Martin Lemelman, recently retired and irreplaceable KU illustration faculty member, has a new book, Two Cents Plain. Published by Bloomsbury USA, and soon to be available wherever books are sold, Two Cents Plain can be pre-ordered at Amazon. The book already has a You-Tube trailer and a Facebook presence. The reviews are glowing; Kirkus reviews calls it “both a celebration and an affirmation of life.”
Martin Lemelman has written and/or illustrated over 30 books, notably Mendel’s Daughter, the moving graphic memoir of his mother’s Holocaust experience. In Two Cents Plain he continues the family saga and tells of his own Brooklyn childhood in the form of a graphic memoir. As his former students can attest, he is a master storyteller. Growing up in the back of a Brooklyn candy store he experienced the 1950’s and 60’s from a unique vantage point. Thanks to this new book and his artistry we will get to share that remarkable experience.
Famed Brooklyn-born attorney Alan Dershowitz writes, “I’ve read many books, even written a couple, about growing up in Brooklyn, but this graphic coming of age memoir brought back memories like none other. Reading it while viewing the pictures took me home, produced tears of nostalgia and let me see, feel, even smell the old neighborhood. I loved it, roaches and all.”
Illustration Concentration 