Pedro and Me
From AwardAnnals
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| Author(s) | Judd Winick |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | Friendship, Loss, and What I Learned |
| Publisher | Henry Holt and Company |
| Honors | |
| Pedro taught a generation that AIDS was not a punishment for moral defects or a mere killer that reduced humans to wraiths. Rather, he showed how those afflicted with the disease could live and love nobly with intelligence, humor and great humanity. | |
“You are eighteen years old. You get up in front of a thousand people — your classmates, your friends, basically the people who make up your entire existence — and announce, ‘I'm HIV positive.’”
Told entirely in sequential art, here is the story of the life-changing friendship between the author, a cartoonist from Long Island, and Pedro Zamora, an HIV-positive AIDS activist, which was filmed day by day on MTV's Real World San Francisco.
As a speaker and educator, a guest on many talk shows (including Oprah), and when his tragic death received front-page coverage in the press, Pedro taught a generation that AIDS was not a punishment for moral defects or a mere killer that reduced humans to wraiths. Rather, he showed how those afflicted with the disease could live and love nobly with intelligence, humor and great humanity. Judd Winick's compelling memoir allows each of us to experience the vitally important message Pedro brought us.
Inspiring, moving, informative, and instantly accessible, Pedro and Me could become one of the books that defines a generation.
Reviews
Amazon.com
Without the third season of MTV's The Real World, set in San Francisco, Pedro Zamora would have lived and died quietly, a Cuban immigrant who became an AIDS educator after his HIV diagnosis at the age of 17. But in 1993, he and seven others were selected for the cast of The Real World, and Pedro’s battle with AIDS, his irrepressible good nature, his love affair with Sean Sasser, and his growing friendship with his housemates would become public knowledge. When Pedro succumbed to complications of AIDS in November 1994, news of his death was carried on every major network and made international headlines. Thousands of letters arrived from around the world. Even President Clinton applauded Pedro's bravery in speaking out to young people about AIDS prevention and self-esteem. Judd Winick, a struggling cartoonist, had also been chosen for that season of The Real World, and became Pedro's roommate and close friend. His cartoon memoir tells the story of their friendship and serves as a vivid memorial to a bright-eyed and gifted man who made more of his 22 years of life than most of us could make of 80. —Regina Marler
Barnes and Noble
It's presented as a graphic novel and possesses the drama and intensity of powerful fiction, but the story that Pedro & Me tells is real. This cartoonist's memoir of his friend Pedro Zamora portrays a man who transformed his disability into a banner for those who shared his affliction. On Real World San Francisco, Judd Winick befriended Zamora, an HIV positive AIDS activist, whose illness and transcendence were chronicled by that show. A Touching and compelling tribute to a heroic man.
