A wild ride that will leave most struggling to keep up.
In this fantastical graphic novel, a boy attempts to bring his family’s never-ending Passover seder to a close.
According to Jewish law, a seder cannot end until the afikoman—a piece of matzah broken and hidden somewhere in the home—is found. So when the unnamed protagonist’s little sister throws the afikoman into a wormhole, the seder is forced to continue indefinitely. Six months in, a talking goat—a reference to a song traditionally performed at the end of the seder—arrives to help the boy track it down. The goat explains that all the seders that have ever occurred are stored under the protagonist’s house, and the afikoman is hidden in one of them. As the pair journey through time, the boy watches his great-grandmother participate in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. He witnesses historic seders, such as one that took place during the Spanish Inquisition and another that occurred during the Jewish-Roman Wars. Ellsworth’s black-and-white illustrations are filled with busy crosshatched patterns, while characters often talk over one another. This chaos mirrors the surreal plot; reading the book feels like falling down a rabbit hole. Horn zips from one historical event to another without offering much context or explanation; most readers, even those versed in Jewish tradition, will likely be confused. The protagonist’s reflections on his identity and family are intriguing but similarly rushed. Characters have skin the color of the page.
A wild ride that will leave most struggling to keep up. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: March 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781324082132
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Norton Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2025
A gritty story filled with hope and idealism.
A young boy is forced to leave the Chennai jail that is the only home he’s ever known.
When Kabir is deemed too old to stay and is sent out into the world all alone, separated from his wrongfully imprisoned mother, he decides to search for the family of the father he has never met to try to save his mother from her unjustly long sentence. Armed with faith, instinctive wits, and the ability to run fast, Kabir escapes danger and meets Rani, a teenage girl from the marginalized Kurava, or Roma, people who is traveling with her parrot. She teaches Kabir, who has a Hindu mother and a Muslim father, about caste dynamics and survival on the streets. She accompanies him to Bengaluru, where Kabir eventually meets his paternal grandparents. Along the way, their experiences reveal the invisibility of low-caste people in Indian society, tensions between neighboring states over water supplies, and the unexpected kindness of helpful strangers. Kabir’s longing for freedom and justice underscores bittersweet twists and turns that resolve in an upbeat conclusion, celebrating his namesake, a saint who sought to unify Muslims and Hindus. Kabir engages readers by voicing his thoughts, vulnerability, and optimism: While his early physical environment was confined within prison walls, his imagination was nourished by stories and songs. This compelling novel develops at a brisk pace, advanced by evocative details and short chapters full of action.
A gritty story filled with hope and idealism. (author's note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11247-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
A thoughtful, humorous, community-centered exploration of identity and Buddhism.
Stories of Buddha’s past lives help a young boy “find [himself] in the moment.”
Binh and his siblings, who are of Vietnamese descent, can’t believe they’re spending the weekend at a silent meditation retreat. Binh would rather play his Game Boy so he doesn’t have to meditate and inevitably think about the bullies at school. It is only when Sister Peace tells stories about the Buddha and his past life that Binh is able to imagine himself entering a video game–inspired world and thus process his feelings of shame, isolation, and anger. With each Jataka tale, Binh’s awareness expands, and so, too, does his ability to be present for and helpful to those around him. A welcome addition to the handful of middle-grade stories featuring Buddhist protagonists, this exploration of identity and Buddhist principles will find an audience with young readers who love Raina Telgemeier but aren’t quite ready to level up to the complexity and nuance of Gene Luen Yang’s epic American Born Chinese (2006). The video game elements are compelling, although they understandably diminish as the story progresses and the protagonist’s inner life grows. Warm fall colors and luscious black lines anchor the story as it transitions among flashbacks, stories, and the present day. Filled with talking animals, the parables can be a little heavy-handed, but the witty banter between Binh and the narrator during fantasy sequences provides levity. (This review was updated for accuracy.)
A thoughtful, humorous, community-centered exploration of identity and Buddhism. (bibliography) (Graphic fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780759555488
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Little, Brown Ink
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
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