Shame Pudding: A Graphic Memoir

A celebration of the wacky and wonderful Jewish grandmothers who nurtured the author as she grew from a kid struggling with anxiety and insecurity to a teen finding her own voice.

Danny Noble grew up in an eccentric family with two weird and wonderful Jewish grandmas living right around the corner. One grandma stuffed her full of love and gefilte fish, and the other pinched her cheeks shrieking “shayn punim!” The strange words hung in the air, sounding like “shame pudding.” Was this some sort of insult? It was never explained that those words meant “beautiful face” in Yiddish.

This memoir, told in graphic novel format, is a personal celebration of the author’s charming and vibrant family and how they saved her from the machinations of her own brain. It explores resonant adolescent topics of body image, self-determination, insecurity, fear, religious identity, politics, friendship, romantic love, and family relationships. Danny Noble’s expressive style brings this delightful cast of characters to life.