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SPILL ZONE: THE BROKEN VOW

From the Spill Zone series , Vol. 2

The richly satisfying conclusion won’t keep readers from demanding a third volume.

Addie has finally made her big score: Does that mean she and her little sister can escape the Spill Zone?

When the Spill occurred three years ago, Addie and Lexa’s parents became two of the thousands of floating corpses in the wasteland that was Poughkeepsie, New York. Addie has made ends meet by selling photographs of the bizarre conditions inside the Zone, and she possesses growing paranormal abilities thanks to a very close encounter with “the dust.” Now that she’s sold an artifact from the Zone for $1 million, she can leave. However, Lexa’s possessed rag doll, Vespertine, has other ideas for the family, and the North Koreans—who had a similar incident—have sent their Spill survivor, a youth named Don Jae, to investigate conditions in Poughkeepsie. Of course, the American government has their eyes on the situation too. Vespertine’s eventual revelations about the nature of the Spill harden Addie’s resolve to get out…but also make the situation so much more complex. Bestseller Westerfeld’s (Nexus, 2018, etc.) second installment is the quintessential page-turner. Groundwork laid in the first volume pays off in nearly nonstop action here. Puvilland’s (Spill Zone, 2017, etc.) colorful, jagged, totally alien art is the perfect partner for this trippy tale. Addie and Lexa are white, Jae is Korean, and there is diversity in secondary characters.

The richly satisfying conclusion won’t keep readers from demanding a third volume. (Graphic novel. 12-adult)

Pub Date: July 10, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-62672-150-0

Page Count: 240

Publisher: First Second

Review Posted Online: May 27, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2018

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MACBETH

From the Wordplay Shakespeare series

Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced...

A pairing of the text of the Scottish Play with a filmed performance, designed with the Shakespeare novice in mind.

The left side of the screen of this enhanced e-book contains a full version of Macbeth, while the right side includes a performance of the dialogue shown (approximately 20 lines’ worth per page). This granular focus allows newcomers to experience the nuances of the play, which is rich in irony, hidden intentions and sudden shifts in emotional temperature. The set and costuming are deliberately simple: The background is white, and Macbeth’s “armor” is a leather jacket. But nobody’s dumbing down their performances. Francesca Faridany is particularly good as a tightly coiled Lady Macbeth; Raphael Nash-Thompson gives his roles as the drunken porter and a witch a garrulousness that carries an entertainingly sinister edge. The presentation is not without its hiccups. Matching the video on the right with the text on the left means routinely cutting off dramatic moments; at one point, users have to swipe to see and read the second half of a scene’s closing couplet—presumably an easy fix. A “tap to translate” button on each page puts the text into plain English, but the pop-up text covers up Shakespeare’s original, denying any attempts at comparison; moreover, the translation mainly redefines more obscure words, suggesting that smaller pop-ups for individual terms might be more meaningful.

Even so, this remains Macbeth, arguably the Bard of Avon’s most durable and multilayered tragedy, and overall, this enhanced e-book makes the play appealing and graspable to students . (Enhanced e-book. 12 & up)

Pub Date: Sept. 9, 2013

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: The New Book Press LLC

Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2013

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2013

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ROMEO AND JULIET

From the Campfire Classics series

Using modern language, McDonald spins the well-known tale of the two young, unrequited lovers. Set against Nagar’s at-times...

A bland, uninspired graphic adaptation of the Bard’s renowned love story.

Using modern language, McDonald spins the well-known tale of the two young, unrequited lovers. Set against Nagar’s at-times oddly psychedelic-tinged backgrounds of cool blues and purples, the mood is strange, and the overall ambiance of the story markedly absent. Appealing to what could only be a high-interest/low–reading level audience, McDonald falls short of the mark. He explains a scene in an open-air tavern with a footnote—“a place where people gather to drink”—but he declines to offer definitions for more difficult words, such as “dirges.” While the adaptation does follow the foundation of the play, the contemporary language offers nothing; cringeworthy lines include Benvolio saying to Romeo at the party where he first meets Juliet, “Let’s go. It’s best to leave now, while the party’s in full swing.” Nagar’s faces swirl between dishwater and grotesque, adding another layer of lost passion in a story that should boil with romantic intensity. Each page number is enclosed in a little red heart; while the object of this little nuance is obvious, it’s also unpleasantly saccharine. Notes after the story include such edifying tidbits about Taylor Swift and “ ‘Wow’ dialogs from the play” (which culls out the famous quotes).

Pub Date: May 10, 2011

ISBN: 978-93-80028-58-3

Page Count: 80

Publisher: Campfire

Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011

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