A Tale As Tall As Jacob, family, life and entertaining

Here, read this all-age graphic novel about ADHD. Here, read this all-age graphic novel about a funny, real, and sometimes contentious relationship about a pair of siblings. As a written description it’s possible that neither one of those sentences might attract the elementary-aged reader to A Tale As Tall As Jacob. However, the benefit of an effective all-age graphic novel is that the images in the can bring in readers who otherwise might not have been interested in it. On the cover, we see a giant youth who is wreaking havoc in the house as his family runs for cover. Is this a Paul Bunyon tale, the story of a child with an active imagination, or something entirely different?

First off, it’s worth saying that A Tale As Tall As Jacob is a great graphic novel that ages eight and up will enjoy and relate to. Once they start reading it they’ll laugh and be able to see someone in their family who has elements of someone in the story. Readers will quickly meet Samantha and her younger brother Jacob. It’s somewhat of a typical sibling relationship except for the fact that Jacob is very hyper and is speech delayed due to an issue with his tongue.

A Tale As Tall As Jacob looks at everything through Samantha’s eyes. Thus, the issues and annoyances that Jacob is the root cause of often impact her the most. She’s a growing girl who looks to be around six through 10-years-old during various points of the book. It’s a growing family, a new baby has arrived, mom, dad, and her younger brother who means well, but whose ADHD sometimes makes things challenging.

The family aspect is one that any aged reader will appreciate. There are instances that certainly weren’t funny at that moment but would make the family laugh at it as more time is put between it. Jacob goes into the neighbor’s apartment and microwaves one of his metal cars. He also knocks over Samantha’s goldfish and other things that would be frustrating to experience, but are part of growing up, life, and having a family member with ADHD.

It’s a truthful graphic novel that addresses the family’s challenges of discovering what was making him ‘different’, while focusing on the sibling relationship. The book doesn’t seem to have the direct intention of ADHD awareness, but that’s one takeaway that you might have. As a teacher and dad to a child with mild ADHD symptoms, it made me think about how they interpret things. I’m very patient by nature, but sometimes in dealing with students (or my son), I try to move the lesson along at a quicker pace than they’re ready for. A Tale As Tall As Jacob also addresses the decisions that families make in putting their kids on medicine, and the side effects that accompany them.

With all of that in mind, the graphic novel is a heartwarming look at family. That term, ‘heartwarming’ is so clichéd that it feels out of place when it’s not associated with one of the better Hallmark Christmas movies. However, in this case, that adjective is 100% on point. The chapters are short enough to keep the attention span of young readers. The art (as well as the story) by Samantha Edwards is comically oriented and does a great job of baiting the curiosity hook for elementary-aged readers to get involved with and eventually care about all of the characters.  

A Tale As Tall As Jacob, Misadventures With My Brother, just like that Hallmark movie that you unwittingly watched, will tug at your emotions just a bit too. It’ll make you look at those who have an ADHD person in their life a bit differently, with a bit more patience and grace. Moreover, it doesn’t do it via cheap emotions, pity, jealousy or other things that would make the book feel forced or fake. It makes you think and entertains you along the way, which is a very rare feat for an all-age graphic novel.

A Tale As Tall As Jacob, Misadventures With My Brother is written and illustrated by Samantha Edwards and available on Andrews McMeel Publishing.

There are affiliate links in this post.