Spirited, thrilling, and wonderful.
To save her homeland, a 16th-century Irishwoman fears no man.
In this exciting graphic novel, fierce, scarlet-haired Grace O’Malley grows up on the sea alongside her chieftain father in Ireland. When her father tries to steer her toward pursuits he deems ladylike, she admonishes him, “A woman’s skills? Needlework and dancing? I’m an O’Malley! We don’t dance!” Under the rule of Henry VIII, Ireland suffers greatly as people lose their homes and their lands to English tyranny. As the oppression grows, Grace finds herself enmeshed in the conflict, losing a son, a lover, and two husbands to the intolerable and seemingly unrelenting war. Grace takes to sailing the seas and destroying English ships, fearing nothing; she even goes so far as to shoot a boarding enemy with a crossbow minutes after giving birth. Lee depicts O’Malley as a truly powerful figure: She fights, kills, and leads men into battle—but she never abandons facets of her selfhood with which she strongly identifies, such as being a mother. Hart’s illustrations are vigorously kinetic, creating compelling scenes of battle that rocket along at a breakneck pace more electrifying than any action movie. While Lee and Hart’s previous volumes tackled more widely known figures (such as Joan of Arc and Robin Hood), discovering the legend of Grace O’Malley feels like unearthing a hidden gem. The tale takes place in the United Kingdom in the 1500s; all characters portrayed present white.
Spirited, thrilling, and wonderful. (Graphic historical fiction. 10-adult)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0019-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2019
A solid step in the right direction for the series.
Lola, Grace, and their friends continue to explore the ups and downs of love.
Grace struggles with shuttling back and forth between her newly divorced parents. Meanwhile, Lola is focusing less on romance and more on her friends, including helping Adele turn her new studio into a place where they can develop their respective artistic passions. Smarmy, arrogant Sean asks out Felicity; when she says no, he attempts to turn the entire school against her, but the other girls back her up. When Adele’s art starts selling out at a local gallery, she’s invited to Sardinia to paint a mural, and she brings Lola and Grace along. There, the girls learn more truths about romance and relationships even as a development back home creates a compelling cliffhanger for the next installment. Translated from French, this graphic novel is a big improvement over the first volume. Though most characters’ faces remain similar looking, friendship takes center stage here and allows for deeper ruminations on love. The series still struggles to deliver messages about topics such as coercion, harassment, and loneliness without resorting to overblown caricatures—most of the male characters are one-dimensional, and one of the girls has a cartoonishly neglectful mother. But the emphasis on the girls’ commitment to one another helps the messages land more smoothly and provides hope for the third book. Most characters present white; Grace is Black.
A solid step in the right direction for the series. (Graphic fiction. 10-15)Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9781662640599
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Hippo Park/Astra Books for Young Readers
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Brilliantly enchanting.
Two reluctant friends—and a talking bear—journey deep into the night in search of answers.
The night of the annual Autumn Equinox Festival unfolds as the villagers cast hundreds of lanterns down the river in honor of a local folk legend. For Ben, this year will be different from the rest. He and his friends make a pact to follow the lanterns until the unknown end of their voyage. One by one Ben’s friends give up and return home, all except for Nathaniel, whose love for the cosmos and nerdy ways ostracize him from the group. In spite of his misgivings, Ben decides to uphold the pact with Nathaniel. A third, unexpected member joins the adventure when the boys come across a talking fisherbear who’s on a quest to fish as his ancestors did. The trio eventually loses track of the path, and an unplanned encounter with the feisty Madam Majestic leads to even greater escapades. To shed more light on the story risks spoiling Andrews’ marvelously melancholic, earnest graphic novel, at its core an exercise in whimsical self-reflection. This story’s a quiet one in which danger flickers and hope flares at odd but fruitful moments. The core relationship between Ben (a dark-haired, light-skinned, bespectacled boy) and Nathaniel (a dark-skinned boy with puffs of hair) never veers into pure mawkishness. Likewise, the primarily blue and red mixed-media pictures underscore how nighttime sometimes promises transformation.
Brilliantly enchanting. (Graphic fabulism. 10-14)Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-19695-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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