An Excellent Space Opera from Divergent Author Roth

Carve the Mark (Carve the Mark, #1) by Veronica Roth

On the frozen planet of Thuvhe, both native Thuvhesits and their conquerors, the Shotet, worship the universal current that blesses them with current-gifts. Shotet warrior-princess Cyra Noavek’s deadly talent is used by her ruthless brother, Ryzek, to torture his enemies—a gift that also leaves her in constant, excruciating agony. When Ryzek hears that Akos, a Thuvhesit farm-boy, can neutralize the current-gift of others, he removes him from his family and brings him to the palace to act as companion and cure-all for Cyra. As the two grow from reluctant acquaintances to fast friends, a flurry of activity from the surrounding cast of characters slowly drives the plot forward, culminating in a revolt against Ryzek’s power. 

Veronica Roth’s latest is a lot to take in, and is as different from her bestselling debut, Divergent, as day is from night. While Divergent is a flawed dystopian tale, an obvious first novel told by a talented yet inexperienced novice, Carve the Mark is something else entirely. It’s a soaring space opera peopled by complex characters, with a believable story-universe made all the more real by intricate world-building details. The action is a bit slow to build, but since the author takes pains to establish necessary backstory before moving on to the real meat of the narrative, this is a forgivable flaw. The verdict: while Divergent fans may not find this latest work to their liking, fans of space operas will definitely love it. Recommended for Gr 9 Up for violence and language.

Kiss Me in New York

Kiss Me in New York by Catherine Rider

Kiss Me is a love story that starts with a chance encounter in the JFK airport. After commiserating over their recently ended relationships, two strangers, British-born Charlotte and New Yorker Anthony, decide to spend Charlotte’s 17-hour layover by fulfilling the tasks suggested in a cheesy self-help book for Getting Over Your Ex. As they embark upon each task, they end up touching not only each other’s lives, but the lives of others who have found themselves alone on Christmas Eve. At only 200 pages, this is a brisk, merry romp through the YA rom-com genre that makes for perfect bedtime reading during the holidays. Recommended for Gr 8 Up for some language.

A Welcome Addition to the Graphic Novel Format

Pashmina by Nidhi Chanani

Indian-American Pri doesn’t fit in. Her immigrant mother buys her clothes second-hand at a thrift store, and her legal name (Priyanka) makes her an object of scorn among her white classmates. Having grown up in America, Pri doesn’t know much about India—but the discovery of a magical, shawl-like garment, a pashmina, changes that. After putting the pashmina around her shoulders, Pri is suddenly transported to a bright, cheerful version of India, where tour guides Kanta the elephant and Mayur the peacock introduce her to new foods and customs. Each “visit” to this fantasy version of India is more remarkable than the last—but when she finally gets the chance to travel there in real life, she learns some uncomfortable truths about her mother’s homeland—as well as some about her own family’s past. 

Pashmina is a welcome addition to the graphic novel format. Pri is an admirable, well-rounded protagonist, and readers will learn a lot about Indian culture through the story’s inclusion of Hindi phrases and traditional foods. One can only hope that more stories like this come our way again in the near future.

Through the Woods: Stories by Emily Carroll

Through the Woods: Stories by Emily Carroll

In this lavish collection of chilling tales, an orphaned girl watches as her sisters are called to the side of a shadowy stranger; a new bride is plagued by the song of her ghostly predecessor; a murdered brother won’t stay dead; a pair of fake psychics is haunted by a vision only one of them can see; and a girl learns that her seemingly perfect sister-in-law has a creepy, crawly secret. Told with picture-book simplicity and illustrated in loving detail, this graphic novel is unique, surreal, and frightening. While Carroll uses some brilliant visual technique to imply any violence that happens off-screen, readers who aren’t normally horror buffs should use caution when browsing this collection—it is definitely not for the faint of heart. Recommended Gr 8 Up.

Like No Other

Like No Other by Una LaMarche

Neither Devorah, a Hasidic Jew, nor Jaxon, the son of Caribbean immigrants, are natural-born risk-takers—but that all changes when they get stuck together in an elevator. Although they’re only trapped for a short while, each makes an indelible impression on the other, so much so that when they run into each other again, they decide to risk it all be together. Can they overcome their family’s prejudices to maintain this fragile first love? Authentic first-person voices, important lessons about love and relationships, and intriguing insight into Hadisic and immigrant culture make this a definite win for the We Need Diverse Books movement. Recommended for Gr 9 Up for language.

A Sumptuously Written Love Story

The Wrath & the Dawn (Saga of Shahrzad and Khalid, #1) by Renée Ahdieh

Khalid, the young Caliph of Khorasan, has a rather horrifying habit. Each night, he takes a girl to wife, only to have her strangled the next morning. The feisty Shahrzad, whose best friend was the most recent of these ill-fated brides, plans to break this deadly cycle by marrying, and then murdering, this teenaged monster. As the end of her wedding night approaches, she turns to storytelling in order to stave off her imminent demise. Although initially irritated by this ruse, Khalid can’t help but be intrigued by this clever new wife—and allows her to continue her stories for several more weeks. As she waits for just the right moment to strike, Shahrzad not only learns of the tragic curse that holds sway over Khalid, but also gets to know the man behind the monster. Little does she know that as she struggles between this new-found romance and her duty as an assassin, her friends and family are mounting a secret rescue mission to save her life, one that could, unintentionally, threaten the stability of the kingdom. Endearing side characters, a sweet romance, and lush descriptions of food, setting, and dress make for a sumptuous, well-written fairy tale. The only down side to the novel is that the author ends the story abruptly, leaving nothing resolved. This is probably because it’s Book 1 of a duology, leading me to believe that the publisher intended readers to consume Wrath and its sequel, The Rose & the Dagger, as a single work, rather than as two separate books in a series. This leaves readers torn between two choices: they can either immediately spring for part 2 (The Rose & the Dagger), or, if they’re not that taken with the story, simply accept the lack of closure and savor the work as it is: a beautifully written love story with an unsatisfying ending. Recommended for Grades 9 Up for fantasy violence, some language, and mature romantic content.

To Dance!

To Dance: A Ballerina’s Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel, with art by Mark Siegel

Husband/wife team Siena Cherson Siegel and Mark Siegel collaborate to produce a graphic memoir of Siena’s ballet training from ages 6 to 18. Simple but effective color drawings illustrate the hard work and sacrifices required in this honest, kid-friendly memoir geared towards older children. The story of her experiences is a fine model for young girls who wish to follow—or rather, dance—in her footsteps. Recommended for Gr 6 Up.

Almost as Good as the Original Classic

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: The Graphic Novel by Gary Reed, with art by Frazer Irving

Reed and Irving deliver a clear, straightforward adaptation of Shelley’s classic novel that older children will be able to both enjoy and understand. Soft, surreal, black and white illustrations set the stage for this gripping, elegant narrative. Facial expressions are never dull, and at times border on the melodramatic. The centerpiece of this work is the Monster himself – towering and lanky with long, disproportional limbs, this creature is dark and frightening, yet expressive and laden with undeniable human thoughts and emotions. Part of the Puffin Classic Graphics series, this graphic adaptation is one that can certainly stand apart from the original. Recommended for Gr 7 Up.

An Excellent Addition to Multicultural Literature for Young Adults

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

In a traditional Chinese fable, the Monkey King, no longer content with his lowly origins, studies Kung Fu and aspires to become a god, while the gods themselves, unhappy that an outsider has tried to emulate their glory, seek to punish him. Yang cleverly modernizes this tale by interweaving its themes of pride and disillusionment with the experiences of Jin Wang, a young Chinese boy who moves to America with his parents. Although Jin tries to fit in at his new school, he encounters xenophobic attitudes from his mostly white classmates. Like the Monkey King, no matter how much he tries to shed his Chinese identity and take on an entirely American one, he finds that his heritage is always close behind. This poignant and moving tale examines the unique experiences and troubles of duel-heritage children in America. It was the first graphic novel to win the American Library Association’s Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature, and also a finalist for the National Book Award. Recommended for Gr 8 Up.

Stirring Memoir of an Iranian Childhood

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (Persepolis, #1) by Marjane Satrapi

This graphic memoir documents the Iranian childhood of Marjane Satrapi, the only child of Marxist parents. Beginning with the Islamic revolution of 1979, the author uses black and white drawings in a simple comic-strip format to invoke Iran’s tumultuous history, from prehistory days, to the eventual overthrow of the Shah and the triumph of the restrictive Islamic regime. At the heart of this memoir, however, is Marjane’s beloved family. Her supportive parents, grandmother, and relatives are as endearing as the spirited, outspoken young girl who narrates their family’s story. Persepolis came to the silver screen in 2007, and was named a New York Times Notable Book. Recommended for Gr 9 Up for language and violence.

Sensitive Readers Beware: "Deogratias" is Truly Disturbing

Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda by J.P. Stassen

Stassen documents the 1994 Tutsi genocide in Rwanda through the eyes of the title character, Deogratias, a member of the Hutu ethnicity. The story begins with the massacre’s aftermath: Deogratias, traumatized by the recent past, wanders from place to place like a disturbed animal, even imagining at times that he’s a dog. As the narrative progresses, the reader pieces together fragments to reveal the horrifying truth. While Stassen doesn’t show the violence as it happens, his depiction of a murdered woman towards the end of the book proves to be disturbing enough. With its vibrant colors and its gut-wrenching content, Stassen’s work will leave the reader feeling unsettled long after the story is finished. Originally published in France, Deogratias won YALSA’s Great Graphic Novel Award, and was named one of ALA’s Best Book for Young Adults. A helpful introduction provides readers with a brief history of Rwanda, its colonization by the French, and the political factors that paved the road to genocide. Recommended for Gr 10 Up for language, sexual content, and violence.

All Staggering, Moaning, and Drooling Toxic Spit, But No Bite

Source: Author Website

The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks by Max Brooks, with art by Ibraim Roberson
 
Max Brooks, author of the popular Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead, provides the text for this imaginary take on how zombies influenced the course of history. (Did you know Hadrian’s Wall was built to keep out zombies, not Scots? That Egyptians removed the brains of their dead to prevent them from rising again as zombies? That even Sir Francis Drake had an undocumented run-in with some zombies on the high seas?) Unfortunately, while Recorded Attacks gains points for creativity, it loses them for lack of substance. This graphic “novel” (if one could call it that) doesn’t really tell a story, or even provide characters for us to follow. Instead, it presents a collection of anecdotes, using realistic pencil illustrations and text boxes to provide the reader with suggestions of how and why history happened as it did if there zombies really existed. A good try, but unfortunately doesn’t play out to its full potential. Recommended for Gr 9 Up for zombie violence and some nudity.

Not As Good As "Persepolis," But Still Worth A Look

Chicken with Plums by Marjane Satrapi

The author of the popular Persepolis returns with another gem to the genre. Satrapi uses her trademark black and white drawings to construct a tragic portrait of her great uncle, Nasser Ali Khan, a famous tar player (resembles a lute) who pined away after his wife destroyed his prized instrument in a fit of rage. Although the protagonist’s story is not nearly as endearing as the one charted by Persepolis’ spunky heroine, fans of Satrapi’s earlier work will find themselves entertained nonetheless. Recommended for Gr 9 Up for language and some nudity.

Informative But Slow

Che: A Graphic Biography by Sid Jacobson, with art by Ernie Colón

Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the infamous and elusive Communist revolutionary, was only 39 when he was executed in 1967. Bet he didn’t imagine that his memory and devotion to the cause would still be around decades later, sported on T-shirts worn by angry, rebellious teenagers. Realistic pen and ink drawings construct a surprisingly objective portrait of this controversial figure, but its saving grace is also its downfall. Jacobson and Colón leave very little feeling on the page. Facts are reported and speeches and letters quoted in a cold, clean fashion that’s reminiscent of a history textbook. Jacobson frequently goes on tangents into background information that, while important to understanding the subject, is positively painful to wade through. Although very informative, this slow-moving biography is often in danger of killing the reader’s interest in its fascinating subject. Readers should press on, however: things pick up around the middle, so finishing it becomes much easier. Although it’s not a complete bore, it sure gets close to it. Recommended for Gr 9 Up for violence.

Beautiful Adaptation of Modern Classic

Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation by Tim Hamilton

In Guy Montag’s world, firemen have always started fires, not prevented them. Books, declared illegal for the ideas they represent, are promptly destroyed whenever found. Those caught hoarding books are arrested, while their books are burned along with their houses. So what happened when one of these firemen brings a book home out of curiosity? How can he escape from an oppressive society where watching television and popping pills are the only encouraged form of entertainment? First envisioned in Bradbury’s 1953 novel, Hamilton’s adaptation brings this passionate defense of reading and ideas roaring to life. Montag’s surreal, nightmarish world emerges on the page in the form of vibrant ink drawings, with the bold, primary colors of the firemen’s infernos often clashing with the soft, sepia tones of the domestic world. Those who have trouble with Bradbury’s writing style will have no trouble getting through this beautiful adaptation. Recommended for ages 16-Up for mature themes and some violence.

“I find giants. I hunt giants. I kill giants.”

I Kill Giants by Joe Kelly, with art by J.M. Ken Niimura

When asked on Career Day what she has in mind for her future, tenacious student Barbara Thorson readily replies: “I already have a ‘career.’ ... I kill giants.” She knows firsthand that giants aren’t just mythical—we face them in everyday life. Unable to accept that her mother is dying of cancer, Barbara employs an elaborate fantasy world to block out reality. But although this feisty pipsqueak has the courage of ten men, life proves that some giants we face can’t be beaten, but must simply be endured. 

It’s a little difficult figuring out what’s going on during the first few chapters. The scene introducing Barbara’s family throws in too many characters at once, some that don’t reappear for the rest of the graphic novel. We don’t yet know that Barbara’s mother is bed-ridden due to the advanced state of her cancer, so we’re left to wonder if Karen, the young woman fixing dinner, is her mother or older sister, or if the entire gaggle of teenage boys playing Dungeons and Dragons are her brothers, or just her brother’s friends. Barbara is also shown throughout the graphic novel to sport either bunny ears, cat ears, bear ears, etc. Anyone familiar with anime (the drawing style of the graphic novel) will recognize that this is a frequently appearing trait among anime characters—why this occurs is anyone’s guess. Anyone not familiar with the “animal-ears” trait will surely be extremely confused. Why does Barbara have bunny ears when the rest of the characters don’t? The answer becomes clear after the story settles down and the reader becomes familiar with the storyteller’s rules: Barbara spends most of her day in a fantasy world populated with giants and fairies. Why shouldn’t she have bunny ears? It’s only after you get past this stumbling point that the reader is finally able to sit back and enjoy the story. The thought of life’s obstacles manifesting themselves as giants is really quite clever, and makes Barbara’s struggles more endearing. I Kill Giants is a whirligig of a tale, a magical story about a kooky, brazen little girl who deals with life’s tragedies the only way she knows how: by fighting them. Recommended for Ages 13-Up.

Will Not Appeal To Mainstream Readers

Animal Crackers: A Gene Luen Yang Collection by Gene Luen Yang
 
Yang presents a collection of interconnected stories that use food as a means to instigate the action in each piece. Unfortunately, these stories are just plain weird, not to mention more than a bit confusing. In “Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks,” young Miles is angry that his abusive father has never shown him love. The mystical energy of this emotion somehow fuses with a box of his pal Gordon’s animal crackers, resulting in a gang of terrifying animal cracker monsters that can only be defeated when Miles lets go of his long-suppressed rage. In “Loyola Chin and the San Peligran Order,” a girl meets up with Saint Danger, the mysterious and attractive leader of the San Peligran Order, a group dedicated to weeding out the stupid and the weak in order to galvanize mankind’s chances at survival against a future alien invasion.

The thread that connects these two stories takes form in two subplots. The first details Gordon’s crush on Loyola (they both attend the same high school), and a friend’s attempt to coach him by encouraging him to try acting “cooler.” The other subplot focuses on the San Peligran Order’s attempts to measure Loyola’s and Gordon’s intelligences to determine whether or not they should be eradicated. How? The Order merely dispatches a series of microscopic robots, which access the brain by crawling inside the nasal passage. It is only by reading the graphic novel’s introduction by Derek Kirk Kim that the entwining of these two stories even begins to make sense. Kim writes that here, “[Yang] engages [the reader] with everyday issues and struggles that concern all of us: forgiveness, conformity [to] social hierarchy, and tolerance.”

In the end, Loyola, Gordon, and Miles all make the right choices: Miles forgives his father for his brutality; Gordon choses to be true to himself; and Loyola, who passes the Order’s test, refuses Saint Danger’s promises of power and comfort, arguing that compassion towards the weak is greater than a human race with no weakness at all. These are nice messages, but since Yang takes the detour route to delivering them, he loses the reader halfway through.

For good measure, he also throws in a separate story (sandwiched in between the “Gordon” and “Loyola” pieces) titled “Sammy the Baker and the M.A.C,” about the consequences that occur when a baker decides to ignore his mentor’s advice about sticking to old recipes, and instead begins experimenting with his own ideas. His culinary labors produce a batch of muffins that transform into rhinos and terrorize his unsuspecting customers.

The most helpful (and welcome) of Yang’s contributions to this collection, unfortunately, is his thoughtful “making of” feature. Here, he chronicles his own struggles at breaking into the publishing market, and lays out the steps of how to create a comic for those who wish to follow in his footsteps. That said, it’s safe to say that Animal Crackers will hold no appeal to mainstream readers whatsoever. The only readers I can think of to recommend this to would be those interested in Yang’s previous (and better) work, American Born Chinese. Recommended for Ages 13-Up.

A Colorful Rendition of Sherlock Holmes’s Sleuthing Debut

A Study in Scarlet: A Sherlock Holmes Graphic Novel by Ian Edginton, with art by I.N.J. Culbard

A man is found dead in an empty house, with a single word, “Rache”—the German word for revenge—written in blood on the wall. Edginton and Culbard produce a colorful rendition of Sherlock Holmes’s sleuthing debut that young readers will be able to both understand and enjoy. Recommended for Ages 13-Up.

Very French

Harvey by Hervé Bouchard, with art by Janice Nadeau

Young Harvey and his brother come home after playing with the other neighborhood children to learn that their father has suffered a fatal heart attack. Harvey compares his situation to the fate of Scott Carey, the hero from his favorite film, The Incredible Shrinking Man, who begins shrinking in size after his exposure to a shower of mysterious sparkling dust. During his father’s funeral, Harvey becomes invisible. The art, with its pencil and pastel drawings, is like the story: surreal and simplistic. Most libraries seem to place this book in their juvenile section, and although the story seems to seethe with an undercurrent of psychological meaning, and to be infused with the haunting weight of grief, this reviewer doubts that American children will be able to make much sense of it. Recommended for Gr 7 Up, or for those who appreciate surrealism.

Gorgeous Illustrations for a Colorless Story

The Last Dragon by Jane Yolen. Illus by Rebecca Guay (Dark Horse, 2011, 144pp.)
 
The citizens of the Islands of May struggle for survival after they find themselves under attack by a fearsome dragon. Soon, only Lancot, a sham hero, and Tansy, an herbalist’s daughter, prove to be the only hope for defeating the beast. Although Yolen’s prose is lyrical and at times beautiful, the storyline itself proves to be a disappointing. However, the real magic lies in Guay’s gorgeous watercolor paintings. Reminiscent of Tolkien’s artwork for Lord of the Rings, they fit this fantasy perfectly and make an otherwise mediocre graphic novel worthy of the reader’s attention. Recommended for Ages 13-Up.