Predictable hate-becomes-love romance is given new life by an inclusive cast.
After being rejected from nine art schools, Sephardic, bi, “edgy” Amalia needs to buckle down and make better grades senior year to get into a traditional college. (Yes, this makes absolutely no sense, but apparently in this version of reality, art college admissions happen before senior year.) She talks her way into AP psychology and ends up paired with uptight Ezra Holtz, fellow Jew and longtime nonfriend (they have endured synagogue, youth group, and parental attempts to make them friends). Of course, they choose to do a matchmaking experiment (on three refreshingly varied and diverse couples), and, of course, they fall into lust and then love. Sex-positive and frank without being graphic, with characters for whom religion is significant but not the point, this is an unexpectedly now entry in the sometimes-entrenched formula of romance, which makes the flaws—Amalia’s “manic pixie dream girl” past self never feels real despite many references to drinking and smoking pot, the college timeline will make teens in the know laugh, and Ezra is too perfect—forgivable. Many Jewish readers, in particular, will rejoice in seeing themselves and will recognize moments such as Amalia’s doing homework on the High Holy days while reflecting that “kids don’t have to do this crap on Christmas Eve.” One of Ezra’s two dads is trans.
Worth picking up despite the issues. (Romance. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 4, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5107-4940-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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A slightly abridged graphic version of the classic that will drive off all but the artist’s most inveterate fans.
Admirers of the original should be warned away by veteran horror artist Bernie Wrightson’s introductory comments about Grimly’s “wonderfully sly stylization” and the “twinkle” in his artistic eye. Most general readers will founder on the ensuing floods of tiny faux handwritten script that fill the opening 10 pages of stage-setting correspondence (other lengthy letters throughout are presented in similarly hard-to-read typefaces). The few who reach Victor Frankenstein’s narrative will find it—lightly pruned and, in places, translated into sequences of largely wordless panels—in blocks of varied length interspersed amid sheaves of cramped illustrations with, overall, a sickly, greenish-yellow cast. The latter feature spidery, often skeletal figures that barrel over rough landscapes in rococo, steampunk-style vehicles when not assuming melodramatic poses. Though the rarely seen monster is a properly hard-to-resolve jumble of massive rage and lank hair, Dr. Frankenstein looks like a decayed Lyle Lovett with high cheekbones and an errant, outsized quiff. His doomed bride, Elizabeth, sports a white lock à la Elsa Lanchester, and decorative grotesqueries range from arrangements of bones and skull-faced flowers to bunnies and clownish caricatures.
Grimly plainly worked hard, but, as the title indicates, the result serves his own artistic vision more than Mary Shelley’s. (Graphic classic. 14 & up)Pub Date: Aug. 27, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-186297-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 3, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2013
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This story is necessary. This story is important.
27
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Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter is a black girl and an expert at navigating the two worlds she exists in: one at Garden Heights, her black neighborhood, and the other at Williamson Prep, her suburban, mostly white high school.
Walking the line between the two becomes immensely harder when Starr is present at the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend, Khalil, by a white police officer. Khalil was unarmed. Khalil’s death becomes national news, where he’s called a thug and possible drug dealer and gangbanger. His death becomes justified in the eyes of many, including one of Starr’s best friends at school. The police’s lackadaisical attitude sparks anger and then protests in the community, turning it into a war zone. Questions remain about what happened in the moments leading to Khalil’s death, and the only witness is Starr, who must now decide what to say or do, if anything. Thomas cuts to the heart of the matter for Starr and for so many like her, laying bare the systemic racism that undergirds her world, and she does so honestly and inescapably, balancing heartbreak and humor. With smooth but powerful prose delivered in Starr’s natural, emphatic voice, finely nuanced characters, and intricate and realistic relationship dynamics, this novel will have readers rooting for Starr and opening their hearts to her friends and family.
This story is necessary. This story is important. (Fiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-06-249853-3
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2016
Categories: TEENS & YOUNG ADULT FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT SOCIAL THEMES
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SEEN & HEARD
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