This work’s thoughtful, delicate prose paves a promising way for future installments.
In Taylor’s historical series starter, a sensitive girl comes of age in New England.
In the 1970s, Beth Lawrence is an astute and inquisitive child who feels distant from the other members of her family; she’s much younger than her three siblings, and at one point, she notices that there are no photos of herself hanging up on the walls of their home. She’s also alienated from her peers, as she is, as she describes it, “the poorest kid in a rich school” in Providence, Rhode Island. By 14, Beth has made some connections with friends and with her beloved sister-in-law, Hope, but then her parents sell their house and abruptly transplant Beth to a hectic public school in New Hampshire, where the locals dismiss her as a “flatlander.” (Her often cold mother informs her of the sudden move, “as if talking about the weather,” dismissing Beth’s horrified reaction.) Once again an outsider as a high school freshman, Beth tries to assimilate, but sadness and loneliness seem to lurk behind every corner. Death also creeps into her life in several ways, including a destabilizing encounter with someone in her orbit contracting a mysterious disease. At 16, she finds hope, and longing, in her passionate feelings for a warmhearted boy named Toby Pemberton, but there are persistent hints at a grim future with shocking, unrevealed truths. Taylor ends this first novel rather abruptly, which leaves something to be desired, but she certainly sets up an intriguing and rich stage for her Emotional Imprints series. Her prose is particularly effective at showing how Beth tries to navigate the abrupt mood shifts of the complicated adults around her and how this has had lasting effects on her. Taylor also expertly mimics the sensation of delving into deep memories by subtly playing with tense and time; early on, for instance, Beth’s narration moves effortlessly from a contemporary, forlorn adult perspective to a third grader’s present-tense view. This adds to the novel’s overall moody atmosphere and hints that the protagonist’s best dramatic arcs are yet to come.
This work’s thoughtful, delicate prose paves a promising way for future installments.Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2022
ISBN: 979-8-9854749-4-7
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
When anyone attempts to enhance and reformat a book that’s already sold more than five million copies, there’s some risk...
The iPad adaption of Boynton’s bestselling board book surveys animals and the sounds they make.
When anyone attempts to enhance and reformat a book that’s already sold more than five million copies, there’s some risk involved. What if it doesn’t translate well? Worse yet, what if it flops? Fortunately, Loud Crow Interactive and Boynton don’t have to worry about that. There’s no hint of a sophomore slump in this second installment of the Boynton Moo Media series. Much like its predecessor, The Going to Bed Book (2011), this app adapts the illustrator’s trademark creatures for iPad in a way few other developers can. The animals are fluid and pliable, which is no small feat given that they’re on a flat display. Readers can jiggle them, hurl them off screen, elicit animal sounds and in some cases make them sing (in a perfect inverted triad!). Melodic violin music accompanies the entire story, which is deftly narrated by Boynton’s son, Keith. In addition to the author’s simple yet charming prose there are little surprises sprinkled throughout that extend the wit that’s won countless babies and parents over in paper form.Pub Date: April 19, 2011
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Loud Crow Interactive
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sparse, beautifully drawn story about a teen discovering her heritage.
In this YA graphic novel, an alienated Métis girl learns about her people’s Canadian history.
Métis teenager Echo Desjardins finds herself living in a home away from her mother, attending a new school, and feeling completely lonely as a result. She daydreams in class and wanders the halls listening to a playlist of her mother’s old CDs. At home, she shuts herself up in her room. But when her history teacher begins to lecture about the Pemmican Wars of early 1800s Saskatchewan, Echo finds herself swept back to that time. She sees the Métis people following the bison with their mobile hunting camp, turning the animals’ meat into pemmican, which they sell to the Northwest Company in order to buy supplies for the winter. Echo meets a young girl named Marie, who introduces Echo to the rhythms of Métis life. She finally understands what her Métis heritage actually means. But the joys are short-lived, as conflicts between the Métis and their rivals in the Hudson Bay Company come to a bloody head. The tragic history of her people will help explain the difficulties of the Métis in Echo’s own time, including those of her mother and the teen herself. Accompanied by dazzling art by Henderson (A Blanket of Butterflies, 2017, etc.) and colorist Yaciuk (Fire Starters, 2016, etc.), this tale is a brilliant bit of time travel. Readers are swept back to 19th-century Saskatchewan as fully as Echo herself. Vermette’s (The Break, 2017, etc.) dialogue is sparse, offering a mostly visual, deeply contemplative juxtaposition of the present and the past. Echo’s eventual encounter with her mother (whose fate has been kept from readers up to that point) offers a powerful moment of connection that is both unexpected and affecting. “Are you…proud to be Métis?” Echo asks her, forcing her mother to admit, sheepishly: “I don’t really know much about it.” With this series opener, the author provides a bit more insight into what that means.
A sparse, beautifully drawn story about a teen discovering her heritage.Pub Date: March 15, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-55379-678-7
Page Count: 48
Publisher: HighWater Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 28, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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