Thoughtful metafiction with an unshakeable cultural richness.
A return to the village where her mother grew up inspires and validates a natural-born storyteller.
When Nana gets in trouble for an alleged prank involving squirrels and her teacher’s toupee, she’s sent from the U.S. to visit her extended family in Ghana over summer vacation—not as a punishment but as a lesson. What she learns is complex and includes brushing up on her Twi, navigating West African transportation, and listening to her grandmother tell Ananse folktales. In this debut, Agyemang reimagines traditional Asante stories, focusing on the trickster spider as both an ally and guide for Nana’s personal journey as she settles in with her relatives and their daily lives. When exploitative and corrupt foreign White contractors begin depleting Ghanaian forests of their resources, both real and magical, the work’s commentary on imperialism is clear. Nana—with her family’s support—collaborates with Ananse to bring their actions to light and help people not only believe in, but care about what stories can teach. In the end, with the bad guys’ plans foiled, the link between knowledge and stories is reinforced as Nana finds that her connections to Ananse and her heritage are just beginning. The full-color art often presents scenery in a stylized manner that is effective and striking; at other times, however, it can be difficult to follow the action in the illustrations.
Thoughtful metafiction with an unshakeable cultural richness. (author's note, glossary, further reading) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-20488-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and...
Catrina narrates the story of her mixed-race (Latino/white) family’s move from Southern California to Bahía de la Luna on the Northern California coast.
Dad has a new job, but it’s little sister Maya’s lungs that motivate the move: she has had cystic fibrosis since birth—a degenerative breathing condition. Despite her health, Maya loves adventure, even if her lungs suffer for it and even when Cat must follow to keep her safe. When Carlos, a tall, brown, and handsome teen Ghost Tour guide introduces the sisters to the Bahía ghosts—most of whom were Spanish-speaking Mexicans when alive—they fascinate Maya and she them, but the terrified Cat wants only to get herself and Maya back to safety. When the ghost adventure leads to Maya’s hospitalization, Cat blames both herself and Carlos, which makes seeing him at school difficult. As Cat awakens to the meaning of Halloween and Day of the Dead in this strange new home, she comes to understand the importance of the ghosts both to herself and to Maya. Telgemeier neatly balances enough issues that a lesser artist would split them into separate stories and delivers as much delight textually as visually. The backmatter includes snippets from Telgemeier’s sketchbook and a photo of her in Día makeup.
Telgemeier’s bold colors, superior visual storytelling, and unusual subject matter will keep readers emotionally engaged and unable to put down this compelling tale. (Graphic fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-545-54061-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2016
Dizzyingly silly.
The famous superhero returns to fight another villain with all the trademark wit and humor the series is known for.
Despite the title, Captain Underpants is bizarrely absent from most of this adventure. His school-age companions, George and Harold, maintain most of the spotlight. The creative chums fool around with time travel and several wacky inventions before coming upon the evil Turbo Toilet 2000, making its return for vengeance after sitting out a few of the previous books. When the good Captain shows up to save the day, he brings with him dynamic action and wordplay that meet the series’ standards. The Captain Underpants saga maintains its charm even into this, the 11th volume. The epic is filled to the brim with sight gags, toilet humor, flip-o-ramas and anarchic glee. Holding all this nonsense together is the author’s good-natured sense of harmless fun. The humor is never gross or over-the-top, just loud and innocuous. Adults may roll their eyes here and there, but youngsters will eat this up just as quickly as they devoured every other Underpants episode.
Dizzyingly silly. (Humor. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-545-50490-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
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