Kirkus
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A visual artist chronicles his rise from chaotic childhood to social-media popularity. Born in the South Bronx in 1996, Rodriguez lived in a single room with his abusive, drug-using, Honduran American mother and two half-siblings. His mother, he says, had little interest in encouraging his early interest in drawing. She once used one of his early artworks as a torch to light a stove: “She used to tell me that I was naïve,” he writes. “‘You gotta learn reality,’ she’d say. ‘This world is dark and twisted.’ She didn’t believe in protecting innocence.” His father was a “gifted tattooer” who “made me feel like becoming an artist was not just a dream but my destiny.” He was also mostly absent, moving from city to city, always one step ahead of “all these baby mamas…trying to find me, to sue me for child support.” If not for his Honduran-born grandmother, to whom the memoir is dedicated and who housed him in her humble but much safer apartment during his adolescence, Rodriguez would never have known unconditional familial love. Luckily, dedicated New York City public school teachers and, later, professional artists and other supporters he met by chance saw and encouraged Rodriguez’s artistic talent, particularly his ability to draw and paint the human face in all its forms and its expressiveness. “The subway was my gallery, and then, when I was fourteen, it became my classroom,” he writes. “My art teacher at Samuel Gompers High School, Mr. Harper, taught me that because of the diversity of people—the cheekbones, the foreheads, the mouths, all representing different ancestries—forcing me to stay sharp, the subway was the best place to hone my skills.” His curiosity and entrepreneurial spirit fueled his fame—he now has tens of millions of followers on social media. His prose, as vivid as his art, takes the reader on a wild, exhilarating ride that is, at turns, harrowing and hopeful but always honest and down to earth, even as he reaches new heights. A deeply affecting memoir. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
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In this solid debut, portraitist Rodriguez recalls his harrowing upbringing and details his path to becoming the visual artist with the most followers on TikTok. Rodriguez was born in the Bronx in 1996, where he suffered verbal and physical abuse from his single mother. At home and at school, Rodriguez found solace in drawing, and encouragement from his grandmother led him to enroll at Manhattan’s High School of Art and Design. He recalls key moments from his teenage years, including being arrested for graffitiing a roof at 13 and unsteadily reconnecting with his father, a famous tattoo artist, at 19, while explaining how his early experiences on social media encouraged him to start drawing and posting images of strangers on the subway. His assured, unfussy narrative unfolds chronologically, allowing readers to ride sidecar as Rodriguez goes viral after years of quietly honing his craft, and heightening the emotional impact when the author’s reunion with his father reaches a tragic end. This comprehensive self-portrait inspires. Illus. Agent: Haley Friedman, Made by All. (Sept.)