Difficult, disturbing, and shocking but worth the effort.
The dark story of Carmen retold as a disquieting coming-of-age tale.
An unnamed 9-year-old boy narrates, announcing that he always carries a special ball, and though he hates fighting, he’ll do so if anyone takes it. He introduces his hero and friend Don José, a corporal in the Dragon Regiment of Alcalá, who, the narrator tells us, is a real dragon (he mostly appears as a man until later in the story). The boy also describes his plan to marry his beautiful, free-spirited neighbor Carmen when he grows up. Don José falls in love with Carmen, but his obsessive behavior leads to violence and tragedy. The innocent boy watches events unfold and in the end is left deeply disillusioned. The action is depicted as dance movements from Carmen as choreographed by the Spanish National Dance Company; the art portrays death and violence, and sexuality is implied. Complex black-and-white illustrations with touches of subtle color—bright splashes of red in Carmen’s costume and her signature rose, the green dragon in varying sizes, and the always-present brown ball—highlight and inform the text, translated from Spanish. In a few illustrations, Carmen and the dragon are shown as dolls, potentially causing some confusion. The boy shares profound, hard-won insights on the nature of love, though young readers might need to share this tale with a reassuring grown-up to fully understand it. Characters are light-skinned. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Difficult, disturbing, and shocking but worth the effort. (Picture book. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-84-18302-76-3
Page Count: 36
Publisher: Cuento de Luz
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2022
Fast-paced and plot-driven.
In his latest, prolific author Gratz takes on Hitler’s Olympic Games.
When 13-year-old American gymnast Evie Harris arrives in Berlin to compete in the 1936 Olympic Games, she has one goal: stardom. If she can bring home a gold medal like her friend, the famous equestrian-turned-Hollywood-star Mary Brooks, she might be able to lift her family out of their Dust Bowl poverty. But someone slips a strange note under Evie’s door, and soon she’s dodging Heinz Fischer, the Hitler Youth member assigned to host her, and meeting strangers who want to make use of her gymnastic skills—to rob a bank. As the games progress, Evie begins to see the moral issues behind their sparkling facade—the antisemitism and racism inherent in Nazi ideology and the way Hitler is using the competition to support and promote these beliefs. And she also agrees to rob the bank. Gratz goes big on the Mission Impossible–style heist, which takes center stage over the actual competitions, other than Jesse Owens’ famous long jump. A lengthy and detailed author’s note provides valuable historical context, including places where Gratz adapted the facts for storytelling purposes (although there’s no mention of the fact that before 1952, Olympic equestrian sports were limited to male military officers). With an emphasis on the plot, many of the characters feel defined primarily by how they’re suffering under the Nazis, such as the fictional diver Ursula Diop, who was involuntarily sterilized for being biracial.
Fast-paced and plot-driven. (Historical fiction. 9-12)Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781338736106
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship.
A young tennis champion becomes the target of revenge.
In this sequel to Legacy and the Queen (2019), Legacy Petrin and her friends Javi and Pippa have returned to Legacy’s home province and the orphanage run by her father. With her friends’ help, she is in training to defend her championship when they discover that another player, operating under the protection of High Consul Silla, is presenting herself as Legacy. She is so convincing that the real Legacy is accused of being an imitation. False Legacy has become a hero to the masses, further strengthening Silla’s hold, and it becomes imperative to uncover and defeat her. If Legacy is to win again, she must play her imposter while disguised as someone else. Winning at tennis is not just about money and fame, but resisting Silla’s plans to send more young people into brutal mines with little hope of better lives. Legacy will have to overcome her fears and find the magic that allowed her to claim victory in the past. This story, with its elements of sports, fantasy, and social consciousness that highlight tensions between the powerful and those they prey upon, successfully continues the series conceived by late basketball superstar Bryant. As before, the tennis matches are depicted with pace and spirit. Legacy and Javi have brown skin; most other characters default to White.
A worthy combination of athletic action, the virtues of inner strength, and the importance of friendship. (Fantasy. 9-12)Pub Date: Aug. 24, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949520-19-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Granity Studios
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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