Moving examples of the power of culture and folklore to offer help, hope, and inspiration to act.
Answering a call to witness, Shusterman offers five original tales of Jews resisting and escaping Nazis with help from miracles, wonders, and legends.
Inspired by actual examples of aid and rescue recounted in brief between each story, the author celebrates courage in the face of brutality and terror—beginning with a group of orphaned children in Hamburg narrowly escaping a Nazi roundup through a window in their apartment that becomes a portal to a peaceful world. There are also striking tales of a golem at Auschwitz, resistance fighters freeing a train of captives with help from Baba Yaga and the people of Chelm, and a teenager who wields the staff of Moses to raise a bridge of sunken boats, helping Danish Jews escape across the Øresund strait to Sweden. In a pointed final story, an American child passes back and forth between this time and an alternate present in which the Holocaust never happened, but antisemitic violence is ominously on the rise. Noting the influence of Marvel Comics on his work, Martínez offers clean-lined period scenes of ordinary-looking heroes enduring fear and hardship, and “fighting for justice on every page.” Resonating with an earlier acknowledgment that Roma and other minorities also suffered Nazi persecution, Martínez finds common personal ground in his own Tejano family’s experiences with white supremacists.
Moving examples of the power of culture and folklore to offer help, hope, and inspiration to act. (photo credits, author’s notes, illustrator’s note, bibliography, note on Hebrew letters) (Graphic fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780545313483
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Graphix/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2023
Shakespeare’s fantastical dream in an appealing format that can be shared with a wider audience.
Manga that brings to life Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy.
This third entry in Manga Classics’ adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays maintains their practice of reproducing the full text of the original. The black-and-white illustrations allow readers to easily follow the plot while also picking up on subtle themes that are significant to understanding the play. For example, the abundant imagery surrounding the moon is emphasized by the moon’s presence in the backgrounds of many panels throughout the book, drawing readers’ attention. Long dialogues are also explained visually, which allows young readers to grasp what is being discussed without the need for a glossary or translation into modern English. The nobility is portrayed in a typical manga fashion with large eyes, small noses, and well-defined ears—but with appropriate Grecian clothing—while the commoners are easily visually distinguishable from them in style. The guide to reading manga at the beginning unfortunately describes the right-to-left reading order as “backwards from the normal books you know,” a strangely judgment-laden description for a book using manga to broaden the cultural exposure of young readers. However, the creators’ notes at the end offer fascinating insights into the adaptation process and may inspire budding manga artists to attempt their own works.
Shakespeare’s fantastical dream in an appealing format that can be shared with a wider audience. (cast, creators’ notes, character design sheet) (Graphic fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: April 16, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-947808-10-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Manga Classics
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
Compulsively readable and brilliant.
A rare look at the youth-led rebellion that toppled Romania’s Ceaușescu.
Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu, with his spiky hair, love of poetry and English, and crush on Liliana Pavel, is as much of a rebel as it’s possible to be in Bucharest, Romania, in 1989. Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu has been in power for 24 years, and most Romanians live in poverty, exporting what they produce to unknowingly fund Ceaușescu’s obscenely extravagant lifestyle. Wild dogs attack children in the streets, and secret agents are everywhere. When an agent confronts Cristian with evidence of treason—a single dollar bill tucked inside his notebook—and also offers medicine for Bunu, his sick grandfather, Cristian agrees to spy on the American diplomat family whose son he’s become friendly with. But as young Romanians gradually become aware that other countries have gained freedom from communism, they rise up in an unconquerable wave. Sepetys brilliantly blends a staggering amount of research with heart, craft, and insight in a way very few writers can. Told from Cristian’s point of view, intercut by secret police memos and Cristian’s own poetry, the novel crackles with energy; Cristian and his friends join the groundswell of young Romanians, combining pragmatism, subterfuge, hope, and daring. While the story ends with joy on Christmas Day, the epilogue recounts the betrayals and losses that follow. The last line will leave readers gasping.
Compulsively readable and brilliant. (maps, photos, author's note, research notes, sources) (Historical fiction. 12-18)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-984836-03-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: Nov. 15, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
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