Sincerely, Harriet

Sincerely, Harriet by Sarah Winifred Searle

For some, childhood is a boisterous time, full of noise and color, giggling friends and rambunctious play. For others, childhood is long and quiet, the unending expanse of a lonely afternoon, tinged with equal and intermingling parts imagination and anxiety. Harriet Flores’ childhood is the latter kind, characterized mostly by waiting: waiting for her riot grrl mom to come home from jobs at the garage and the bar, waiting for her sweet-spirited dad to come home from endless shifts at the hospital, waiting for letters to arrive from her friends at camp, left behind when she moved from Indiana to Chicago. Harriet passes the time by thinking about starting 7th grade in the fall, wondering if the house is haunted, and visiting her thoughtful and kind landlady, Pearl, who lives in the downstairs apartment and inspires Harriet to explore reading and writing as an outlet for her fantastical imagination.

The graphic novel’s slightly faded, matte tones masterfully evoke the dragging pace of Harriet’s life. Each page is made up of frames focused close around the action, highlighting with pointed subtlety some further characteristics of Harriet’s life: her special interest in Pearl’s son, who she sees using a wheelchair in a picture; the resigned way she wakes up one night after wetting the bed, and the practiced way she deals with the sheets; the way she scoots down the stairs sometimes, instead of walking. As the book proceeds, it becomes clear that Harriet’s experience includes not only lonely days and a new city, but multiple sclerosis. By including Harriet’s MS as a part of a larger narrative rather than as the sole focus or narrative origin point, author Sarah Winifred Searle underlines that MS is, indeed, only one part of Harriet.

Not a book that will hold the attention of every young reader, Sincerely, Harriet, is nonetheless a thoughtful and insightful treasure, quietly demonstrating how much interiority a graphic novel can hold and tenderly making a space for characters too often excluded from children’s literature.

Subjects this book includes which some readers may be sensitive to: chronic illness.