A lush portrayal of personal and national struggles let down by a rushed ending.
A French teen searches for her identity against a backdrop of revolution.
In Paris in the summer of 1792, 19-year-old Hélène d’Aubign, daughter of a French marquis, is thrown into prison—though she doesn’t know who accused her or what her crime is. The story flashes back nine years and recounts her growing up with an idealistic governess, unfeeling mother, and domineering father. Alternately indulged and oppressed, she falls in love with Théo, a jeweler’s apprentice. When villagers kill her father and set fire to the family’s château, Hélène and her mother escape to her mother’s family, whom she’s never met. Hélène begins to unearth family secrets while plotting to return to Théo, but when she manages to reach Paris she is met with news that changes everything. She settles into life as an ordinary citizen, but danger still lurks—brief prison scenes interrupt the narrative until the timelines converge at Hélène’s trial. Bandy’s debut features credible historical detail, an engaging narrator, and a sweet romance. Lulls in the pacing slow momentum, and the ending sacrifices credibility for convenience. Ultimately, this is an above-average history and romance, though less satisfying in terms of the mystery. Major characters are White; Hélène’s radical governess introduces her to her lover, a formerly enslaved Black abolitionist.
A lush portrayal of personal and national struggles let down by a rushed ending. (Historical fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-09-405947-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Blackstone
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2020
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 well-researched and deeply moving portrait of an iconic moment in U.S. history.
A free-verse treatment of the killing of four college students during campus protests over the Vietnam War.
College campuses were often flashpoints in the struggle against the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. In May 1970, protestors at Kent State University in Ohio were met by the Ohio National Guard, culminating in the deaths of four unarmed college students and injuries to nine others. The university and the small town surrounding it were all affected by the escalating tensions and disagreement over how to handle the issues. The governor’s strict approach was welcomed by some but resisted by many on campus. Each of the deceased students is described in detail, including how they came to be in the line of fire. Readers hear from a guardsman and a town resident as well as students, their voices showing how perspectives differed depending on individuals’ roles. Especially compelling are the words of Black students, many of whom stayed away from the demonstration, believing, correctly, that the guardsmen had live ammunition. The structure serves to re-create the taut atmosphere of the days leading up to the tragedy, and various perspectives are represented by different fonts and typeface, furthering the sense of polarization. The extensive author’s note extends the narrative, engaging readers in the author’s process and the story’s impact.
A well-researched and deeply moving portrait of an iconic moment in U.S. history. (Verse novel. 12-18)Pub Date: April 21, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-35628-1
Page Count: 144
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Jan. 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
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