped make the world in the book more realistic. If the art style had not changed, then it would seem like Walden was drawing things exactly as they appeared in the real world, which is not reflective of her current drawing style.
Walden has an interesting use of color in her art, both in “Spinning” and in her other work. In night time scenes, many panels will have a dark background and the characters and objects will be a lighter color. In this book, Walden uses a purple, yellow and white color scheme. The night background is purple, the figures are white and any artificial light, such as headlights and light in windows, is yellow. Through the color, Walden’s work manages to be simple and complex at the same time.
Overall, this book was very good. An interesting story-line and wonderful art make this book rather unique. I would recommend this book to any young adult, especially one who is interested in a story of competition, coming of age or identity.
