More legendarious feats and fun.
Learning to be a Sneaker (not that kind but “one who sneaks”) helps a young archer save her town from a dazzling trickster and to let a broken friendship go in this video game–based spinoff following the 2023 series opener.
Red-haired, green-eyed archer Jane is crushed when her once-tight friend, Angie, takes up with new BFF Janice. But she’s even more upset when the two girls join new arrivals Kellen the Magically Handsome Archer and his flashy Ultra-Cucumbers to push her and her loyal Cucumbers teammates right out of Jazzypickleton. As it turns out, Kellen is actually in the pay of a rival kingdom, and it’s all part of an evil scheme to steal all of Jazzypickleton’s elixir and Royale trophies. Fortunately, Jane enters a secret cave, where she meets the mystic Order of Sneakers—and though she can’t get them to change their name to something less dorky (like Sneakists or even Sneaketeers), they do teach her the art of becoming invisible by mystically letting unnecessary attachments go. Jane returns just in time to save the town and send Kellen the Magically et cetera packing. Even non-gamers will find the typecast characters—ranging from green goblins and brown-skinned Hog Riders to blond armored warriors with “big metal balls”—amusing and easily identifiable, and if the melees tend to be massively violent, no one is ever actually hurt.
More legendarious feats and fun. (Graphic fantasy. 10-15)Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781250816283
Page Count: 144
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A pride-filled treatise and a charming riff on fairy tales.
After her parents’ sudden death, brown-haired, pale-skinned Jane is threatened with eviction from her family home.
Despite her low self-image, based on years of shallow, fatphobic taunts from her parents, Jane suggests a deal to discontented fisherman Peter, who’s thin and has blond hair and blue eyes (as well as being vapid and arrogant). They’ll marry, and then she can inherit her fortune, and he can enjoy the luxurious lifestyle he craves. It seems like a great plan, until Peter is taken captive and imprisoned underwater by a mermaid. The determined Jane seeks magical assistance and heads to the mermaid village at the bottom of the sea to retrieve Peter. Brosgol’s illustrations provide much of Jane’s characterization through her delightfully expressive face, which shines with pleasure and grimaces in disgust; her round eyes are alert to all the charms of the sea. Fortunately, she’s rescued by an acerbic, grumpily appealing seal, who educates her about the sea’s perils. This story is an explicit response to society’s valuing of beauty and contempt for its absence, especially when it comes to girls and women. Pitted against a slender, cruelly vain mermaid who weaponizes her looks, Jane emerges as a thoughtful, tenacious hero who’s learning to appreciate her own value. Brosgol redeems the occasional preachiness with her portrayal of Jane as an individual—funny, flawed, and triumphant.
A pride-filled treatise and a charming riff on fairy tales. (author’s note, beat boards, coloring process) (Graphic fantasy. 10-14)Pub Date: May 7, 2024
ISBN: 9781250314864
Page Count: 368
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
Brilliantly enchanting.
Two reluctant friends—and a talking bear—journey deep into the night in search of answers.
The night of the annual Autumn Equinox Festival unfolds as the villagers cast hundreds of lanterns down the river in honor of a local folk legend. For Ben, this year will be different from the rest. He and his friends make a pact to follow the lanterns until the unknown end of their voyage. One by one Ben’s friends give up and return home, all except for Nathaniel, whose love for the cosmos and nerdy ways ostracize him from the group. In spite of his misgivings, Ben decides to uphold the pact with Nathaniel. A third, unexpected member joins the adventure when the boys come across a talking fisherbear who’s on a quest to fish as his ancestors did. The trio eventually loses track of the path, and an unplanned encounter with the feisty Madam Majestic leads to even greater escapades. To shed more light on the story risks spoiling Andrews’ marvelously melancholic, earnest graphic novel, at its core an exercise in whimsical self-reflection. This story’s a quiet one in which danger flickers and hope flares at odd but fruitful moments. The core relationship between Ben (a dark-haired, light-skinned, bespectacled boy) and Nathaniel (a dark-skinned boy with puffs of hair) never veers into pure mawkishness. Likewise, the primarily blue and red mixed-media pictures underscore how nighttime sometimes promises transformation.
Brilliantly enchanting. (Graphic fabulism. 10-14)Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-19695-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: First Second
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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