An unforgettable story of personal growth in an exquisitely rendered setting.
A shared house in Tokyo brings five young people together.
After moving to the U.S. as a child with her Japanese mother and White American father, Nao has returned to Japan for a gap year before college to explore the language and cultural heritage that she deliberately shed—at great emotional cost—in an effort to assimilate. She moves into Himawari House, which she shares with Korean Hyejung and Chinese Singaporean Tina, girls who are attending the same Japanese language institute as Nao. Also resident are two Japanese brothers, outgoing, friendly Shinichi and taciturn, broodingly handsome Masaki. Blending English, Japanese, Korean, and Singlish, the group bonds over meals, excursions, K-dramas, and never-ending conversations about life, love, and family. Becker perfectly captures the heady roller coaster of feelings that accompanies cross-cultural immersion, with ordinary activities serving as barometers of successful adaptation in a new country. The personal stakes of each encounter with Japanese life are even higher for Nao, throwing into relief her internal struggles over her identity. Nao is the focal point, but Hyejung and Tina are well developed, with complex, heartstring-tugging backstories. Most of the text is bilingual, but the occasional use of Japanese or Korean alone effectively mirrors the dislocation of language learners. The predominantly photorealistic art is enhanced with a range of stylized techniques that masterfully communicate emotion. Altogether, this work exemplifies what the graphic novel format can achieve.
An unforgettable story of personal growth in an exquisitely rendered setting. (note on accents) (Graphic fiction. 13-adult)Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-250-23556-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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
A powerful tale of found family and first love.
After a year away, Ellis returns home to confront her past.
Graduating from high school far from everything familiar was not part of Ellis Truman’s original plans, but she nevertheless ended up spending her senior year with her aunt in California. In Indiana, Ellis practically grew up with the Albrey family and their three tightknit sons, Dixon, Tucker, and Easton. Now, Tucker wants her to return home for matriarch Sandry Albrey’s 50th birthday celebration on the Fourth of July—but Ellis is dreading seeing Easton, as they haven’t talked since she left. Chapters alternate between past and present, and much of the story unravels slowly: How did she come to live with the Albreys? What caused Ellis to then end up in San Diego? What happened in her relationship with Easton? Patient readers will find the heartfelt tension pays off. With her father in and out of jail and an absent mother, socio-economic differences separating Ellis from the middle-class Albreys don’t go unnoticed, and Ellis’ down-to-earth journey shows how she unpacks her feelings about her relationship with her parents. The slow-build romance is swoonworthy, and young adult fans of Colleen Hoover seeking emotional devastation and unforgettable characters will find much to enjoy here. Characters read as White.
A powerful tale of found family and first love. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-308853-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: HarperTeen
Review Posted Online: Jan. 10, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
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