Nobody knows why 14-year-old Claudia Jones vanished, but for one group of teens, her disappearance is just one more mystery in a summer full of uncertainty.
Something strange is in the air at Blithedale High School. Troubled by his parents’ separation, Nigel, a black teen, craves the attention of girls. His luck turns when he begins a brief romance with Japanese-American Emily, but his aggressively jokey persona ends up repelling her. Emily, meanwhile, wants Brett, a white boy, to notice her. He harbors his own unrequited crush, but a relationship of sorts flares up between them anyway. When Emily becomes pregnant, the unexpected ordeal isolates her from Brett and her friends, including Paula, who is Latina. Having broken up with her abusive boyfriend, Paula grapples with her complicated feelings for Emily. These entanglements form the emotionally charged core of this gripping, affecting graphic novel. Each chapter highlights a different character’s perspective, and the style of the artwork changes to match each character’s personality, with simple and expressive black-and-white pictures brimming with exaggerated gestures and reactions. An eerie streak runs through the narrative: Was Claudia abducted by aliens, as some schoolmates suggest? The next volume promises more developments and more mysteries.
A moody, compassionate reflection of adolescence in turmoil. (Graphic novel. 14-18)Pub Date: May 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5415-1044-9
Page Count: 284
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: March 4, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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Grammy Award–winning artist Keys co-authors a YA superhero graphic novel bearing the title of her hit song.
Smart, quiet 14-year-old Loretta “Lolo” Wright struggles to stand up for herself until, on what should be a routine trip to a convenience store, her 16-year-old brother, James, is mistakenly accused of stealing by the police. When the officer slams her brother to the ground, Lolo’s powers manifest for the first time. Meanwhile, Michael Warner, who lives in the same Brooklyn housing projects as the Wrights, is rejected from the football team for being too small. He develops exceptional fighting abilities and shortly afterward gets involved in working for a drug dealer named Skin. When Skin sees a video of Lolo levitating the cop who assaulted James, he wants to recruit her as well, and he tries to extort protection money from Lolo’s dad, who owns a moving business. Lolo must convince Michael to choose a different path; it’s only by working together that they can defeat Skin. Featuring dizzying shifts among multiple perspectives, this full-color graphic novel presents vibrant, expressive characters set against mostly simple, bright backgrounds, with extreme violence depicted in gory detail. The narrative briefly explores class issues and racial stereotypes, but while the setup is intriguing, the momentum fizzles and the pieces never quite come together. Most main characters are Black; Skin reads as White, and secondary characters appear racially diverse.
An action-packed tale for those thirsty for more superhero stories. (Graphic fantasy. 14-18)Pub Date: March 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-302956-9
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Feb. 8, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2022
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BOOK REVIEW
Hinds adds another magnificent adaptation to his oeuvre (King Lear, 2009, etc.) with this stunning graphic retelling of Homer’s epic. Following Odysseus’s journey to return home to his beloved wife, Penelope, readers are transported into a world that easily combines the realistic and the fantastic. Gods mingle with the mortals, and not heeding their warnings could lead to quick danger; being mere men, Odysseus and his crew often make hasty errors in judgment and must face challenging consequences. Lush watercolors move with fluid lines throughout this reimagining. The artist’s use of color is especially striking: His battle scenes are ample, bloodily scarlet affairs, and Polyphemus’s cave is a stifling orange; he depicts the underworld as a colorless, mirthless void, domestic spaces in warm tans, the all-encircling sea in a light Mediterranean blue and some of the far-away islands in almost tangibly growing greens. Don’t confuse this hefty, respectful adaptation with some of the other recent ones; this one holds nothing back and is proudly, grittily realistic rather than cheerfully cartoonish. Big, bold, beautiful. (notes) (Graphic classic. YA)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4266-2
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2010
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