This was a really sweet and relatable read. It’s about a 12-year-old girl named Cindy who loves art but is stuck on a school project.

The story touches on family, secrets, growing up between two cultures, and trying to be “perfect” all the time. It starts out pretty light, but it gets more emotional as it goes. The art is super cute and the colors are really nice—very soft and easy on the eyes.

Very nice artwork & color scheme/palette used, text used is very nice & easy to read. Appropriate subject matter/content for middle grade readers, really good realistic fiction for this age group.....a lot that young kids could relate to here....dealing with families, divorce, siblings, parents, school.....& it does end on a positive note! It's a real good graphic novel. Young girls especially, might like this, as it mostly centers around a 12 year old girl. I'd recommend this for any library!
I received an e ARC of the book from publisher HarperCollins Children's Books/Allida via NetGalley for review purposes, & this is my own fair/honest review.

How to Draw a Secret is an autobiographical story of a young Taiwanese American artist struggling to find her voice through art. In the book, an art contest prompt stymies twelve-year-old Cindy: “What family means to me.” Well, Cindy’s dad moved back to Taiwan four years ago, but no one at school can know that because it is a 🤫 family secret 🤫! Cindy sketches out a plan to draw the perfect portrait while also keeping her parents’ secret, but then an unexpected trip to Taipei reveals yet another devastating secret. Suddenly everything from Cindy’s art to her family is falling apart … can she draw from her heart without sharing forbidden truths? You know what’s coming next ~ read the book to find out!

Cindy is the youngest of three sisters, born and living in the United States with their mom. Their dad went back to Taiwan several years ago. Cindy doesn't understand why he left, and she is told to keep it a secret, even from her best friends. She normally loves to draw but is frozen when asked to draw something for a specific school assignment. When her family unexpectedly goes to Taiwan, Cindy learns family secrets. This solid middle-grade graphic novel depicts the challenges and joys of living in two cultures.

Cindy's dad hasn't lived with them for a few years now. Her mother has told her and her sisters that it is a secret, no one from outside the family needs to know. But when Cindy gets a class assignment about her family, she doesn't know what to do. She could just pretend everything is fine, or maybe, she could even bring them all back together.

I absolutely adored this graphic novel! Middle schooler Cindy learns what family means to her and that its ok if your family isn't just like everyone else's. This book is perfect for all library's serving middle grade readers.

An absolute fantastic Middlegrade graphic novel about the complexities of families. Specifically ones who have been separated. The illustrations throughout were stunning and the story was beautifully told and incredibly age appropriate for the emotions that go on when faced with really hard things when you’re young. I’m sure had I read the cover better I’d have recognized this is a nonfiction book/graphic memoir, but I didn’t until I was finished and reading the acknowledgments section. Fabulous storytelling so glad the author chose to share this part of her life. Thank you to NetGalley for the arc!

I received an advanced copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
In her favorite school class, art, twelve-year-old Cindy has the perfect idea for an upcoming prompt on what family means to me. However, when a relative dies, Cindy and her family travel to Taiwan to pay respects and also see her dad, who moved out four years ago. But when family secrets come out and the overwhelming self-pressure to create the perfect art piece clashes, drama and chaos unfold. Can Cindy find a balance between everything before it finally boils over?
With a family secret years in the making, young Cindy has a lot going on. It was hard to see and read about Cindy going through this, alongside expectations from her mother, like perfecting the piano. Yet, she doesn’t quite feel alone with her two friends. It’s remarkable seeing Cindy grow through her emotions as she comes to terms with the “big secret” her father has been hiding. It is a realistic tale of one girl’s self-discovery through art and family in a graphic novel that wants to know what family truly means to one.

An autobiography about the authors childhood and family. It features drama, relationships, art, and forgiveness. The artwork was neat and engaging. The journal entries were my favorite part. Good character growth after tough situations. Love the inclusion of different languages and foods. This is a great window text.

I'm grateful for the opportunity to read this as an ARC. All thoughts are my own.

I loved this so much, and as a child of divorce, it was very relatable. Cindy was struggling with keeping the secret her family wanted her to keep, and I loved how she expressed this through her art.

This was a great graphic novel about a young girl struggling to find her voice and share her story. The illustrations were beautiful. I am sure that many students can relate to this story--struggling to find their voices and share their stories.

I read this with my 9 year old and she adored it, finishing it in just two reading sessions. The illustrations were great, the story was relateable and well paced. We also appreciated the glimpse into Taiwanese culture.

"If I just keep pretending everything is okay, like we've done since Bàba left...then maybe, eventually everything will be okay." Cindy's family situation will be relatable for a lot of students, albeit how much it's steeped in shame and secrecy throughout the book. I love Cindy's interactions with her mother and sisters, and ultimately her father - all the while wondering what it means to be a family. With beautiful drawings and a side of learning more about Taiwanese cuisine, this book will be an absolute hit with the middle school students!

How to Draw a Secret, Cindy Chang's autobiographical graphic novel, starts out with a lighthearted look at her life in middle school. We meet a young Cindy, whose greatest concerns mostly involve trying to get out of piano practice and figuring out what to draw for an upcoming art contest. Of course, there's also the thing she doesn't talk about--the secret her family insists she keep, that her father lives in a different country and she hasn't seen him in years. But an unexpected death in the family suddenly forces Cindy, her sisters, and her mother to fly to Taiwan and unearth the secrets they've long tried to bury.

I was (pleasantly) surprised by the thematic shift that occurs once Cindy and her family reunite in Taiwan. Initially I felt that the start of the book was a little superficial. There wasn't much depth to it, and it was mostly dialogue-driven without really advancing the plot or developing the characters. But I encourage readers to stick with this one. Chang's story is a compelling one, and even though it takes her a little while to get there, she conveys a powerful message about family and resilience.

Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced reader copy.

Thank you to Netgalley for the free arc!

When 12 year old Cindy is assigned an art project at school to create a piece about "What family means to me", she is stuck. She is not sure how to create an image of her family because she is holding a secret that her father moved back to Taiwan four years ago. To keep her family's secret safe, she decides to draw a perfect family portrait from four years ago. When her grandmother unexpectedly passes away, her family visits Taiwan and even more secrets are revealed about Cindy's family. Now, more than ever, Cindy has no idea how to create a piece of art about her family.

Through detailed and powerful images, Chang skillfully conveys the feelings that Cindy goes through as she tries to work through her feelings about her feeling and her art project. She also interweaves interesting aspects of Taiwanese culture and traditions throughout.

As I was reading this book I somehow missed that it was an auto bio until the very end. What an awesome, open, honest, and heartfelt story of Cindy's journey through adolescence and learning a big part of herself and what it means to be family. Her openness through her art at the end was a perfect conclusion to this story and I look forward to more from her!

"How to Draw a Secret" is a middle grade graphic novel autobiography by Cindy Chang. Cindy (nicknamed Cindo) is 12 and has two older sisters. Their father left them to live in Taiwan four years ago and her mother will not talk about it and has forbidden the sisters from telling anyone, so Cindy must pretend that everything is fine when she is with her friends. Cindy stresses about not feeling perfect, wanting to spend time on her art when her mother nags her to practice the piano. When their grandmother passes and the family travels to Taiwan, they meet up with Ba, their father. The reason for his departure comes to light and Cindy finds herself stressing over being an imperfect family and feeling like an imperfect daughter. The story is emotional and compelling and middle school readers will understand Cindy's stress and worries. A recommended purchase for middle grade graphic novel collections.

it's about a girl navigating a broken family.

Cindy's father left the family 5 years ago, and she didn't know what becomes of her family since. her parents aren't exactly divorced. her mom always said that the matter with their father is a secret. so the whole 5 years, in front of other people they all acted like the father was still around.

then Cindy's Nana died, and they had to go to Taiwan for the funeral. meeting their father there was inevitable. beside the funeral, Cindy also learned another huge secret about her family that left her even more confused and conflicted.

coming of age familyhood that's honest and tender, the ending was quite heartwarming.

I believe that this book will make a lot of kids feel very represented. I also grew up in an immigrant household and was told that there were many "secrets" I could not share. I felt like I lived two different lives when it came to attending school and then going home. Not only is this story very relatable for many first-generation immigrants, but it is also culturally significant.

Compelling and engaging memoir about a young Taiwanese-American girl who deals with two simultaneous problems: how to complete a school project on the meaning of family and the four years of secret estrangement between her mother and her father, who lives in Taiwan. As further family secrets are revealed, the MC finds that family is both more complicated and less perfect than she previously believed. Seemingly a true story that becomes accessible to younger readers by virtue of the art style and middle school protagonist who frames the story.