A young girl’s journey into love evolves with the seasons in the stellar first volume of a quartet. Miki is an extremely likable 17-year-old girl, who, like most teenaged girls, wishes she were more assertive. Unlike her fanciful friends, Miki believes that there are more important things in the world than boys . . . until she meets Hiro. Handsome, brooding and mysterious, Hiro is a man of many secrets, and may be the only one who can never truly be with Miki. When she refuses to relinquish her conquest of him, Miki stumbles upon why Hiro is so enigmatic—and her feelings for him become all-consuming. Complex characters combine with masterful, expressive art culminating in an arresting new series for teen readers. The soft, gentle romance between Miki and Hiro is brilliantly juxtaposed with the darker elements of the story creating a salient tension between the two, and crescendos in the next volume entitled Summer (ISBN: 978-0-06-084617-6). A stark departure from Crilley’s previous Akiko series, Miki Falls is a ruminative look at a love and a richly developed labyrinth of fantasy and secrets. (Graphic novel. 12-16)
Pub Date: May 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-06-084616-9
Page Count: 176
Publisher: HarperTempest
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2007
Pairing art from an earlier, self-published edition to a newly adapted text, Hinds retells the old tale as a series of dark, bloody, chaotic clashes. Here Grendel is a glaring, black monster with huge teeth, corded muscles and a tendency to smash or bite off adversaries’ heads; the dragon is all sinuous viciousness; and Beowulf, mighty of thew, towers over his fellow Geats. The narrative, boxed off from the illustrations rather than incorporated into them, runs to lines like, “Bid my brave warriors O Wiglaf, to build a lofty cairn for me upon the sea-cliffs . . . ” and tends to disappear when the fighting starts. Because the panels are jumbled together on the page, the action is sometimes hard to follow, but this makes a strongly atmospheric alternative to the semi-abstract Beowulf, the Legend, by Stephen L. Antczak and James C. Bassett, illus by Andy Lee (2006), or the more conventionally formatted version of Michael Morpurgo, with pictures by Michael Foreman (2006). (Graphic fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: April 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-7636-3022-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2007
A refreshingly disability-positive superhero origin story.
Nijkamp (contributor: His Hideous Heart, 2019, etc.) reimagines the backstory of Oracle, computer genius and ally to Batman.
When skilled hacker Barbara “Babs” Gordon and her best friend, Benjamin, attempt to intervene in a robbery, Babs is shot. Six weeks later, the newly paralyzed Babs reluctantly rolls into the Arkham Center for Independence, where teens with disabilities undergo physical and emotional rehabilitation. Despite her father’s well-meaning advice, Babs resents being there. Even the mysterious cries within the mansion’s walls can’t lift the teen’s despondence—until Jena, a burn survivor full of haunting tales, disappears. Aided by supportive patients Yeong and Issy, whom she gradually befriends, Babs must accept her new reality in order to find Jena and escape a sinister plot. The author sensitively portrays Babs’ frustration and trauma and realistically addresses her challenges, such as mastering wheelchair ramps and negotiating stairs. Babs’ increasing self-confidence is heartening, and the message that people with disabilities don’t need to be “fixed” in order to thrive is empowering (albeit slightly heavy-handed). Balancing bright and dark colors, Preitano’s (contributor: Puerto Rico Strong, 2018, etc.) illustrations vividly convey Babs’ anger and determination, and a jigsaw-puzzle motif reflects Babs’ quest to piece together her new identity as well as the institution’s secret. Most characters present white. Yeong, who walks with forearm crutches, is cued through her name as Korean; Issy, who uses a wheelchair, presents black.
A refreshingly disability-positive superhero origin story. (Graphic fantasy. 12-16)Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4012-9066-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: DC
Review Posted Online: Jan. 22, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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