Occulted

by Amy Rose, Ryan Estrada, Jeongmin Lee (Illustrator)

Overview

"Insightful and riveting." — KIRKUS

"A tense, thrilling account of escaping a cult." — FOREWORD

"This inspiring tale of bravery and rebellion is just what readers need right now." — SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL

It's 1997 and young Amy Rose has always known that something is off about her community. She's forbidden from going to school or even going outside; after all, their leader says there's no use knowing anything about a world that's about to end. When the Hale-Bopp comet soars across the sky for the first time in over 4,000 years, Amy thinks it's a good omen signaling the start of an amazing new future. Instead, it brings news of a horrible tragedy at a similar compound just down the road called Heaven's Gate. Televised news reports invade the temple walls and Amy hears a new word that suddenly explains everything: cult.

Now, she must risk everything to indulge in secret trips to an abandoned off-limits library to learn what she was never meant to know: that Gandhi was not a space alien, that Star Trek wasn't real, that her community was built on a lie, and most importantly, that banned books can give her everything she needs to escape.

Occulted is a shocking graphic memoir about the power of literary freedom. Survivor Amy Rose, Banned Book Club co-author Ryan Estrada, and artist Jeongmin Lee tell a haunting, inspiring tale of bravery and rebellion, about how to recognize those who try to control you, and how to fight back.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781638991090
Publisher:	Iron Circus Comics
Publication date:	07/18/2023
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	9 - 14 Years

About the Author

Co-Author Amy Rose is not a Sonic character, but she is just as weird. She exudes West Coast vibes no matter where she’s at. Currently living and teaching in South Korea, she tries to get some writing or performing done when she isn’t inspiring kids to be as strange as possible.

Co-Author Ryan Estrada is an artist/adventurer who travels the world getting into trouble and making comics. He is the co-author of the Eisner- and Ringo-nominated, Freeman Award-winning graphic memoir Banned Book Club and No Rules Tonight. He is the creator and author of the Student Ambassador middle grade adventure series. He has slept on a park bench in a typhoon, was nearly eaten by lions in the Maasai Mara, and was once thrown from a moving train by the police. He deserved it.

Artist Jeongmin Lee (a.k.a. Min the Elephant) is an illustrator whose work attempts to introduce a touch of dark fantasy to the mundanity of life. She draws inspiration from dreams, nature, creatures, and the macabre.

Editorial Reviews

PRAISE FOR RYAN ESTRADA

"Highly recommended for readers passionate about activism or political history, or for those who are simply looking for an excellent comic book." — SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, Starred Review (Banned Book Club)

"The messages of hope are universal, as are the poignant reminders that change can happen when people are willing to speak up." — PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, Starred Review (Banned Book Club)

"A tribute to young people's resistance in the face of oppression." — KIRKUS (Banned Book Club)

"The [kind of] daring memoir that comes once a generation. There is nothing else like this on the bookshelves." — BLACK NERD PROBLEMS (Banned Book Club)

"A fun adventure tale with a lot of personality, this is a strong addition to middle grade graphic novel adventure collections." — SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL (Student Ambassador) 

From the Publisher

2023-02-25
A graphic memoir that documents Rose’s experience growing up in a cult.

Rose spent most of her childhood with her mother in the Temple, in San Diego, located down the road from the compound of Heaven’s Gate, whose members took part in a mass suicide in 1997. Selectively mute, young Amy is under the control of the manipulative, abusive Leader. Chain-smoking and wearing a perpetual scowl, the Leader dislikes children, using them only when they are considered beneficial. Separated from her father and siblings, Amy sees little of her ailing mother, spending her days doing chores and caring for the children of potential members who arrive for free yoga classes. Cut off from most outside influences, Amy loves books and is delighted when she finds the Leader’s secret library. When the Leader deems her too much trouble and gives her away to a kind, childless couple who attend yoga classes but don’t live at the Temple, Amy experiences the outside world—and the public library—for the first time. Finally, as an adult, she makes sense of her past with the benefit of hindsight. Her journey is harrowing, filled with moments of acute misery juxtaposed against flashes of unabashed joy. Lee’s black-and-white manga-styled art is dazzling, with keenly detailed facial expressions, adding evocative depth to the story. Because the story is told mainly through a child’s perspective, some details (what illness Amy's mother had, why her father never came for her) are omitted. All characters present White.

Insightful and riveting. (Graphic memoir. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews