A compassionate, action-focused story about climate justice, relationships, trauma, and healing.
This graphic novel embeds environmental knowledge into a thoughtful and realistic narrative.
When Julianna’s family loses their Western Oregon farm in a wildfire ignited by a bottle rocket launched by some of her classmates, they relocate to Portland. Julianna chooses not to tell her new, politically engaged eighth grade friends about the fire. They encourage her to join the school’s environmental club, and she does so reluctantly as she struggles to understand the deeper, underlying, interconnected causes of what happened. The secret becomes a shared one when Carson, who was part of the group that started the fire, arrives at Julianna’s school and joins the club as part of his mandated community service. As the kids learn more about climate change and take collaborative action through cleanups, tree planting, and protest, the stress Julianna is under builds until she becomes overwhelmed and bravely takes steps toward processing her grief and finding her voice. Thickly outlined, vividly colored art illustrates the story clearly with close attention to setting and mood. Dynamic word balloons stretch and connect across panels, illuminating the natural cadence of spirited everyday conversations. Reflection and curiosity—as well as practical explanations and perspectives about subjects related to environmentalism—are modeled and encouraged by caring, complex characters. As her father reminds Julianna, “two things can both be true.” Main characters are light-skinned; racial diversity is evident in the supporting cast.
A compassionate, action-focused story about climate justice, relationships, trauma, and healing. (author’s note, resources) (Graphic fiction. 8-14)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9780316277655
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Little, Brown Ink
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs.
The Heffley family’s house undergoes a disastrous attempt at home improvement.
When Great Aunt Reba dies, she leaves some money to the family. Greg’s mom calls a family meeting to determine what to do with their share, proposing home improvements and then overruling the family’s cartoonish wish lists and instead pushing for an addition to the kitchen. Before bringing in the construction crew, the Heffleys attempt to do minor maintenance and repairs themselves—during which Greg fails at the work in various slapstick scenes. Once the professionals are brought in, the problems keep getting worse: angry neighbors, terrifying problems in walls, and—most serious—civil permitting issues that put the kibosh on what work’s been done. Left with only enough inheritance to patch and repair the exterior of the house—and with the school’s dismal standardized test scores as a final straw—Greg’s mom steers the family toward moving, opening up house-hunting and house-selling storylines (and devastating loyal Rowley, who doesn’t want to lose his best friend). While Greg’s positive about the move, he’s not completely uncaring about Rowley’s action. (And of course, Greg himself is not as unaffected as he wishes.) The gags include effectively placed callbacks to seemingly incidental events (the “stress lizard” brought in on testing day is particularly funny) and a lampoon of after-school-special–style problem books. Just when it seems that the Heffleys really will move, a new sequence of chaotic trouble and property destruction heralds a return to the status quo. Whew.
Readers can still rely on this series to bring laughs. (Graphic/fiction hybrid. 8-12)Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-4197-3903-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Amulet/Abrams
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love.
A 13-year-old biracial girl longs to build the house of her dreams.
For Lou Bulosan-Nelson, normal is her “gigantic extended family squished into Lola’s for every holiday imaginable.” She shares a bedroom with her Filipina mother, Minda—a former interior-design major and current nurse-to-be—in Lola Celina’s San Francisco home. From her deceased white father, Michael, Lou inherited “not-so-Filipino features,” his love for architecture, and some land. Lou’s quietude implies her keen eye for details, but her passion for creating with her hands resonates loudly. Pining for something to claim as her own, she plans to construct a house from the ground up. When her mom considers moving out of state for a potential job and Lou’s land is at risk of being auctioned off, Lou stays resilient, gathering support from both friends and family to make her dream a reality. Respicio authentically depicts the richness of Philippine culture, incorporating Filipino language, insights into Lou’s family history, and well-crafted descriptions of customs, such as the birdlike Tinikling dance and eating kamayan style (with one’s hands), throughout. Lou’s story gives voice to Filipino youth, addressing cultural differences, the importance of bayanihan (community), and the true meaning of home.
This delightful debut welcomes readers in like a house filled with love. (Fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5247-1794-0
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Wendy Lamb/Random
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2018
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