Next book

KING SHAKA

ZULU LEGEND

From the African Graphic Novel Series series , Vol. 2

Authentically enlightening and entertaining.

Following on Shaka Rising (2018), this volume further explores the legend of King Shaka, founder of the Zulu nation.

Much research has been done by South African Molver to trace the particulars of Shaka’s life from his birth in the 1780s until his death in 1828. Zulu culture was an oral one, passing down history through the telling of stories, which led to multiple versions of the truth even as the “ignorance or bias” of European written records was understood to be historical fact. Recognizing its own narrative as simply one telling of the story, this book focuses on the last decade of his reign, when external and internal threats challenged his prominence. There’s the arrival of conspiring European settlers and even a bit of nefarious plotting among the siblings who envy Shaka’s throne. Woven throughout are key terms from isiZulu, along with symbolism inherent to Zulu supernatural beliefs, giving readers a deeply contextual immersion in the cultural foundations of the Zulu people who today represent almost a quarter of South Africa’s population. The illustrations show stern and stalwart faces and display the brutal, inflamed action of war. The overwhelming global success of Marvel’s Black Panther is echoed in the final image, which, in opposition to the story’s historical specificity, feels generic and tame.

Authentically enlightening and entertaining. (historical notes, timeline, cultural and linguistic notes, discussion questions, glossary, pronunciation guide) (Graphic historical fiction. 12-18)

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-946498-93-9

Page Count: 96

Publisher: Story Press Africa

Review Posted Online: July 12, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2019

Next book

THE FAINT OF HEART

A fast-paced dip into the possibility of a world without human emotions.

A teenage girl refuses a medical procedure to remove her heart and her emotions.

June lives in a future in which a reclusive Scientist has pioneered a procedure to remove hearts, thus eliminating all “sadness, anxiety, and anger.” The downside is that it numbs pleasurable feelings, too. Most people around June have had the procedure done; for young people, in part because doing so helps them become more focused and successful. Before long, June is the only one among her peers who still has her heart. When her parents decide it’s time for her to have the procedure so she can become more focused in school, June hatches a plan to pretend to go through with it. She also investigates a way to restore her beloved sister’s heart, joining forces with Max, a classmate who’s also researching the Scientist because he has started to feel again despite having had his heart removed. The pair’s journey is somewhat rushed and improbable, as is the resolution they achieve. However, the story’s message feels relevant and relatable to teens, and the artwork effectively sets the scene, with bursts of color popping throughout an otherwise black-and-white landscape, reflecting the monochromatic, heartless reality of June’s world. There are no ethnic or cultural markers in the text; June has paper-white skin and dark hair, and Max has dark skin and curly black hair.

A fast-paced dip into the possibility of a world without human emotions. (Graphic speculative fiction. 12-18)

Pub Date: June 13, 2023

ISBN: 9780063116214

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023

Next book

PEMMICAN WARS

A GIRL CALLED ECHO, VOL. I

A sparse, beautifully drawn story about a teen discovering her heritage.

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT

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

Close Quickview