All the Answers

In the 1940s, Michael Kupperman's father Joel gained fame as a child prodigy on the radio show "Quiz Kids" -- something the elder Kupperman rarely discussed with his family. In this autobiographical graphic novel, Joel writes (and illustrates!) with bemused tenderness about his brainy, distant father, a man growing more distant with the onset of Alzheimer's. He explores the implications of his Jewish father being a media darling during the rise of Nazism, and the effects that childhood fame had on a shy young boy. In confronting his father's odd early years, Kupperman comes to a deeper understanding about his complicated family dynamic and begins to free himself from the past. It's not a particularly uplifting book, but one well worth your time.