Scoring high on charisma, this tale of personal growth is bound to win many a curious young fan over to D&D’s allure.
Role-playing and real life are inextricably intertwined in this Dungeons & Dragons–themed story of middle-grade woes.
Up-and-coming eighth graders Jess, who has light brown skin, and Olivia, who presents as Black and Latine, have been inseparable since third grade. Though Jess may not be socially adept (“I’m not good at friends, but I’m good at stories”), she has a firm friend in Olivia, and the two bond over role-playing games, Olivia acting as Dungeon Master while Jess engages in quests as the hero Sir Corius. Then Olivia suggests starting a Dungeons & Dragons club at school, an idea that change-averse Jess becomes determined to thwart. The duo becomes a trio when another member joins the club, and Jess, feeling frustrated and vulnerable as things change even more, ends up hurting Olivia. Now Jess will have to dig deep to become a hero in real life. The back and forth between reality and the game’s quest is interspliced expertly, never confusing readers with the switches. Ostertag deftly shows how elements of the game bleed into Jess’ real life, like seeing core stats for kids at school floating about their heads. As the real and the fantastical blend into one another, readers will root for Jess even as her poor choices are hard to disregard. Bouma’s engaging art will surely lure in fans of realistic comics.
Scoring high on charisma, this tale of personal growth is bound to win many a curious young fan over to D&D’s allure. (Graphic novel. 9-12)Pub Date: Dec. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-303924-7
Page Count: 208
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
During a school year in which a gifted teacher who emphasizes personal responsibility among his fifth graders ends up in a coma from a thrown snowball, his students come to terms with their own issues and learn to be forgiving. Told in short chapters organized month-by-month in the voices of seven students, often describing the same incident from different viewpoints, this weaves together a variety of not-uncommon classroom characters and situations: the new kid, the trickster, the social bully, the super-bright and the disaffected; family clashes, divorce and death; an unwed mother whose long-ago actions haven't been forgotten in the small-town setting; class and experiential differences. Mr. Terupt engineers regular visits to the school’s special-needs classroom, changing some lives on both sides. A "Dollar Word" activity so appeals to Luke that he sprinkles them throughout his narrative all year. Danielle includes her regular prayers, and Anna never stops her hopeful matchmaking. No one is perfect in this feel-good story, but everyone benefits, including sentimentally inclined readers. (Fiction. 9-12)
Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-385-73882-8
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2010
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An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel.
Sandy and his family, Japanese Canadians, experience hatred and incarceration during World War II.
Sandy Saito loves baseball, and the Vancouver Asahi ballplayers are his heroes. But when they lose in the 1941 semifinals, Sandy’s dad calls it a bad omen. Sure enough, in December 1941, Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in the U.S. The Canadian government begins to ban Japanese people from certain areas, moving them to “dormitories” and setting a curfew. Sandy wants to spend time with his father, but as a doctor, his dad is busy, often sneaking out past curfew to work. One night Papa is taken to “where he [is] needed most,” and the family is forced into an internment camp. Life at the camp isn’t easy, and even with some of the Asahi players playing ball there, it just isn’t the same. Trying to understand and find joy again, Sandy struggles with his new reality and relationship with his father. Based on the true experiences of Japanese Canadians and the Vancouver Asahi team, this graphic novel is a glimpse of how their lives were affected by WWII. The end is a bit abrupt, but it’s still an inspiring and sweet look at how baseball helped them through hardship. The illustrations are all in a sepia tone, giving it an antique look and conveying the emotions and struggles. None of the illustrations of their experiences are overly graphic, making it a good introduction to this upsetting topic for middle-grade readers.
An emotional, much-needed historical graphic novel. (afterword, further resources) (Graphic historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5253-0334-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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