A relatable tale that will ring true with both creative and athletic readers.
Are sports the only way to make friends?
After Ellie’s parents divorce, she, her older brother, Robbie, and their mother relocate. At the kids’ new school, Robbie fits in right away, but Ellie feels alienated by her snarky, cliquish classmates. The school has a strong athletic culture, and though Ellie prefers reading about the superhero Super Stella and watching movies, her mother’s convinced that playing a sport will help her make friends. So Ellie tries volleyball, tennis, archery, and swimming—with little success. After each failure, she asks to take dance lessons. Her father, who visits and calls, is sympathetic, but her mother thinks dance is too competitive and a distraction from school. Ellie’s first romance and a small group of arty friends solidify her love of dance and help her find a sneaky way to pursue her passion. Translated from Italian, this tale is well suited for more experienced graphic novel readers; there are no chapter headings, and clues about the passage of time are often subtle. The story is relatable, though, and the loose-lined, often exaggerated images are filled with humor. Auditory details like a classroom chair squeaking when it’s scooted back, Robbie tearing through moving boxes, and onomatopoeia add to the fun. Ellie and her family are light-skinned; her class is diverse.
A relatable tale that will ring true with both creative and athletic readers. (Graphic fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9781958325001
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Marble Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
Wholesome? Yes. Proper hard work and teamwork values in place? Yes. Paint by numbers? Oh, yes.
Olympic gold medalist Morgan runs down the celebrity-sports-fiction checklist in this series opener: New school? Check. New friends? Check. New boyfriend? Maybe! New soccer team? Check. Inspire said team to take on snooty archrival private school? Check.
Quickly shedding perfunctory initial reservations, Devin sails into seventh grade at Kentville Middle School, makes instant connections in class and at Kangaroos soccer tryouts. She meets requisite bully Mirabelle at the latter, then goes on to be elected team co-captain. After a disastrous start to the season, she helps her team’s members and even the less-than-rigorous coach land on the same winning page. Following a sleepover, a dance, team-building drills and exercises, pep rallies, minor problem-solving and motivational strategizing, Devin prods the Kangaroos into position to beat the haughty Pinewood Panthers in a climactic rematch while also schooling Mirabelle, who has jumped ship to join the rival team.
Wholesome? Yes. Proper hard work and teamwork values in place? Yes. Paint by numbers? Oh, yes. (soccer glossary) (Fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: May 7, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4424-8570-9
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
Epic lunacy.
Will extragalactic rats eat the moon?
Can a cybernetic toenail clipper find a worthy purpose in the vast universe? Will the first feline astronaut ever get a slice of pizza? Read on. Reworked from the Live Cartoon series of homespun video shorts released on Instagram in 2020 but retaining that “we’re making this up as we go” quality, the episodic tale begins with the electrifying discovery that our moon is being nibbled away. Off blast one strong, silent, furry hero—“Meow”—and a stowaway robot to our nearest celestial neighbor to hook up with the imperious Queen of the Moon and head toward the dark side, past challenges from pirates on the Sea of Tranquility and a sphinx with a riddle (“It weighs a ton, but floats on air. / It’s bald but has a lot of hair.” The answer? “Meow”). They endure multiple close but frustratingly glancing encounters with pizza and finally deliver the malign, multiheaded Rat King and its toothy armies to a suitable fate. Cue the massive pizza party! Aside from one pirate captain and a general back on Earth, the human and humanoid cast in Harris’ loosely drawn cartoon panels, from the appropriately moon-faced queen on, is light skinned. Merch, music, and the original episodes are available on an associated website.
Epic lunacy. (Graphic science fiction. 8-11)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-308408-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
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