An affecting story of family estrangement, body shaming, and the journey to self-acceptance.
A teenager grapples with poor body image and family conflict in her multigenerational immigrant family.
It’s 2000, and 16-year-old Chinese Canadian Rosalind, who lives in Toronto with her single mother, Lydia, is distressed about her weight. It doesn’t help that Lydia labels them “the fat family,” makes disparaging remarks about “big people,” and constantly comments on Roz’s body and food choices. When Roz, who dreams of showing up at prom skinny and wearing a stunning dress, decides to lose weight and Por Por, her maternal grandmother, suddenly visits from Hong Kong, Roz’s conflicts with her mother over her body only increase. Roz is further distressed by Por Por’s cutting remarks and the heightened domestic stress due to her disruptive presence in the household. Seamless flashbacks to both Lydia’s 1970s Hong Kong childhood and Por Por’s young adulthood in 1950s Guangdong, China, shed light on the body shaming and misogyny that they endured, showing the roots of their estrangement and the fierce (if misguided) love that’s still present. Learning about unspoken parts of their family history ultimately helps Roz, Lydia, and Por Por find some measure of peace and understanding. All three are sympathetically and fully portrayed, and Roz’s struggles unfold realistically. The largely monochromatic panels use a shifting color palette to cue each era, allowing Fung to integrate the three colors in a touching and symbolic way in this poignant story’s resolution.
An affecting story of family estrangement, body shaming, and the journey to self-acceptance. (resources, historical note) (Graphic fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781773218335
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Annick Press
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations.
Magic, mystery, and love intertwine and invite in this newest take on the “enchanted circus” trope.
Sisters raised by their abusive father, a governor of a colonial backwater in a world vaguely reminiscent of the late 18th century, Scarlett and Donatella each long for something more. Scarlett, olive-skinned, dark of hair and attitude, longs for Caraval, the fabled, magical circus helmed by the possibly evil Master Legend Santos, while blonde, sunny Tella finds comfort in drink and the embraces of various men. A slightly awkward start, with inconsistencies of attitude and setting, rapidly smooths out when they, along with handsome “golden-brown” sailor Julian, flee to Caraval on the eve of Scarlett’s arranged marriage. Tella disappears, and Scarlett must navigate a nighttime world of magic to find her. Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. Dresses can be purchased for secrets or days of life; clocks can become doors; bridges move: this is an inventive and original circus, laced with an edge of horror. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets.
Immersive and engaging, despite some flaws, and destined to capture imaginations. (Fantasy. 14 & up)Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-09525-1
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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