My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf

Summary:

     My Friend Dahmer tells the story of one of the world’s notorious serial killer during his time in High School.  The book is about Jeffrey Dahmer and his friendship with the author, Derf Backderf.  The book starts out when they first met each other at the beginning of the 7^th grade.  Dahmer at this time lived in Beth, Ohio a small town which is on the outskirts of Grimy, Ohio.  For the most part of 7^th, 8^th, and 9^th grade; Jeffrey Dahmer goes unnoticed until he entered High School.  The majority of the story takes place during his times at Revere High School, where we see Backderf’s interactions with Dahmer in classrooms, hallways and shared car rides.  The story follows the life of this shy kid; who suffered from alcoholism and who never seemed to fit in with classmates.  We are witness to what was believed to be going through his mind; and his trying to fit in with his classmates; where he would amuse his classmates by bring the class clown.  He would play pranks and fake having cerebral palsy and having epileptic seizures.  We also get a bit of insight to the morbid mind of this Serial Killer. 

Commentary on the Strengths

     My Friend Dahmer written by Derf Backderf is a non-fiction autobiographical memoir depicting the teenage life of serial killer, Jeffrey Dahmer.   The book is a graphic novel where the story is told through illustrations.  Backderf is able to create a sympathetic portrait of his classmate; that chronicles his spiral descent into madness.  The book disturbing, dark and complex while documenting the early life of this disturbed young man. The books were the recipient of the 2013 Alex Award, and was listed on Time Magazine’s top 10 nonfiction books for 2012 as well as Publishers Weekly’s Best Comics for 2012.   

Readers also enjoyed The Silence of our Friends by Mark Long, Green River Killer by Jeff Jensen, Tina's Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary by Keshni Kashyep, Harvey Pekar's Cleveland by Harvey Pekar, and  Take What You can Carry by Kevin C. Pyle

Additional book by Derf Backderf are Trashed; Punk Rock and Trailer Parks; The City; Strange Eggs Jumps the Shark; and True Stories: Volume 1.

Teachers can find ideas to incorporate this book into their lesson plans on the following website: https://www.abramsbooks.com/pdfs/academic/MyFriendDahmer_TeachingGuide.pdf

Backderf, D. (2012). My friend Dahmer: a graphic novel. New York: Abrams ComicArts.

Book Trailer: