Didacticism in “Yummy”
If one wants to get the attention of those under privileged children who have traded themselves for to have a chance for acceptance in a new “family” that will treat the kid as one of them then writing a graphic novel is a novel idea, because it is easy to understand and easy to read. Yummy, by G. Neri just happens to be one of those novels. It has an attractive cover, with stark black and white illustrations on the inside. It does not feel as if one is reading a novel, but more like a comic book, or a really extended comic out of the morning paper. Through this novel, children can learn about Yummy, and relate it to their own lives. The child might even stop and think, and then wonder if they too want to end up like Yummy or if they can stop what they are doing and by attempting to leave the gang, so they may have a chance at a better life.
Neglected children just want a place where they belong and call home. For they lack the attention from their parents and family members, so they find the first group of people who will say they understand what he is going through and where he is coming from. However, these groups are shallow. They don’t really care about the new kid they recruited, they just care about having someone else do their dirty work for them so that they won’t get caught, and they can reap the benefits; such as killing one of their rivals, but ending up killing an innocent, like Shavon instead. Neri says in his author’s note, “So, was Yummy a cold-blooded killer or a victim? The answer is not black-and-white,” (95). The answer relies on seeking to understand both sides of the story, not just what the media wants to acknowledge, and the novel does present us with both sides. Yummy is depicted two ways. One as a scared, innocent child who carries around a teddy bear, and wants to feel loved and accepted, and the second, as a menacing child who wrecks havoc around the neighborhood and seems like he just enjoys criminal activity.
Throughout the entire book, Roger tries to figure this out as well. “I tried to figure out who the real Yummy was. The one who stole my lunch money? Or the one who smiled when I shared my candy with him? I wondered if I grew up like him, would I have turned out the same,” (Neri 63). Roger tries to put himself in Yummy’s shoes, just like he did when his image was in all of the pictures on pages four and five. When kids read books, they tend to do that, even adults still do, because they want to fully experience the story, and fully understand the character, but Yummy is complex and not so easy to understand. Children are going to want to say that he is bad, but then they begin to identify with Yummy, and think that he is an innocent kid that just chose the wrong pocket to fit into. The reader might also feel neglected and feel like going to join a gang, until they pick up this graphic novel, that is, and learn about the realities that could happen to them. However, there are those kids who just do not believe anything bad could ever happen to them, even though this book has provided a warning against joining a gang. One can only hope that this book will have a positive impact on a lost child, and prevent them from joining a gang, or to simply (although, it is never simple) to leave the gang and start on a path of a better life, like Yummy’s older brother Gary did.
