A powerful testament to sisterhood, soccer, and the power of standing up for what’s right.
This French import weaves together sports, friendship, and resistance against sexism through the story of girls’ soccer team the Rosigny Roses.
When their club decides to have the girls’ team forfeit—even though they qualified for nationals—in favor of funding the boys’ team, white-presenting Barbara, who’s in her final year of secondary school, rallies her fractured teammates to fight back. Their efforts culminate in a high-stakes challenge match against the boys to determine who will get the funding for the championships. The relationships among the characters feel authentically complex, from Barbara’s strained dynamic with her seemingly unsupportive mother to her complicated romance with her boyfriend (brown-skinned soccer player Bilal, who may be selling drugs), and internal conflicts threatening the team’s unity. Through Jawad, a sympathetic restaurant owner who becomes a supportive ally of the Rosigny Roses, Wary demonstrates how sports can forge community bonds that transcend the playing field. The art, executed in felt-tip pen, pulses with energy and emotion, most notably in the recurring motif of turbulent skies rendered in varying bold hues of pinks, oranges, purples, and blues that mirror the story’s tensions. The vivid palette and dynamic illustrations capture both quiet moments of teenage uncertainty and explosive scenes of athletic action, while the diverse team members reflect the multicultural reality of suburban Paris. The translation maintains the story’s distinctly French sensibility without losing its universal appeal.
A powerful testament to sisterhood, soccer, and the power of standing up for what’s right. (Graphic fiction. 16-adult)Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9798875000423
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
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
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head.
The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.
Autumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart; their mothers are still best friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like[s] him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. But on August 8, everything changes, and Autumn has to rely on all her strength to move on. Autumn’s coming-of-age is sensitively chronicled, with a wide range of experiences and events shaping her character. Even secondary characters are well-rounded, with their own histories and motivations.
There’s not much plot here, but readers will relish the opportunity to climb inside Autumn’s head. (Fiction. 14 & up)Pub Date: April 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-7782-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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