Packed with action and intrigue.
In a fantastical version of medieval China, some seek the rare and valuable aweto.
The trio at the center of the story are Xinyue, who can control insects with his drum; his reserved older brother, Qiliu, distinguished by his fiery red hair and wings; and their aged, knowledgeable mother, Bu Ren Niang. In search of aweto, the brothers attack the matriarchal Sanamo on whose land they can be found. Prized for their powerful medicinal properties, the aweto, which is plantlike in the summer and wormlike during the winter, grow on the heads of chadolos, deities that bring life to the land they inhabit. As Xinyue gets through the Sanamo’s defenses and plucks an aweto from a particularly large chadolo, he is surprised when the chadolo asks him to watch and care for its baby before it dies. Soon, rumors that this baby may hold the elusive celestial aweto, which grants immortality, threaten familial loyalties and reveal dark secrets, and Xinyue is tragically forced to question his own motivations. This graphic novel translated from Chinese bursts with color and adventure: Each panel teems with movement artfully rendered in a bright, saturated pastel palette. While the unrelenting pace will engage readers, the story’s many moving parts, some of them insufficiently explained, occasionally lead to jarring surprises. Readers will anticipate the sequel that may bring additional context to both the story and characters’ motivations.
Packed with action and intrigue. (map) (Graphic fantasy. 12-18)Pub Date: March 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-72842-021-9
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Graphic Universe
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away.
A Mexican American boy takes on heavy responsibilities when his family is torn apart.
Mateo’s life is turned upside down the day U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents show up unsuccessfully seeking his Pa at his New York City bodega. The Garcias live in fear until the day both parents are picked up; his Pa is taken to jail and his Ma to a detention center. The adults around Mateo offer support to him and his 7-year-old sister, Sophie, however, he knows he is now responsible for caring for her and the bodega as well as trying to survive junior year—that is, if he wants to fulfill his dream to enter the drama program at the Tisch School of the Arts and become an actor. Mateo’s relationships with his friends Kimmie and Adam (a potential love interest) also suffer repercussions as he keeps his situation a secret. Kimmie is half Korean (her other half is unspecified) and Adam is Italian American; Mateo feels disconnected from them, less American, and with worries they can’t understand. He talks himself out of choosing a safer course of action, a decision that deepens the story. Mateo’s self-awareness and inner monologue at times make him seem older than 16, and, with significant turmoil in the main plot, some side elements feel underdeveloped. Aleman’s narrative joins the ranks of heart-wrenching stories of migrant families who have been separated.
An ode to the children of migrants who have been taken away. (Fiction. 14-18)Pub Date: May 4, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-7595-5605-8
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A fast-paced dip into the possibility of a world without human emotions.
A teenage girl refuses a medical procedure to remove her heart and her emotions.
June lives in a future in which a reclusive Scientist has pioneered a procedure to remove hearts, thus eliminating all “sadness, anxiety, and anger.” The downside is that it numbs pleasurable feelings, too. Most people around June have had the procedure done; for young people, in part because doing so helps them become more focused and successful. Before long, June is the only one among her peers who still has her heart. When her parents decide it’s time for her to have the procedure so she can become more focused in school, June hatches a plan to pretend to go through with it. She also investigates a way to restore her beloved sister’s heart, joining forces with Max, a classmate who’s also researching the Scientist because he has started to feel again despite having had his heart removed. The pair’s journey is somewhat rushed and improbable, as is the resolution they achieve. However, the story’s message feels relevant and relatable to teens, and the artwork effectively sets the scene, with bursts of color popping throughout an otherwise black-and-white landscape, reflecting the monochromatic, heartless reality of June’s world. There are no ethnic or cultural markers in the text; June has paper-white skin and dark hair, and Max has dark skin and curly black hair.
A fast-paced dip into the possibility of a world without human emotions. (Graphic speculative fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: June 13, 2023
ISBN: 9780063116214
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
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