A sensitive and possibly reassuring take on a psychological vulnerability that is all too common and not easily defended.
Lonely young Hélène begins to get out from under her body-image issue with help from a new friend—and Jane Eyre.
Weighed down by cruel graffiti (“Hélène weighs 216!”—a figure belied, later, by the “88” on a doctor’s scale but not before the damage is done) as well as looks and snickers from her former circle, Hélène walks slump-shouldered and isolated through a dreary world rendered in sepia wash. A class trip to nature camp brings no relief, as it entails a painful expedition to buy a swimsuit (“I’m a sausage”) and then exile to the “outcasts’ tent.” Only following Jane Eyre’s growth into a woman “clever, slender and wise” lightens her spirit. Then a brief encounter with a fox and the arrival of Géraldine, an extroverted fellow camper, signal at last the beginnings of a brighter outlook. Hand-lettered but easily legible, her sparely told narrative suits the swiftly drawn look of the art. Ably capturing Hélène’s emotional tides, Arsenault portrays her (as a child of plainly average build) in dark sequential panels that give way when she’s reading or dreaming to full spreads, usually in subdued tones of orange and blue. Those colors and others show up as highlights in closing scenes that are capped by a final glimpse of the bright fox amid burgeoning greenery.
A sensitive and possibly reassuring take on a psychological vulnerability that is all too common and not easily defended. (Graphic novel. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-55498-360-5
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Groundwood
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
Compulsively readable; morally uncomfortable.
Six New Jersey 12-year-olds separated by decades race to ensure the “good guys” win World War II in this middle-grade work by the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and her brother, a children's author and journalist.
It all starts with a ham radio that Alice, Lawrence, and Artie fool around with in 1944 and Henry, Frances, and Lukas find in 2023. It’s late April, and the 1944 kids worry about loved ones in combat, while the 2023 kids study the war in school. When, impossibly, the radio allows the kids to communicate across time, it doesn’t take long before they share information that changes history. Can the two sets of kids work across a 79-year divide to prevent the U.S.A. from becoming the Nazi-controlled dystopia of Westfallen? This propulsive thriller includes well-paced cuts between times that keep the pages turning. Like most people in their small New Jersey town, Alice, Artie, and Frances are white. In 1944, Lawrence, who’s Black, endures bigotry; in the U.S.A. of 2023, Henry’s biracial (white and Black) identity and Lukas’ Jewish one are unremarkable, but in Westfallen, Henry’s a “mischling” doing “work-learning,” and Lukas is a menial laborer. Alice’s and Henry’s dual first-person narration zooms in on the adventure, but readers who pull back may find themselves deeply uneasy with the summary consideration paid to the real-life fates of European Jews and disabled people. The cliffhanger ending will have them hoping for more thoughtful treatment in sequels to come.
Compulsively readable; morally uncomfortable. (Science fiction/thriller. 10-13)Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781665950817
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
Fine worldbuilding, with high adventure aplenty and characters and plotlines that continue to develop intriguing twists.
In this popular series’ latest episode, an ambush by the masked elf king’s ally Max Griffin leads Emily to a disturbing revelation about the mysterious voice that speaks through her own amulet.
Having set the stage with a flashback that illuminates Max’s troubled past, Kibuishi positively channels the first Star Wars film by turning Emily’s brother Navin and other friends into hotshot fighter pilots for a climactic dogfight replete with sizzling bolts of energy and massive explosions. This is followed by a long collective fall through the air during which Emily makes a desperate lifesaving venture into the “void.” There, times and memories mingle, and the dark entity that had guided her before challenges her to an ominous chess match. Expertly framing his clearly drawn figures in diversely arranged sequential panels, the author continues to tell his tale at a breakneck pace. Though his cast of humans, elves, robots, talking animals and monsters is now so large that even confirmed fans may have trouble keeping track, no one will soon forget the demonic new flying giant spider creature that Max rides into battle.
Fine worldbuilding, with high adventure aplenty and characters and plotlines that continue to develop intriguing twists. (Graphic fantasy. 10-12)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-545-20889-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Oct. 2, 2012
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