Embedded Files
Dragon Hoops
Dragon Hoops
The trials of a high school basketball team trying to clinch the state title and the graphic novelist chronicling them. The Dragons, Bishop O'Dowd High School's basketball team, have a promising lineup of players united by the same goal. Backed by Coach Lou Richie, an alumnus himself, this could be the season the Oakland, California, private Catholic school breaks their record. While Yang (Team Avatar Tales, 2019, etc.), a math teacher and former National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, is not particularly sporty, he is intrigued by the potential of this story and decides to focus his next graphic novel on the team's ninth bid for the state championship. Yang seamlessly blends a portrait of the Dragons with the international history of basketball while also tying in his own career arc as a graphic novelist as he tries to balance family, teaching, and comics.
Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.
Flamer
Flamer
The last week at Scouting camp highlights accomplishments and humiliations that last a lifetime. Aiden, a fat, biracial (Filipino and white), soon-to-be high schooler, is in his last week of Boy Scout camp in 1995. Each day documents events, from bonding over fireside songs and learning important skills to the micro- and macroaggressions that follow an adolescent boy of color who presents as effeminate and is queer. As the week moves on, readers learn more about Aiden and his life, from his stressful home with an emotionally abusive father to his love of Catholicism and being an altar server. The stress of a new school, bullies who are ever present, and struggles with identity drive Aiden to a breaking point, one that's familiar to many young people.
Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.
they called us enemy
they called us enemy
A beautifully heart-wrenching graphic-novel adaptation of actor and activist Takei's (Lions and Tigers and Bears, 2013, etc.) childhood experience of incarceration in a World War II camp for Japanese Americans. Takei had not yet started school when he, his parents, and his younger siblings were forced to leave their home and report to the Santa Anita Racetrack for "processing and removal" due to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066. The creators smoothly and cleverly embed the historical context within which Takei's family's story takes place, allowing readers to simultaneously experience the daily humiliations that they suffered in the camps while providing readers with a broader understanding of the federal legislation, lawsuits, and actions which led to and maintained this injustice. The heroes who fought against this and provided support to and within the Japanese American community, such as Fred Korematsu, the 442nd Regiment, Herbert Nicholson, and the ACLU's Wayne Collins, are also highlighted, but the focus always remains on the many sacrifices that Takei's parents made to ensure the safety and survival of their family while shielding their children from knowing the depths of the hatred they faced and danger they were in.
Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
We contain Multitudes
We contain Multitudes
An archaic form of communication, a contemporary setting, and the timeless lure of love. Jo and Kurl attend the same Minnesota school and are pen pals by class assignment. A bow-tied gay dandy and brawny football star respectively, polar opposition on the high school spectrum makes their pairing and correspondence even more poignant. Jo's letters underscore his affinity for Walt Whitman and the reality of incessant bullying. Brooding, beefy Kurl scolds Jo for making himself a target (yet still fends off the bullies like a devoted, disgruntled bodyguard), evolves as a thoughtful writer, and reveals the root of his volatile temper. Over the course of a year, an affection between the two develops, as does a romance with all the trappings of secrecy, revelation, separation, sobs, sex, and longing. The dual narrative differs from other storytelling duets in that these points of view aren't separate; the written perceptions of one character are scrutinized and shared through the lens of the other. A love story, a therapy session, a reason to read Whitman-the sweetness of unexpected amour is here, as is the saline of sadness. The main characters are white; diversity in secondary characters is implied through names. Graphic toxic masculinity, familial abuse, drug use, and sexual betrayal are balanced (not obliterated) by the beauty of love between two boys who never expected the best from each other. Your reason to root for love-and the power of the pen. Copyright Kirkus 2019
Picture us in the light
Picture us in the light
When Danny Cheng's father loses his job, his parents' carefully constructed life starts to break apart. His father settles into a depression, and his mother becomes more manic. Both worry constantly about money and Danny's safety. At the same time, Danny has problems of his own. He keeps deep secrets from those closest to him-about how he might be responsible for the death of his friend, Sandra, one year before, and about his true feelings regarding his best friend, Harry. As Danny struggles to make sense of his parents' strange behavior, he uncovers evidence of secret lives, of names abandoned, and of a sister he thought had died long ago. Using the metaphor of quantum entanglement-that objects brought together will continue to act in concert even if they are taken apart-Gilbert effortlessly times characters' present actions with key revelations about their past. With grace and respect, Gilbert manages to address the existential quandaries of both second-generation American teens and their immigrant parents who must make profoundly life-changing choices to give their children the best life possible. The result is both exhilarating and tortuous-Gilbert methodically lays bare her characters' secrets as if she was slowly pulling a cloth off a fine painting. Grades 9-12. Copyright
Copyright 2018 Booklist Reviews.
Hearts Unbroken
Hearts Unbroken
When Louise Wolfe's boyfriend mocks and disrespects Native people in front of her, she breaks things off and dumps him over e-mail. She'd rather spend her senior year with her family and friends and working on the school newspaper. The editors pair her up with Joey Kairouz, an ambitious new photojournalist, and in no time the paper's staff find themselves with a major story to cover: the school musical director's inclusive approach to casting The Wizard of Oz has been provoking backlash in their mostly white, middle-class Kansas town. As tensions mount at school, so does a romance between Lou and Joey. But 'dating while Native' can be difficult. In trying to protect her own heart, will Lou break Joey's?"--Provided by publisher.
Page updated
Report abuse