In the winsome Peter Lee's Notes from the Field, readers are treated to an entertaining firsthand look at how rough it is to be the second-smartest kid in the family.
"Canadian-born Korean" Peter Lee, soccer star and aspiring paleontologist, is older brother to genius L.B. (do not call her Charlotte unless you want her to throw a fit), and their parents are always taking her to enrichment programs like college science labs. But this summer Peter is finally getting his dreams realized--a distant museum is hosting a paleontology camp, and the whole family, including Hammy and Haji (short for grandma and grandpa in Korean), is road tripping to Alberta for the program. Peter is certain he'll be the star, but between an asthma attack at the dig site and the heartbreaking revelation that he's less special than he thought, the whole excursion sours and he decides to retire from paleontology. The rest of the summer is even more distressing as Hammy starts exhibiting signs of dementia and L.B.'s social awkwardness (and brilliance) grates on Peter.
Angela Ahn (Krista Kim-Bap) captures the heart-wrecking anguish that comes when your lifelong ambition is destroyed with the respect and pathos it deserves. Neither the Lee parents' insistence on excellence for their children nor Hammy's lapses in memory are depicted cartoonishly. Julie Kwon (illustrator, The Fearless Flights of Hazel Ying Lee) illustrates as if her art is Peter's own drawings, her focus shifting along with his from paleontology to family. Peter Lee's Notes from the Field is a winner. --Sarah Hannah Gómez, Ph.D. candidate, University of Arizona