An entertaining character study with shades of SF.
In Bongiovanni’s YA graphic novel, a science competition gathers diverse students to design and create a viable new invention.
The Blamazon Corporation welcomes Tyler Risley as an entrant in its Teen Scientist Competition. He joins a team of four who’ll live in a lab for six weeks and collaborate to invent something; members of the winning team will earn full college scholarships. Ty, the son of “rockstar scientists,” is a shiftless rich kid who immediately clashes with teammates Gabby Thomson, L.J. Colón, and Allegra Peabody. None of them can agree on what their collective invention will be. (If they produce nothing at all, Blamazon will send them home and require them to pay for their lodging, flights, and meals.) Ty’s idea for a teleportation device may sound implausible, but it’s one this team of young geniuses is willing to try. When their prototype turns out to be somewhat dangerous, should they disregard its shortcomings and go for the win or start over and risk total failure? In the cast of characters, Bongiovanni showcases a medley of backgrounds and personalities. Allegra, for example, is meek, brilliant, and, like Ty, trans; nonbinary Gabby takes any opportunity to share their pointed opinions on greedy corporations. Even their goals differ: Ty wants to appease his parents, who expect him to follow in their footsteps, and Gabby harbors their own secret agenda. The four spend pages butting heads or pondering their flaws. Their scenes of bonding (as when they sneak outside the lab) are the narrative’s highlight, illustrating how distinct individuals can connect with one another. The character development, however, overshadows the story’s SF element—their amazing device is a relatively small part of the story, and a hilarious montage of Ty testing the prototype is disappointingly brief. (“Let’s fire this baby up! I plugged it in to drop me off in Hawaii!”) Verhoeven’s lively, cartoonish artwork brings everything to life with indelible settings (like the futuristic city outside) and the cast’s exaggerated, sometimes anime-like expressions.
An entertaining character study with shades of SF.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781545812242
Page Count: 175
Publisher: Maverick
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sparse, beautifully drawn story about a teen discovering her heritage.
In this YA graphic novel, an alienated Métis girl learns about her people’s Canadian history.
Métis teenager Echo Desjardins finds herself living in a home away from her mother, attending a new school, and feeling completely lonely as a result. She daydreams in class and wanders the halls listening to a playlist of her mother’s old CDs. At home, she shuts herself up in her room. But when her history teacher begins to lecture about the Pemmican Wars of early 1800s Saskatchewan, Echo finds herself swept back to that time. She sees the Métis people following the bison with their mobile hunting camp, turning the animals’ meat into pemmican, which they sell to the Northwest Company in order to buy supplies for the winter. Echo meets a young girl named Marie, who introduces Echo to the rhythms of Métis life. She finally understands what her Métis heritage actually means. But the joys are short-lived, as conflicts between the Métis and their rivals in the Hudson Bay Company come to a bloody head. The tragic history of her people will help explain the difficulties of the Métis in Echo’s own time, including those of her mother and the teen herself. Accompanied by dazzling art by Henderson (A Blanket of Butterflies, 2017, etc.) and colorist Yaciuk (Fire Starters, 2016, etc.), this tale is a brilliant bit of time travel. Readers are swept back to 19th-century Saskatchewan as fully as Echo herself. Vermette’s (The Break, 2017, etc.) dialogue is sparse, offering a mostly visual, deeply contemplative juxtaposition of the present and the past. Echo’s eventual encounter with her mother (whose fate has been kept from readers up to that point) offers a powerful moment of connection that is both unexpected and affecting. “Are you…proud to be Métis?” Echo asks her, forcing her mother to admit, sheepishly: “I don’t really know much about it.” With this series opener, the author provides a bit more insight into what that means.
A sparse, beautifully drawn story about a teen discovering her heritage.Pub Date: March 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-55379-678-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HighWater Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Flipping awesome.
After a wish goes wrong, a girl and her crush must figure out how to break a body-switching curse.
Chi-Chi Ekeh feels invisible. Like her previous crushes, hot varsity swimmer Flip Henderson—yet another rich white boy at her Texas boarding school—seems unaware of her existence. With only weeks until graduation, Nigerian American Chi-Chi’s friends Esther and Yesenia dare her to ask Flip to Senior Festival. But Flip accidentally shows her promposal video to the whole class—and immediately turns her down. Embarrassed, Chi-Chi flees, but her innocent remark—“I just wish Flip Henderson liked me”—has unexpected consequences. After falling and hitting her head, Chi-Chi wakes up in Flip’s body, and he in hers. Freaked out beyond belief and regularly switching bodies, Chi-Chi and Flip work with Esther and Yesenia to break the curse. Meanwhile, forced to see herself through someone else’s eyes, Chi-Chi must confront uncomfortable feelings. There’s much to love about this book. The fully realized and sympathetic characters, sincere and humorous development of friendships, and protagonist’s relatable and bittersweet emotional journey will keep readers engaged, eager to reach the resolution. Ukazu carefully balances tough topics like self-hatred, depression, and suicidal ideation with funny feel-good moments, deftly rendered in her characteristically expressive style. The dynamic and engaging illustrations bring to life a heartwarming story of self-love, acceptance, and true connection.
Flipping awesome. (author’s note) (Graphic fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9781250179517
Page Count: 320
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
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