Akim Aliu: Dreamer (Original Graphic Memoir)

If middle-grade ice-hockey fans are drawn to illustrations of blood gushing out of a player’s mouth in a fight, then this graphic novel is a winner. That illustration is used multiple times, including a full-pager at the very front. (Oh well; I suppose that is what attracts middle-grade boys.)

Akim Aliu, drafted into the NHL as a teenager, played for the Calgary Flames. But being half Black and half Ukrainian, he confronted discrimination, violence, hazing and abuse most of his life, both on and off the ice. Dreamer is his first-person story, running from his preteen years to 2020, when, at age 31, he co-founded the Hockey Diversity Alliance. The book also does a flashback to how his Ukrainian mother and Nigerian father met and his baby and toddler years. (His maternal grandfather: “I’m not touching a Black baby.”)

There’s two things about this book. First, it’s an important documentation of racism in ice hockey, and perhaps reading it will make hockey kids think twice about acting out their racism, and about doing nothing when racism raises its ugly head. (The illustrations of fellow team members standing back and refusing to intervene are hauntingly, effectively drawn.) Perhaps, too, a personal story drives that message home better than any other medium, especially in the easy-read format of a graphic novel.

But being a highly personal story oozing with anger and bitterness, as well as a shout-out to his parents’ lifelong support, sometimes it feels like he’s speaking less to middle-graders than to his parents, the hockey brass that failed him, and adults who might contribute to his foundation. Likewise, when he relates how his parents met and married, how his brother changed his diapers and how he delved into activism in his twenties, it feels like he is writing for someone other than middle graders. And the scenes where grown-up Akim steps into a frame to speak to his younger self are somewhere between clever and confusing.

Further, the passing mentions of the few who acted as allies and stood up for him (beyond his parents) feel like telling-not-showing. Expanding on those stories might have offered more inspiration to readers to counterbalance the bitterness that is real and was undeserved and perhaps therapeutic to write, but doesn’t on its own tend to achieve the goal of kindling empathy and change in those reading the story.

Still, the graphics are high quality and the language (lots of crossed-out swear words) is appropriate. Immigrants of any stripe will relate to the difficulties Akim had arriving in Canada with no English language skills and the way his parents sacrificed vacations and much more to support his hockey dream. The story of his maternal grandfather coming around to love his grandson is heartwarming and offers hope. His relationship with his older brother feels authentic and offers much-needed touches of humor and warmth. And as mentioned, his appreciation for his parents’ support is strong throughout.

The memoir has good pacing, and given the overall lack of books depicting hockey players of colour and the immigrant experience, it’s an important addition to the genre. Let’s hope Dreamer/i> achieves its goal of combating racism and giving strength to youth who experience it in sport and elsewhere.