A friendship-focused coming-of-age story that successfully challenges gender stereotypes.
A contemporary graphic novel about swing dancing, cyberbullying, and stepping into one’s own.
Eighth grade has just started, and Marcus McCalister is poised to be a star on his school soccer team, but his heart isn’t in it. He distances himself from the team, and tension builds. Meanwhile, Marcus is paired for swing dancing in gym class with Izzy Briggs, whom his classmates perceive as a fashion- and theater-obsessed, purple-haired “weirdo,” leaving him worried about how others will see him. The two don’t cooperate or listen to each other, so their teacher offers them a deal: If they perform at the school talent show, he’ll change their failing grade, and they won’t have to repeat gym. Izzy agrees—as long as Marcus lets her lead—and as the two work together, a friendship blossoms. Marcus grows more self-assured and comes to better understand Izzy, who’s enduring bullying at school and an overbearing, academics-obsessed mother at home. When the bully discovers what they’re up to, he sets his sights on them both. Marcus struggles with being targeted, but ultimately learns to be a confident and supportive friend. Though the bullying could have been portrayed with more nuance and the toxicity interrogated more deeply, the quickly moving plot feels fresh. Straightforward cartooning, with bold black outlines and solid-colored backgrounds, keeps the focus on the plucky protagonists and their dramatic interactions. Both Marcus and Izzy present white.
A friendship-focused coming-of-age story that successfully challenges gender stereotypes. (Graphic fiction. 8-13)Pub Date: Oct. 22, 2024
ISBN: 9781250864031
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
A warm bundle of holiday cheer.
In a funny, feel-good tale, 12-year-old twins separated at birth meet by chance and try to pull off a family switch during the December holidays.
The girls, who are cued white, agree that it would be a delicious prank, but each has a personal motive, too: Aviva Davis, who was adopted by a culturally Jewish mom and a Black dad who was raised Christian, wonders what it’s like to celebrate Christmas. Budding author Holly Martin, who was adopted by a white-presenting single mom, sees a golden opportunity to gather experiences for a school writing assignment about facing her fears. In a plot as sweet as a Hanukkah jelly doughnut and twisty as a Christmas cinnamon roll, the pair just manages to bail one another out of a string of sticky situations—both hilarious and otherwise. They both learn something of the customs and meaning of the two holidays while working through tears and laughter—not to mention conflicts sparked by their very different personalities. Everything culminates in a holiday performance at a local senior center that will have readers rising up to cheer them on. Though their history remains tantalizingly mysterious, for the protagonists, who narrate alternating chapters, it’s mission accomplished and more: Aviva emerges feeling more secure in her Jewish identity, while anxious Holly discovers unexpected depths of courage.
A warm bundle of holiday cheer. (song lyrics) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2024
ISBN: 9781250360670
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2024
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic.
Chainani works an elaborate sea change akin to Gregory Maguire’s Wicked (1995), though he leaves the waters muddied.
Every four years, two children, one regarded as particularly nice and the other particularly nasty, are snatched from the village of Gavaldon by the shadowy School Master to attend the divided titular school. Those who survive to graduate become major or minor characters in fairy tales. When it happens to sweet, Disney princess–like Sophie and her friend Agatha, plain of features, sour of disposition and low of self-esteem, they are both horrified to discover that they’ve been dropped not where they expect but at Evil and at Good respectively. Gradually—too gradually, as the author strings out hundreds of pages of Hogwarts-style pranks, classroom mishaps and competitions both academic and romantic—it becomes clear that the placement wasn’t a mistake at all. Growing into their true natures amid revelations and marked physical changes, the two spark escalating rivalry between the wings of the school. This leads up to a vicious climactic fight that sees Good and Evil repeatedly switching sides. At this point, readers are likely to feel suddenly left behind, as, thanks to summary deus ex machina resolutions, everything turns out swell(ish).
Rich and strange (and kitted out with an eye-catching cover), but stronger in the set pieces than the internal logic. (Fantasy. 11-13)Pub Date: May 14, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-06-210489-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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