A thought-provoking, affecting allegory that reflects difficult realities yet is filled with love.
Siblings await their mother in a lonely, sandy expanse.
JieJie and her younger brother, DiDi, roam a desolate desert, patiently waiting for a phone call from their mother at a telephone booth atop a dune. They ration water, avoid sandstorms, and try to stay brave. While picking through the trash produced by the gilded, impenetrable Oasis City, they discover a broken robot and take it home. With ingenuity and luck, they get it working and find themselves, to their surprise, with a reliable humanoid caregiver whom they quickly accept as their robot mother. Their human mother, the story reveals, works in the underground factories below Oasis City serving the civilization’s robot overlords. This graphic novel could easily feel tragic or sinister—a family torn apart, a ravaged planet, artificial intelligence replacing humanity. But Guojing’s light visual style focuses on rounded, soft strokes and gentle shading, children with chubby cheeks and hopeful smiles, and subtle elegance in the story’s robot character. When the robot and human mother meet, a profound reckoning but also a hopeful resolution soon follow. The children are at the heart of the narrative, and the family they form, unconventional as it may be, offers a breath of hope in a dark time. The protagonists present East Asian; the names JieJie and DiDi (Mandarin for "older sister" and "younger brother") suggest that they have Chinese heritage.
A thought-provoking, affecting allegory that reflects difficult realities yet is filled with love. (Graphic science fiction. 7-12)Pub Date: Feb. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781250818386
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Godwin Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
A pleasing premise for book lovers.
A fantasy-loving bookworm makes a wonderful, terrible bargain.
When sixth grader Poppy Woodlock’s historic preservationist parents move the family to the Oregon coast to work on the titular stately home, Poppy’s sure she’ll find magic. Indeed, the exiled water nymph in the manor’s ruined swimming pool grants a wish, but: “Magic isn’t free. It cosssts.” The price? Poppy’s favorite book, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In return she receives Sampson, a winged lion cub who is everything Poppy could have hoped for. But she soon learns that the nymph didn’t take just her own physical book—she erased Narnia from Poppy’s world. And it’s just the first loss: Soon, Poppy’s grandmother’s journal’s gone, then The Odyssey, and more. The loss is heartbreaking, but Sampson’s a wonderful companion, particularly as Poppy’s finding middle school a tough adjustment. Hartman’s premise is beguiling—plenty of readers will identify with Poppy, both as a fellow bibliophile and as a kid struggling to adapt. Poppy’s repeatedly expressed faith that unveiling Sampson will bring some sort of vindication wears thin, but that does not detract from the central drama. It’s a pity that the named real-world books Poppy reads are notably lacking in diversity; a story about the power of literature so limited in imagination lets both itself and readers down. Main characters are cued White; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast. Chapters open with atmospheric spot art. (This review has been updated to reflect the final illustrations.)
A pleasing premise for book lovers. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9780316448222
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
Beautiful, remarkable, amazing, and wonderful in every way.
Hector wants to be a deep-sea diver, just like his father and grandfather.
He has internalized all his grandfather’s tales, especially the story of the “rarest, whitest, and purist pearl in the world,” said to live on the seabed offshore near the Marina, their family business. But the greedy Amedeo Limonta has set up a competitive business that’s forced the Marina to close. When Hector turns 8, everything changes. On his very first dive, he discovers the magical Pearl and brings it home…and complications ensue. Hector heeds his memories and dreams of his grandfather and courageously makes it all right. Hector narrates his adventures in meticulously organized chapters, carefully introducing each character, providing detailed information about relationships and events, and sharing credit for his successes. At the conclusion Hector presents readers with vivid descriptions of his beloved village and its inhabitants. Sabatinelli provides Hector with a voice that soars with lilting, expressive language, losing nothing in Turner’s translation from Italian. Bruno’s intensely bright, sharply hued illustrations are a tour de force. A chart of semaphore flags and diagrams that detail the parts of a diving suit fill the opening pages, and those flags head each chapter. The sea is evoked with glorious dreamlike color and movement, and characters’ features and expressions immediately announce their nature, emotions, and quirks. All present White. Hector is wise, kind, and readers will take him to their hearts.
Beautiful, remarkable, amazing, and wonderful in every way. (Adventure. 6-12)Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63655-006-0
Page Count: 92
Publisher: Red Comet Press
Review Posted Online: June 28, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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