Review of Isla to Island, by Alexis Castellanos

Children's Fiction Review, Graphic Novel, Historical, Starred Review 0

Isla to Island

by Alexis Castellanos

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2022. 192 pages.
Review written September 20, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

Isla to Island is a historical graphic novel about a young Cuban girl named Marisol who gets sent to New York City as part of Operation Peter Pan in 1960, an operation to rescue children of Cubans who feared they would be imprisoned under Castro for their political beliefs, and their children with them.

The graphic novel story is mostly done with pictures, and it’s beautifully done. Scenes of Marisol in Cuba with her family are bright and colorful. The only text (and there’s not a lot) is in Spanish, including a rooster that crows, “Qui qui ri qui.” Already in Cuba, we see that Marisol loves flowers and books.

When she says a sad good-by to her parents, she lands in a New York City that is cold and gray and in the middle of winter. Her caretakers there are kind, but the colors are gone. At school, people laugh at her, and she doesn’t understand what the teacher is saying and gets failing grades.

But then she discovers the library. Books are the first things that are full of color, so much so that streams of color waft from them. And through the books she chooses, her caretakers discover her love of flowers and bring her to the greenhouse in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where she sees familiar flowers from Cuba.

The graphic novel is great at visually representing Marisol’s dawning hope. An Author’s Note at the back explains about Operation Peter Pan and the author’s family connections to Marisol’s story.

This is a quick read with so much presented visually, so a short time spent gives you a lovely and uplifting story.

alexiscastellanos.com
simonandschuster.com/kids

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Review of We Are Big Time, written by Hena Khan, illustrated by Safiya Zerrougui

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel 0

We Are Big Time

written by Hena Khan
illustrated by Safiya Zerrougui

Alfred A. Knopf, 2024. 233 pages.
Review written October 9, 2024, from a library book.

This graphic novel opens as Aliyah and her family are moving from Tampa to Milwaukee, to be near her grandparents. Aliyah’s not happy about it. She misses the beaches, her school, her friends, her neighborhood, the sunshine, and her basketball team.

In Milwaukee, everything is bigger – bigger house, a bigger job for her dad, and a bigger family with their grandparents and other relatives. But it makes Aliyah feel small.

And it turns out that her school is bigger, too. It’s a private Muslim school, Peace Academy. And they have a girls’ basketball team! Historically, though, they’ve always been pretty bad.

From there, this becomes a classic sports graphic novel. The school has hired a new coach who’s not Muslim but has great basketball skills. Aliyah’s named as co-captain, even though she’s a Freshman new to the school, and she has a lot of self-doubt.

But something interesting about this team is that all the girls wear a hijab. Their uniforms cover their arms and legs. And that seems to be what other people pay attention to.

So when they start turning things around and winning ball games, they get some media attention – and they seem surprised that Muslim families are supportive of their girls playing basketball, and that the girls can play just fine with longer uniforms and head scarves.

This graphic novel gets you cheering for these girls, who learn to work together as a team, represent their community, and have a whole lot of fun.

henakhan.com
safiyaz.com
rhcbooks.com

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Review of Ash’s Cabin, by Jen Wang

Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Ash’s Cabin

by Jen Wang

First Second, 2024. 320 pages.
Review written October 8, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

This is a gorgeous and thoughtful graphic novel about a nonbinary teen named Ash who doesn’t feel like their family gets them. They often use Ash’s former name (shown with a black bar over it in the speech bubble) and use the pronoun “her” to talk about them. Ash thinks about the environment and climate change more than the people around them. They still miss their Grandpa Edwin, who died a couple of years ago. Fortunately, Ash still has Chase, the dog Grandpa Edwin gave them.

Chase is my familiar. We don’t go anywhere without each other. He knows me better than anyone else in the universe.

Ash’s family used to go to Grandpa Edwin’s ranch every summer – now owned by Ash’s uncle and aunt. Grandpa Edwin had a hidden cabin somewhere in the nearby wilderness area where he’d go when he needed to get away from people. But he never told anyone where it is.

When Ash hears their parents planning to go to Disneyworld next summer instead of the ranch, they make it very clear they want no part of that. After some negotiation, the family makes plans to take Ash to the ranch, staying with their older cousin there, to say good-by before it gets sold.

What Ash’s parents don’t know is that Ash is planning to sneak away, find Grandpa Edwin’s cabin, and stay there, with only Chase for company.

And Ash’s plan works surprisingly well. They have a few months to go through Grandpa Edwin’s journals to pinpoint the location of the cabin, and look at wilderness survival sites to figure out what supplies they’ll need and what skills they need to learn. When they get to the ranch, Ash’s cousin actually has a secret trip first – asking Ash not to tell that she’s going to spend the weekend away with friends. Ash schedules emails to their parents, and sets off into the wilderness with Chase to find the cabin.

And yes! They find the cabin and live in the wilderness for weeks. The book shows realistic setbacks as well as unexpected help. And we can see Ash learning and growing during the experience.

I squelched all my feelings about how badly I’d freak out if my kid did this and was actually impressed with all the skills Ash had learned – of course with some things they hadn’t planned for, too.

This graphic novel is a treasure, telling about a teen who discovers how strong they truly are.

jenwang.net
firstsecondbooks.com

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Review of Plain Jane and the Mermaid, by Vera Brosgol

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Starred Review 0

Plain Jane and the Mermaid

by Vera Brosgol

First Second, 2024. 364 pages.
Review written September 30, 2024, from a library book.
Starred Review

I’ve appreciated Vera Brosgol’s graphic novels since reading her middle school memoir Be Prepared the year I was on the Newbery committee. And her picture book Leave Me Alone! has won Caldecott Honor. I like both her art and her stories, and she knows how to put them together well.

This graphic novel for kids deftly shows that some things are much more important than good looks. And as with all Vera Brosgol’s books, it delivers its message in a quirky and thought-provoking way.

Jane is a very plain looking girl from a wealthy family, but as the book opens, a lawyer tells her that since her parents died and her little brother is dead, their stately home is going to pass to her cousin. Her cousin proves to be an odious and greedy man. Jane, still a teen, will have to move along to “wherever women go.” They give her a week to move out, but the lawyer tells her that if she were to marry, she’ll get a dowry, enough to live on quite comfortably.

So there’s nothing else to do. Jane goes down to the harbor, where the fisherman’s son whom she’s long had a crush on works – or rather pretends to work while he spends his time looking beautiful. Jane reasons that he might be willing to marry her if it means he can quit working, and he seems quite agreeable to that idea. But before they can seal the deal, a mermaid comes up out of the water and pulls the boy into the sea, the mermaid also being taken with his good looks.

Jane vows to save him, and she finds a crone in a shop by the sea who gives her magical items to help her on her way. But still, Jane’s quest is dangerous and difficult. She gains further help along the way, and before she arrives, the boy learns that the mermaid’s planning to marry him and then eat him in order to stay beautiful. But it’s not going to be easy to get him out of her clutches.

The fun thing about this tale is that by the time it’s done, we see that there are wonderful things that go much deeper than beauty. There’s a satisfying ending as Jane herself sees that love can be based on more than looks. I love the fairy tale elements (three magical objects to help – though there’s a twist in how Jane uses them) that are presented in Vera Brosgol’s unique way to give us a modern story with a classic fairy tale feeling.

firstsecondbooks.com

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Review of Apple Crush, by Lucy Knisley

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Starred Review 0

Apple Crush

by Lucy Knisley

RH Graphic, 2022. 202 pages.
Review written June 16, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

Graphic novels are the perfect format for middle school contemporary stories. Picturing all the roller coaster emotions of middle school helps show the humor and humanity in them.

Apple Crush is a sequel to Stepping Stones, though it’s easy to catch up if you haven’t read the first book.

Jen from the city is still adjusting to life on the farm, as she and her mother are living on a farm with her mother’s boyfriend — and his daughter, who’s Jen’s age, and is there on the weekends.

In this book, Autumn is coming and they’re helping with the Haunted Hayride and Pumpkin Festival at a neighboring farm. And Jen has to start a new school, far from the city and her old friends.

Much to Jen’s annoyance, it seems everyone around her is falling in love. And they tease her about the one friend she makes who loves the same series of books about dragons — but Jen insists they’re just friends, and it’s not about romance.

And that all sounds simple when summarized, but the execution is delightful. We’ve got Autumn on a farm. And love is in the air, whether Jen likes it or not.

lucyknisley.com
RHKidsGraphic.com

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Review of Miss Quinces, by Kat Fajardo

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Starred Review 0

Miss Quinces

by Kat Fajardo
color by Mariana Azzi

Graphix (Scholastic), 2022. 252 pages.
Review written June 28, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

The trials and tribulations of middle school and early high school are perfect material for graphic novels, and this one will delight young graphic novel fans.

All Sue wants to do the summer she turns fifteen is hang out with her comic creator nerdy friends, but her family is going to Honduras to see her abuela and various aunts, uncles, and cousins. Once there, to Sue’s horror, she learns that her mother has planned to throw her a quinceañera.

Sue protests, because she doesn’t want all the attention, doesn’t know how to dance, doesn’t speak Spanish well, and doesn’t like pink. But her abuela tells her about family traditions and she works out a deal with her mother that might make even having a quinces party worth it.

The plans all get thrown off in various ways, but the result is a graphic novel full of humor and heart with a big family learning how much they love each other despite lots of foibles.

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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.

Review of Wingbearer, by Marjorie Liu and Teny Issakhanian

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Graphic Novel, Starred Review 0

Wingbearer

by Marjorie Liu
illustrated by Teny Issakhanian

Quill Tree Books, 2022. 204 pages.
Review written May 23, 2022, from a library book
Starred Review

This is the first volume in a new graphic novel series. I was captivated, my only disappointment being that the story only begins in this volume, finishing with new questions and no resolution at all.

The book pulls you into a magical world right from the outset. The beautiful paintings are like looking at a skillfully animated movie. (I was not surprised to learn at the back that the illustrator indeed has a background with Disney and Dreamworks.)

Here’s the text on the first page, highlighted to indicate a kind of voiceover effect:

I don’t know how it began. That’s the truth, I promise.

The wings tell me that birds have always been immortal. That their spirits live forever, returning to this tree to be reborn. And I ask them, “Well, what about the rest of us?”

They have no answer.

But I think that if birds have a tree, then so must every other creature. And when we die, our souls travel to that place where we rest, just like birds, until we are reborn.

Unless of course, someone — or something — gets in the way.

Zuli is a little girl who lives in the Great Tree — a tree with roots down to the heart of the earth, where souls of birds come when they die and are soon reborn and sent on. Zuli doesn’t know how she got there.

But then the souls stop coming to the tree, and Zuli decides to go out in the world to find out what’s wrong and save them, accompanied by an owl companion.

The journey out in the big world is perilous. Zuli meets some companions and also seems to be hunted by a witch queen. She does learn that something is happening to the birds in the north, so that’s the direction she wants to travel. She also learns things about herself and that some beings were watching for her. Can she learn who her people are and why she was left as a baby in the Great Tree? And of course, can she save the souls of the birds from whatever is stopping them from being reborn?

None of these questions are answered in this volume, but I love the lavish art and Zuli’s kind spirit. I also love that even though this is some other world not at all like earth with goblins and dragons and griffins, Zuli is portrayed as a beautiful girl with black skin. Why shouldn’t she represent a generic human in this fantasy world?

The book takes less than an hour to read and the story isn’t finished, but the art is so lavish, I can forgive them for not waiting until the entire story is complete to publish part of it. I’m looking forward to reading more.

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Review of Rainbow the Koala, by Remy Lai

Animal Characters, Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Graphic Novel 0

Surviving the Wild

Rainbow the Koala

by Remy Lai

Henry Holt and Company, 2022. 108 pages.
Review written May 4, 2022, from a library book

This is part of a new graphic novel series fictionalizing the lives of baby animals in actual situations of environmental danger.

Rainbow the Koala is, no surprise, almost unbearably cute. It features a tiny baby koala still living in his mother’s pouch. (Did you know koalas are marsupials like kangaroos?) As Rainbow grows up, he learns from his mother to always climb trees when in danger.

Before long, she sends him out on his own. He has trouble finding water because the forest is drier than ever. He has some encounters with humans in his efforts to survive.

But then a terrible wildfire strikes. Rainbow does what he was taught and climbs as high as he can. Amazingly, he survives — and this story is based on the story of a little koala found high in a eucalyptus tree after the fires of 2019-20 in Australia.

There’s another book in this series, Star the Elephant that tells about a little elephant whose home is threatened by deforestation. The graphic novels are easy for young readers to understand, and oh my goodness, these books are cute.

remylai.com
mackids.com

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Review of Huda F Are You? by Huda Fahmy

Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Teen Fiction Review 0

Huda F Are You?

by Huda Fahmy

Dial Books (Penguin Random House), 2021. 188 pages.
Review written December 30, 2021, from a library book

This is a graphic novel loosely based on the author’s high school years. She started high school in a new city (Dearborn, Michigan) and a new school, where she was no longer the only one wearing a hijab.

So if she no longer stood out as the one hijabi at the school, who was she? Where did she fit in?

The highly relatable search for identity in high school makes a fun graphic novel. Of course there are missteps making friends and plenty of awkward attempts at fitting in. Teens will relate, whether they are Muslim or not, and those who are not will gain some insight and empathy along with the laughter.

PenguinTeen.com

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Review of The Legend of Auntie Po, by Shing Yin Khor

Children's Fiction Review, Graphic Novel, Historical 0

The Legend of Auntie Po

by Shing Yin Khor

Kokila (Penguin Random House), 2021. 290 pages.
Review written November 4, 2021, from a library book
National Book Award Finalist

The Legend of Auntie Po is a graphic novel set in 1885 in a logging camp in the California mountains. Mei is thirteen, and her father is the cook for the camp. The owner of the operation treats them as friends, and Mei’s best friend is the owner’s daughter, but overall the Chinese workers aren’t treated as well as everyone else.

However, Mei makes the best pies and tells the best stories. She makes up stories about Auntie Po, a giant Chinese matriarch who looks out for her people, with the help of Pei Pei, her blue water buffalo.

But when trouble comes to the logging camp, Mei actually sees Auntie Po helping them.

The historical detail in this graphic novel makes you feel like it could have really happened. Mei’s a lovable character, and it’s lovely as her horizons open up as she and her father get through some tough things with friendship and determination.

penguin.com/kids

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Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

What did you think of this book?

*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.