A flawed attempt to examine Colonial America through a nuanced lens.
A 13-year-old Tory spies on the Sons of Liberty.
When they overhear Noah’s minister father read the line, “bless, and defend, and save the king” from a prayer book, neighbors in their small Massachusetts village storm the house and coat him in “boiling tar”; three days later he dies in agony. Noah, his mother, and his sisters flee to Boston, where they move in with Noah’s great-uncle. Noah, determined to both support his family and defend his father’s honor, takes a job in the Green Dragon, a tavern that is a known haunt of the leaders of the Sons of Liberty, a group of rebel Whigs. There he works under Jolla, a young free Black man, who, as the rebellion churns on, challenges Noah’s ideals of liberty and loyalty by pointing out how both sides enslave and coerce Black people. Noah’s reaction to his father’s horrific death, along with other characters’ emotions throughout the novel, comes across as muted and distant; the journallike narration tells far more than it shows. Noah’s relationship with Jolla feels like a plot device in which the latter functions as the wise, enlightened protector who educates the White boy about racism. Jolla devotes considerable energy to guiding Noah while confiding in him to an unrealistic degree. A climactic final scene follows a White savior script without questioning the underlying assumptions.
A flawed attempt to examine Colonial America through a nuanced lens. (author's note) (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-358-24807-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
Brava!
From award winner Telgemeier (Smile, 2010), a pitch-perfect graphic novel portrayal of a middle school musical, adroitly capturing the drama both on and offstage.
Seventh-grader Callie Marin is over-the-moon to be on stage crew again this year for Eucalyptus Middle School’s production of Moon over Mississippi. Callie's just getting over popular baseball jock and eighth-grader Greg, who crushed her when he left Callie to return to his girlfriend, Bonnie, the stuck-up star of the play. Callie's healing heart is quickly captured by Justin and Jesse Mendocino, the two very cute twins who are working on the play with her. Equally determined to make the best sets possible with a shoestring budget and to get one of the Mendocino boys to notice her, the immensely likable Callie will find this to be an extremely drama-filled experience indeed. The palpably engaging and whip-smart characterization ensures that the charisma and camaraderie run high among those working on the production. When Greg snubs Callie in the halls and misses her reference to Guys and Dolls, one of her friends assuredly tells her, "Don't worry, Cal. We’re the cool kids….He's the dork." With the clear, stylish art, the strongly appealing characters and just the right pinch of drama, this book will undoubtedly make readers stand up and cheer.
Brava! (Graphic fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-32698-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2012
SEEN & HEARD
Some readers may feel that the resolution comes a mite too easily, but most will enjoy the journey and be pleased when...
Two sisters make an unauthorized expedition to their former hometown and in the process bring together the two parts of their divided family.
Dooley packs plenty of emotion into this eventful road trip, which takes place over the course of less than 24 hours. Twelve-year-old Ophelia, nicknamed Fella, and her 16-year-old sister, Zoey Grace, aka Zany, are the daughters of a lesbian couple, Shannon and Lacy, who could not legally marry. The two white girls squabble and share memories as they travel from West Virginia to Asheville, North Carolina, where Zany is determined to scatter Mama Lacy’s ashes in accordance with her wishes. The year is 2004, before the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, and the girls have been separated by hostile, antediluvian custodial laws. Fella’s present-tense narration paints pictures not just of the difficulties they face on the trip (a snowstorm, car trouble, and an unlikely thief among them), but also of their lives before Mama Lacy’s illness and of the ways that things have changed since then. Breathless and engaging, Fella’s distinctive voice is convincingly childlike. The conversations she has with her sister, as well as her insights about their relationship, likewise ring true. While the girls face serious issues, amusing details and the caring adults in their lives keep the tone relatively light.
Some readers may feel that the resolution comes a mite too easily, but most will enjoy the journey and be pleased when Fella’s family figures out how to come together in a new way . (Historical fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: April 4, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-399-16504-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: Jan. 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
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