An immersive ramble across a changing, yet somehow timeless, icy wilderness.
Human and polar bear worlds collide on melting ice in this Arctic odyssey, a reworking and expansion of Waluk, published by Graphic Universe in 2013.
The chemistry between a weary, wise, worn-down bear named Eskimo and his frisky younger bear companion, Waluk, animates a series of adventures and misadventures. These include negotiating a détente with a mother bear fiercely protective of her two cubs, amicable visits with a team of mindlessly loyal sled dogs, and less-friendly brushes with their viciously abusive human owner, a White man named Castor. (He later suffers a deservedly gruesome fate.) The two wandering bears pad and swim through vast icy expanses, searching for seals or other food made ever more elusive due to climate change. As they do, their encounters often take comical twists as, for instance, they come upon a shipping container fallen from a passing cargo vessel that turns out to be full of plush bear stuffies, or, later on, prove that an experimental observation drone isn’t made to be a polar bear toy. To go with the colloquial cast that Ruiz gives the dialogue (“Are we gonna walk there?” “Don’t worry, little buddy. Bears are born swimmers!”), Miralles gives the animals subtly human expressions but otherwise depicts both figures and settings with such a deft mix of naturalism and otherness that even the occasional supernatural animal fits right in. Human figures, rare on the ice, seem to be either White or Arctic Native. The questionable choice to name the older bear with what many consider a derogatory term for Arctic Natives threatens to distract from his otherwise strong characterization, and appropriations from Arctic Native cultures go unparsed and uncredited. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.5-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 55% of actual size.)
An immersive ramble across a changing, yet somehow timeless, icy wilderness. (Graphic animal fantasy. 10-13)Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-951719-05-0
Page Count: 128
Publisher: Magnetic Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
Problem-solving through perseverance and friendship is the real win in this deeply smart and inspiring story.
Leaving Brooklyn behind, Black math-whiz and puzzle lover Bree starts a new life in Florida, where she’ll be tossed into the deep end in more ways than one. Keeping her head above water may be the trickiest puzzle yet.
While her dad is busy working and training in IT, Bree struggles at first to settle into Enith Brigitha Middle School, largely due to the school’s preoccupation with swimming—from the accomplishments of its namesake, a Black Olympian from Curaçao, to its near victory at the state swimming championships. But Bree can’t swim. To illustrate her anxiety around this fact, the graphic novel’s bright colors give way to gray thought bubbles with thick, darkened outlines expressing Bree’s deepest fears and doubts. This poignant visual crowds some panels just as anxious feelings can crowd the thoughts of otherwise star students like Bree. Ultimately, learning to swim turns out to be easy enough with the help of a kind older neighbor—a Black woman with a competitive swimming past of her own as well as a rich and bittersweet understanding of Black Americans’ relationship with swimming—who explains to Bree how racist obstacles of the past can become collective anxiety in the present. To her surprise, Bree, with her newfound water skills, eventually finds herself on the school’s swim team, navigating competition, her anxiety, and new, meaningful relationships.
Problem-solving through perseverance and friendship is the real win in this deeply smart and inspiring story. (Graphic fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: May 17, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-305677-0
Page Count: 256
Publisher: HarperAlley
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals.
Is dolphin-assisted therapy so beneficial to patients that it’s worth keeping a wild dolphin captive?
Twelve-year-old Lily has lived with her emotionally distant oncologist stepfather and a succession of nannies since her mother died in a car accident two years ago. Nannies leave because of the difficulty of caring for Adam, Lily’s severely autistic 4-year-old half brother. The newest, Suzanne, seems promising, but Lily is tired of feeling like a planet orbiting the sun Adam. When she meets blind Zoe, who will attend the same private middle school as Lily in the fall, Lily’s happy to have a friend. However, Zoe’s take on the plight of the captive dolphin, Nori, used in Adam’s therapy opens Lily’s eyes. She knows she must use her influence over her stepfather, who is consulting on Nori’s treatment for cancer (caused by an oil spill), to free the animal. Lily’s got several fine lines to walk, as she works to hold onto her new friend, convince her stepfather of the rightness of releasing Nori, and do what’s best for Adam. In her newest exploration of animal-human relationships, Rorby’s lonely, mature heroine faces tough but realistic situations. Siblings of children on the spectrum will identify with Lily. If the tale flirts with sentimentality and some of the characters are strident in their views, the whole never feels maudlin or didactic.
Dolphin lovers will appreciate this look at our complicated relationship with these marine mammals. (Fiction. 10-13)Pub Date: May 26, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-545-67605-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2015
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