A whimsical homage to creativity so often lost and overlooked in our digital age.
Anyone who has ever made a fortress from cardboard boxes will enjoy this graphic novel about the power of creativity.
Four kids find strange, magical tokens in their cereal boxes and are then transported through a cardboard-box vortex to a strange land called Cardboardia, where everything is made entirely of cardboard. In this parallel universe the friends find themselves awash in creativity, art, and beauty. However, not all is golden in Cardboardia, as an evil force—the Grey Queen—threatens it. It becomes abundantly clear that the friends have not simply happened upon Cardboardia by mistake but instead have been chosen for their individual special powers. Can the friends realize their powers and team up with the residents of Cardboardia to return its light and defeat the Grey Queen before it is too late? The protagonists are racially diverse, with a range of ages and interests, including the arts and science, as well as varied family structures and experiences. The story is told in shifting point-of-view vignettes, with a generous trim, bright illustrations, and splash pages that break up stretches of dense dialogue to engage readers. This is the first in a series, and after a detailed setup, the book concludes somewhat abruptly with a cliffhanger ending.
A whimsical homage to creativity so often lost and overlooked in our digital age. (Graphic fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-64595-040-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: Pixel+Ink
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
An enthralling fantasy debut exploring exploitation by those in power.
Will 12-year-old Nura be able to outsmart the trickster jinn and save herself and her friends?
Nura lives in the fictional Pakistani town of Meerabagh, where she has worked mining mica to help support her family of five—her mother, herself, and her three younger siblings—since her father’s death. In the mines she has the company of her best friend, Faisal, who is teased by other kids for his stutter, and she enjoys small pleasures like splurging on gulab jamun. Although Maa wants Nura to stop working and attend school, she has no interest in classroom learning and hopes to save up to send her younger siblings to school instead so they can break the family’s cycle of poverty. Following a mining accident in which Faisal and others are lost in the rubble, Nura goes to the rescue. In her quest, she is plunged into the magical, glittering jinn realm, where nothing is as it seems. The author seamlessly weaves into the worldbuilding of the story commentary on real-life problems such as the ravages of child labor and systems that perpetuate inequities. An informative author’s note further explores present-day global cycles of oppression as well as the life-changing power of education. This action-packed story set in a Muslim community moves at a fast pace, with evocative writing that brings the fantasy world to life and lyrical imagery to describe emotions.
An enthralling fantasy debut exploring exploitation by those in power. (Fantasy. 8-12)Pub Date: July 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5795-6
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson/Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: April 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Triumphs, mishaps, and revelations kick this adventure into high gear.
Two young superheroes start a search for their missing mom at a summer camp built next to a volcano. What could go wrong?
Enlisting their friends Beto Moreno and Nara Jenkins—respectively, an aspiring magician and a medal-winning wrestler—to help, fledgling secret super sibs Adeline and Wyatt Flynn enroll at Camp Igneous, conveniently situated at the base of the volcano where their mom might have disappeared four years before. Along with pursuing an investigation, though, the team faces serious competition vying for the titular cup in a series of mentally and physically demanding obstacle courses and other challenges, all while keeping their special powers hidden. The art’s bright colors, overlapping panels, and expressively posed cartoon figures ramp up the pacing and visual energy for a plot that features a series of suspenseful contests capped by encounters with “radioactive goop” and other surprises in the volcano’s crater and hints of a connection between the missing parent and a clandestine group of bad actors called the Quadrant. Stay tuned. Gapstur builds preteen banter, team building, frustrated romance, and even a nearly catastrophic eruption that tests the superkids’ abilities to the utmost into this lively sequel. Wyatt and Adeline are White; the supporting cast includes racial diversity.
Triumphs, mishaps, and revelations kick this adventure into high gear. (Graphic adventure. 8-12)Pub Date: July 18, 2023
ISBN: 9781534480322
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Aladdin
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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