A suspenseful, well-researched story that captures the drama of Earhart’s life and last flight.
Fasten your seat belt and prepare to join Amelia Earhart as she attempts to set one last record—flying around the world at the equator.
This book’s preflight briefing includes an introduction to aviation history, Earhart’s course in the male-dominated skies, and her reasons for a globe-circling flight at the equator. Dramatic black-and-white comic illustrations and journal-style entries based on Earhart’s notes and letters, as well as periodic pagelong sections in prose about Earhart’s crew, plane, and radio direction finder, transform her last flight into a compelling and tense drama. Too many fundraising schemes, too little preparation, and the extra weight of promotional items hint at doom. During the journey, delays, loss of crew members, and difficulty spotting small jungle runways foreshadow disaster ahead. The leg to Howland, a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific, was the hardest part of the journey. Almost hourly log entries track communications from USCGC Itasca waiting near Howland as it struggles, and fails, to make contact with Earhart. Numerous panels focus on the intense media coverage following Earhart’s disappearance and reactions from women from various walks of life, but this story ends on a positive note with excerpts from Earhart’s last letter from the day she set out for Howland about the joy of flying through stormy weather and knowing that if she can “tilt my plane up,” she will “emerge into sunlight.”
A suspenseful, well-researched story that captures the drama of Earhart’s life and last flight. (timeline, bibliography) (Graphic nonfiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Aug. 16, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-22466-3
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A heartfelt, suspenseful story about family and resilience.
In the late 1950s, a boy’s life is turned upside down by the Cuban Revolution.
In this touching graphic memoir, Miyares depicts his father Carlos’ childhood before and during dictator Fidel Castro’s ascent to power. Affectionate interactions between Carlos and his mamá and abuelo and vibrant shades of green and blue portray the joy Carlos felt growing up in rural Ceiba Mocha. So, when his hardworking papi won the lottery and relocated the family to the city to launch his dream of owning a woodshop and selling furniture, the move was a huge adjustment for nature-loving Carlos. At school, kids teased him for being a “country kid,” but nothing compared to the fear Carlos experienced when the government was overthrown. Miyares intersperses brief, digestible political updates in black-and-white throughout, forming a stark contrast to the vivid color palette of Carlos’ daily life. Suddenly, men with guns seized Papi’s business. Food was rationed. Neighbors spied on each other to see who didn’t support the revolution—and they had their eye on Papi. Rumors abounded that those who opposed communism or Castro were being shot. Worst of all, one day Papi disappeared. But even when things were at their bleakest, Carlos and his family found hope in the possibility of making one more move—to America and freedom. The expressive art in this powerful work has a nostalgic feeling while also conveying emotional immediacy.
A heartfelt, suspenseful story about family and resilience. (author’s note) (Graphic memoir. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2025
ISBN: 9780593568293
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Anne Schwartz/Random
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A striking glimpse into Chinese girlhood during the 1970s and ’80s.
Beginning with a breathtaking dream of riding a golden crane over the city of Wuhan, China, Liu Na, recounts her subsequent waking only to discover that Chairman Mao has passed away. The 3-year-old finds this difficult to process and understand, although she is soon caught up in the somber mood of the event. From there, her life unfolds in short sketches. With this intimate look at her childhood memories, Liu skillfully weaves factual tidbits into the rich tapestry of her life. In the section titled “The Four Pests,” she explains about the four pests that plague China—the rat, the fly, the mosquito and the cockroach (with an additional explanation of how the sparrow once made this list, and why it is no longer on it)—and her stomach-turning school assignment to catch rats and deliver the severed tails to her teacher. In “Happy New Year! The Story of Nian the Monster,” she explains the origins of Chinese New Year, her favorite holiday, and her own vivid, visceral reflections of it: the sights, sounds and smells. Extraordinary and visually haunting, there will be easy comparisons to Allen Say’s Drawing from Memory (2011); think of this as the female counterpart to that work.
Beautifully drawn and quietly evocative. (glossary, timeline, author biography, translations of Chinese characters, maps) (Graphic memoir. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-7613-8115-0
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
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