A high-energy consciousness raiser, if not a practical guide to environmental issues and action. (Graphic novel. 8-10)
A young eco-activist spreads the word in this message-driven webcomic spinoff.
Showing a realistic 12-year-old’s reluctance to change her ways and expectations, Luz at last sees the environmental light thanks to repeated large-scale power failures and her mother’s continued complaints about the prices of gas ($7.01 Canadian, which puts this story in a very near future) and of groceries that aren’t locally made. With help from friends like her comically high-strung new buddy Robert, a vegetarian and computer geek, and other neighbors, Luz goes on to convert a littered empty lot into a tidy, well-tended pocket garden/playground. Though the dialogue is anything but natural-sounding (“Good-bye, trash-infested lot, hello plant paradise! This is going to change the face of our street forever!”), Luz’s infectious energy comes through strongly both in her tendency to utter grand pronouncements and in the exuberantly exaggerated body language she and the other figures display in the author’s two-color cartoon scenes. Analytical readers may wonder where Luz gets all the free planters and playground equipment, or how she kept her mother in the dark until the park was a fait accompli—but internal logic takes a back seat here to inspirational rhetoric and the rewards of community organizing.
A high-energy consciousness raiser, if not a practical guide to environmental issues and action. (Graphic novel. 8-10)Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-55453-581-1
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Kids Can
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
A classic sibling rivalry tale that still satisfies to the last drop.
In this graphic novel adaptation of Davies’ 2007 book, hurt feelings propel an intense business battle.
Fourth grader Evan can’t stand the thought of his brainy younger sister, Jessie, skipping a grade and joining his class this fall. Intelligent but emotionally immature, Jessie sometimes misses social cues and wishes she could be more like the gregarious Evan. These insecurities set the stage for a contest to see who can raise the most money selling lemonade this summer. Will Jessie’s book smarts beat Evan’s people skills? The beauty of this story lies in how each sibling’s strengths rub off on the other: Evan brushes up on his math, while Jessie tentatively makes a new friend. De la Vega’s polished cartoon artwork creatively translates Davies’ metaphors to a visual medium. When the author compares the “mean words inside Evan…fighting to get out” to bats, illustrations depict the furry animals emerging from beneath his shirt; Jessie’s negative thoughts take the form of a tiny purple creature irritatingly tapping her shoulder. Tender scenes depict flashbacks of the siblings supporting each other through their parents’ divorce. The book has business savvy to match the emotional beats (each chapter opens with an entrepreneurial definition that relates to the plot), and several scenes feature math problems that readers can solve for themselves. Evan and Jessie appear white; both have friends of color.
A classic sibling rivalry tale that still satisfies to the last drop. (business tips) (Graphic fiction. 8-10)Pub Date: April 29, 2025
ISBN: 9780063310407
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Clarion/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock”...
The theme of persistence (for better or worse) links four tales of magic, trickery, and near disasters.
Lachenmeyer freely borrows familiar folkloric elements, subjecting them to mildly comical twists. In the nearly wordless “Hip Hop Wish,” a frog inadvertently rubs a magic lamp and finds itself saddled with an importunate genie eager to shower it with inappropriate goods and riches. In the title tale, an increasingly annoyed music-hating witch transforms a persistent minstrel into a still-warbling cow, horse, sheep, goat, pig, duck, and rock in succession—then is horrified to catch herself humming a tune. Athesius the sorcerer outwits Warthius, a rival trying to steal his spells via a parrot, by casting silly ones in Ig-pay Atin-lay in the third episode, and in the finale, a painter’s repeated efforts to create a flattering portrait of an ogre king nearly get him thrown into a dungeon…until he suddenly understands what an ogre’s idea of “flattering” might be. The narratives, dialogue, and sound effects leave plenty of elbow room in Blocker’s big, brightly colored panels for the expressive animal and human(ish) figures—most of the latter being light skinned except for the golden genie, the blue ogre, and several people of color in the “Sorcerer’s New Pet.”
Alert readers will find the implicit morals: know your audience, mostly, but also never underestimate the power of “rock” music. (Graphic short stories. 8-10)Pub Date: June 18, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-59643-750-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: April 27, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
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