by Matt Phelan ; illustrated by Matt Phelan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 13, 2016
Brilliant.
Imagined through a 1920s lens, “Snow White” unfolds as a graphic novel.
Samantha White, nicknamed Snow, loses her mother at a young age. Her father, a shrewd and wealthy businessman, remarries a blunt-bobbed and ruthless actress known as the "Queen of the Follies." In their large New York City apartment, the ticker tape whirrs stock updates and reminders of their fortune without cease. This, however, gets to Snow's stepmother, and she starts to see insidious messages—just like the ones her fairy-tale counterpart received from her enchanted mirror—that ignite a deadly and consuming jealousy. She engages a man to kill Snow, who is ultimately saved by a gang of seven orphaned boys. Her stepmother finally exacts her revenge—with a syringe and an apple—until Detective Prince saves the day. Phelan masterfully shifts a tale heavily reliant on magic and fantasy into a realistic and historical setting without compromising plausibility. Creating sweeping and dreamy watercolors that play with emotion and color, Phelan is an exquisite visual storyteller, and he lets expressive, wordless sequences carry a large portion of his interpretation. With a keen historical slant, a bit of action and intrigue, high visual interest, and the fairy-tale leaning, this will awe a wide readership.
Brilliant. (Graphic adaptation. 9 & up)Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7233-1
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2016
Share your opinion of this book
More by Matt Phelan
BOOK REVIEW
by Matt Phelan ; illustrated by Matt Phelan
BOOK REVIEW
by Matt Phelan ; illustrated by Matt Phelan
BOOK REVIEW
by Matt Phelan ; illustrated by Matt Phelan
by Johnnie Christmas ; illustrated by Johnnie Christmas ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 17, 2022
Problem-solving through perseverance and friendship is the real win in this deeply smart and inspiring story.
Leaving Brooklyn behind, Black math-whiz and puzzle lover Bree starts a new life in Florida, where she’ll be tossed into the deep end in more ways than one. Keeping her head above water may be the trickiest puzzle yet.
While her dad is busy working and training in IT, Bree struggles at first to settle into Enith Brigitha Middle School, largely due to the school’s preoccupation with swimming—from the accomplishments of its namesake, a Black Olympian from Curaçao, to its near victory at the state swimming championships. But Bree can’t swim. To illustrate her anxiety around this fact, the graphic novel’s bright colors give way to gray thought bubbles with thick, darkened outlines expressing Bree’s deepest fears and doubts. This poignant visual crowds some panels just as anxious feelings can crowd the thoughts of otherwise star students like Bree. Ultimately, learning to swim turns out to be easy enough with the help of a kind older neighbor—a Black woman with a competitive swimming past of her own as well as a rich and bittersweet understanding of Black Americans’ relationship with swimming—who explains to Bree how racist obstacles of the past can become collective anxiety in the present. To her surprise, Bree, with her newfound water skills, eventually finds herself on the school’s swim team, navigating competition, her anxiety, and new, meaningful relationships.
Problem-solving through perseverance and friendship is the real win in this deeply smart and inspiring story. (Graphic fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: May 17, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-305677-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
Share your opinion of this book
More About This Book
PERSPECTIVES
by Jerry Craft ; illustrated by Jerry Craft with color by Jim Callahan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 5, 2019
An engrossing, humorous, and vitally important graphic novel that should be required reading in every middle school in...
Awards & Accolades
Likes
16
Our Verdict
GET IT
Kirkus Reviews'
Best Books Of 2019
Kirkus Prize
winner
IndieBound Bestseller
Jordan Banks takes readers down the rabbit hole and into his mostly white prep school in this heartbreakingly accurate middle-grade tale of race, class, microaggressions, and the quest for self-identity.
He may be the new kid, but as an African-American boy from Washington Heights, that stigma entails so much more than getting lost on the way to homeroom. Riverdale Academy Day School, located at the opposite end of Manhattan, is a world away, and Jordan finds himself a stranger in a foreign land, where pink clothing is called salmon, white administrators mistake a veteran African-American teacher for the football coach, and white classmates ape African-American Vernacular English to make themselves sound cool. Jordan’s a gifted artist, and his drawings blend with the narrative to give readers a full sense of his two worlds and his methods of coping with existing in between. Craft skillfully employs the graphic-novel format to its full advantage, giving his readers a delightful and authentic cast of characters who, along with New York itself, pop off the page with vibrancy and nuance. Shrinking Jordan to ant-sized proportions upon his entering the school cafeteria, for instance, transforms the lunchroom into a grotesque Wonderland in which his lack of social standing becomes visually arresting and viscerally uncomfortable.
An engrossing, humorous, and vitally important graphic novel that should be required reading in every middle school in America. (Graphic fiction. 10-14)Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-06-269120-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 14, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
Share your opinion of this book
More by Jerry Craft
BOOK REVIEW
by Jerry Craft ; illustrated by Jerry Craft
BOOK REVIEW
by Jerry Craft ; illustrated by Jerry Craft
BOOK REVIEW
by Patrik Henry Bass ; illustrated by Jerry Craft
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.