A compelling narrative with plenty of local detail.
In Moss’ middle-grade novel, a girl who’s about to start middle school must solve a mystery while visiting New Orleans.
The story opens in 1965 with 8-year-old Brigette Davies finding her grandfather, Papere, in his basement adding “snow” to a photograph with a special tool. Fifty-seven years later, in 2022,a girl named Morgan Draca is sad to leave her best friends behind right at the end of summer, but she’s delighted to find out that family friend Sheila will spend time with her, her brother, and their mother during their visit to New Orleans, where Sheila’s family has a long history. Sheila’s almost concluded her search for her great-grandfather Papere’s missing sheet music, and Morgan loves a good mystery almost as much as she loves history. Sheila’s breakthrough in the search for the missing music has ended at Café Du Monde, where Papere’s diary indicated the music was kept safe, but nobody there seems to know anything about it. Morgan is desperate to continue the search; however, Sheila and Morgan are forbidden from doing so, as it’s caused too much disruption and disappointment for Sheila’s family. On a later visit to Café Du Monde, though, Morgan notices a photo that reignites the investigation. Later, Sheila takes the group to her great-grandparents’ final resting place, where Morgan notices another key clue. The New Orleans visit, with Sheila as a tour guide, is rich with historical tidbits regarding the French Quarter, the World War II Museum, and the bayou—all of which are connected to Sheila’s great-grandparents’ lives. The descriptions of local political and social history, jazz, and geographic phenomena are as enticing as the characters’ search, and Moss tells the story with prose that never talks down to young readers. Morgan’s sense of curiosity and love of reading (“She looked for her phone, curious how long she had been reading; she hadn’t even noticed how far the sun had fallen in the sky”) are utterly inspiring.
A compelling narrative with plenty of local detail.Pub Date: May 13, 2023
ISBN: 9781737993537
Page Count: 232
Publisher: Venerable Siren Publishing, LLC
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel.
Sandy and his family, Japanese Canadians, experience hatred and incarceration during World War II.
Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers.
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel. (afterword, further resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0334-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit...
The author of the Anastasia books as well as more serious fiction (Rabble Starkey, 1987) offers her first historical fiction—a story about the escape of the Jews from Denmark in 1943.
Five years younger than Lisa in Carol Matas' Lisa's War (1989), Annemarie Johansen has, at 10, known three years of Nazi occupation. Though ever cautious and fearful of the ubiquitous soldiers, she is largely unaware of the extent of the danger around her; the Resistance kept even its participants safer by telling them as little as possible, and Annemarie has never been told that her older sister Lise died in its service. When the Germans plan to round up the Jews, the Johansens take in Annemarie's friend, Ellen Rosen, and pretend she is their daughter; later, they travel to Uncle Hendrik's house on the coast, where the Rosens and other Jews are transported by fishing boat to Sweden. Apart from Lise's offstage death, there is little violence here; like Annemarie, the reader is protected from the full implications of events—but will be caught up in the suspense and menace of several encounters with soldiers and in Annemarie's courageous run as courier on the night of the escape. The book concludes with the Jews' return, after the war, to homes well kept for them by their neighbors.
A deftly told story that dramatizes how Danes appointed themselves bodyguards—not only for their king, who was in the habit of riding alone in Copenhagen, but for their Jews. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: April 1, 1989
ISBN: 0547577095
Page Count: 156
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1989
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