An engaging, evocative young adult novel about a preadolescent girl's involvement in the civil rights movement in Birmingham. Eleven year-old Bernice Givens has two major aspirations: to become a Freedom Fighter and to work as a journalist. Growing up within the rigid strictures of a segregated society (in an achingly poignant scene, the first word she learns to read is “colored” so that she will not accidentally offend), Bernice longs to be a part of the struggle for equality. She avidly follows news of the civil rights movement and maintains a scrapbook of major events, believing that actual action is still years away for her. So when news breaks of the planned children's march, Bernice is thrilled by the opportunity despite her mother’s apprehension and ultimate prohibition. Bernice goes anyway, never suspecting that her participation will have consequences that will change and haunt her, though she ultimately emerges stronger from the experience. Debut author Gaile offers pacing that is slow enough to allow nuances to develop but swift enough to maintain reader interest. She has an ear for genuine-sounding dialogue and interactions, and is masterful at exploring emotional complexities at the appropriate developmental level; her descriptions of Bernice's parents and their ambivalence about their daughter's activism are particularly authentic and resonant. Bernice herself is about as appealing a heroine as one could hope for, a believable blend of childish naïveté and sophisticated ideology. Most of the supporting characters are also convincingly portrayed, though a few are disappointingly one-dimensional, even considering their minor roles. The narrative is straightforward and focused solely on the main plot; this can feel a bit heavy-handed at times but is overall fitting for the length of the book. There are few surprises for those readers with a basic familiarity of the civil rights movement, but this work is a suitable introduction for those without that familiarity. And, with the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington just past, this book could not be more timely and relevant. A moving, triumphant novel encapsulating a young girl’s personal struggle for equality within the larger movement.
Pub Date: Aug. 19, 2013
ISBN: 978-1492322719
Page Count: 163
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful.
January 1945: as Russians advance through East Prussia, four teens’ lives converge in hopes of escape.
Returning to the successful formula of her highly lauded debut, Between Shades of Gray (2011), Sepetys combines research (described in extensive backmatter) with well-crafted fiction to bring to life another little-known story: the sinking (from Soviet torpedoes) of the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff. Told in four alternating voices—Lithuanian nurse Joana, Polish Emilia, Prussian forger Florian, and German soldier Alfred—with often contemporary cadences, this stints on neither history nor fiction. The three sympathetic refugees and their motley companions (especially an orphaned boy and an elderly shoemaker) make it clear that while the Gustloff was a German ship full of German civilians and soldiers during World War II, its sinking was still a tragedy. Only Alfred, stationed on the Gustloff, lacks sympathy; almost a caricature, he is self-delusional, unlikable, a Hitler worshiper. As a vehicle for exposition, however, and a reminder of Germany’s role in the war, he serves an invaluable purpose that almost makes up for the mustache-twirling quality of his petty villainy. The inevitability of the ending (including the loss of several characters) doesn’t change its poignancy, and the short chapters and slowly revealed back stories for each character guarantee the pages keep turning.
Heartbreaking, historical, and a little bit hopeful. (author’s note, research and sources, maps) (Historical fiction. 12-16)Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-16030-1
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2015
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