A fresh take on a coming-of-age story with uneven execution.
A teen drifts apart from her best friend and toward activism.
Dana Drucker is halfway through her senior year in Boca Bella, Florida, when one of her gory social media pranks with best friend Lily Villaseñor nearly gets them expelled. As punishment, the principal sends them to a community college film class to learn to channel their creativity more productively. Now Dana is balancing schoolwork, the college class, her strained relationship with her mom, and the possibility of losing Lily. As Lily finds her space as a natural cinematographer and starts dating Wye, their nonbinary classmate, Dana feels more and more lost. On top of that, the red tide caused by toxic algae that thrives in a warming ocean filled with pollutants is wreaking havoc. Wye suggests they create an eco-horror film about it, but as Dana struggles to find her role in the group, she becomes increasingly connected to Daphne Ocean, a self-entitled elemental witch, and the environmental group Daphne volunteers with. With a color palette reminiscent of old comics and an artistic style that will evoke strong reactions from readers, Dana’s friendship drama is one that teens will easily relate to, although the activism aspect of the story is lacking in depth. Dana appears white; Lily has brown skin, Wye reads Asian, and there is additional racial diversity in background characters.
A fresh take on a coming-of-age story with uneven execution. (Graphic fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781728430362
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
Hinds adds another magnificent adaptation to his oeuvre (King Lear, 2009, etc.) with this stunning graphic retelling of Homer’s epic. Following Odysseus’s journey to return home to his beloved wife, Penelope, readers are transported into a world that easily combines the realistic and the fantastic. Gods mingle with the mortals, and not heeding their warnings could lead to quick danger; being mere men, Odysseus and his crew often make hasty errors in judgment and must face challenging consequences. Lush watercolors move with fluid lines throughout this reimagining. The artist’s use of color is especially striking: His battle scenes are ample, bloodily scarlet affairs, and Polyphemus’s cave is a stifling orange; he depicts the underworld as a colorless, mirthless void, domestic spaces in warm tans, the all-encircling sea in a light Mediterranean blue and some of the far-away islands in almost tangibly growing greens. Don’t confuse this hefty, respectful adaptation with some of the other recent ones; this one holds nothing back and is proudly, grittily realistic rather than cheerfully cartoonish. Big, bold, beautiful. (notes) (Graphic classic. YA)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4266-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
Light and refreshing fare.
The summer after graduation, high school besties in New York City play an epic game.
Cassie Donato and her three best friends have big plans to live it up before setting off on their post–high school lives. But while the London-bound Latine musician Nico, body-positive Asian artist Marcy, and Aaron, who’s Black and headed to Harvard, all seem certain of who they are and where they’re going, Cassie, who reads white, is taking a gap year to work at her family’s diner, and she isn’t so sure what she wants. All she knows is that this is the last chance for their friend group to be together before everything changes. But as the weeks pass, she’s disappointed that the others seem too busy to make the most of this summer. Her solution? A revival of Risky Slips, their favorite childhood game during which players take turns on increasingly risky dares. They have 24 hours to complete them or forfeit. But as the friends compete, the stakes get higher and unspoken tensions rise to the surface, testing their friendships and future. Porretta’s debut is narrated through speech bubbles and color-coded texts, and it captures Generation Z in all their exuberance and acceptance as well as anxiety. Despite a last-minute romantic twist that feels out of step with the work as a whole, the themes of embracing and growing with change prevail. The attractive, jewel-toned art dynamically conveys the urban setting.
Light and refreshing fare. (Graphic fiction. 15-18)Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781665907033
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
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