Judd Winick was struggling to make a living as a cartoonist when he was offered the opportunity to join MTV’s The Real World 3, San Francisco . As soon as he had he accepted the offer, he learned that his roommate on the series would be Pedro Zamora, a young gay man who was HIV positive. The experience forced Judd to confront many of his own fears and stereotypes. Although Judd and Pedro had completely different upbringings and, on the outside, didn’t seem to have much in common, the two hit it off and became close friends. Judd was at Pedro’s side a few years later when died, and he has continued Pedro’s work by speaking to teenagers as an AIDS educator. The warm, funny, and engaging story of this friendship is presented as a series of cartoons in a paperback, graphic novel format, making it easily accessible to a wide range of young readers. The facts Judd provides about AIDS transmission and prevention are straightforward and in this context may reach teens who might otherwise tune them out. (Ages 12-18)

"You are eighteen years old. You get up in front of a thousand people--your classmates, your friends, basically the people who make up your entire existence--and announce, 'I'm HIV positive.'"

Told entirely in sequential art, here is the story of the life-changing friendship between the author, a cartoonist from Long Island, and Pedro Zamora, an HIV-positive AIDS activist, which was filmed day by day on MTV's Real World San Francisco.

As a speaker and educator, a guest on many talk shows (including Oprah), and when his tragic death received front-page coverage in the press, Pedro taught a generation that AIDS was not a punishment for moral defects or a mere killer that reduced humans to wraiths. Rather, he showed how those afflicted with the disease could live and love nobly with intelligence, humor and great humanity. Judd Winick's compelling memoir allows each of us to experience the vitally important message Pedro brought us.

Inspiring, moving, informative, and instantly accessible, Pedro and Me could become one of the books that defines a generation.