Nando von Arb: 3 Väter – Ein Bilderbuch in der Sekundarstufe. Potenziale und Herausforderungen

Abstract

In his 2019 published Graphic Memoir 3 Väter (3 Fathers), the Swiss author Nando von Arb recollects his growing up in a patchwork-family with three different “fathers”. Not only does he tell the story in pictures and almost wordless from a child’s perspective but he also choses a childlike drawing style and rich background coloring to emphasize the emotional challenges of a constantly changing family system. The mother – portrayed as a huge bird – and the different fathers appear as stereotypical figures, which suggests that a mother and father(s) have to meet many expectations and fulfil multiple roles. Apart from the author’s unique drawing style it is his deliberate way of deconstructing gender roles that make this Graphic Novel extremely interesting for didactical use in a secondary form – where 14–15 year olds struggle to find their own identity in a sometimes challenging discussion about what a typical male or female has to represent.