Review of Long Way Down

 

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Genre/Category

Long Way Down is a novel in verse that also contains fantasy elements. The category I am reviewing for is 6th-12th Grade Printz Winner or Honor Book.

Target Age Group

Long Way Down is suitable for readers aged 13 and up. This novel contains themes of violence, smoking, and drug use. 

Summary

Long Way Down follows the story of Will, a young teenage boy whose just lost his brother to gang violence and now feels that he must follow “the rules” that when someone you love is killed, you must kill the person who did it. On his way to carry out this deed, he encounters the ghosts of past friends and family members who, in some capacity, also lost their lives to gang violence and “the rules” who attempt to help Will break this cycle of violence where no one ever wins.

Justification

Jason Reynolds is an author with many recognitions to his name for titles such as Stamped, All American Boys, Ghost, and many more. Long Way Down was not only awarded a Printz Honor, but also a Newberry Honor, Coretta Scott King Honor, and has been recognized by many other organizations. It’s a great title that asks readers to consider one’s values in the face of injustice. 

Evaluation

I have chosen to evaluate the figurative language, characterization, and pacing of Long Way Down.

Figurative Language

Each poem in this novel in verse is well crafted and spoken by Will which highlights both the perspective of a scared, teenage boy, and the tough persona he feels he must portray. Some unique recurring poems are the anagrams that Will throws in such as “Cool = Loco” or “Cinema = Iceman.” These anagrams help the reader understand how Will sees the world. There are also striking metaphors sprinkled throughout, giving the reader tangible equivalents to the events mentioned, such as when Will equates cough syrup with blood. The title itself is an important piece of figurative language. Not only does Will have a long way down to go on his elevator ride toward the man he intends to kill for revenge, but following “the rules” creates a long way down for anyone to ever come back up from.

Characterization

Throughout the novel, Will encounters many different scenarios and conversations with the ghosts who meet him in the elevator that develop his character. To avenge his brother, he believes he must become a killer. He believes he must follow “the rules.” However, as he encounters ghosts of his past who also felt this way or were victims of others having this mentality, it becomes clear to him that he is scared, he is a kid, and he just misses his brother. An interesting aspect of Will’s character to consider is whether he is a reliable narrator or not. Is he actually being visited by these ghosts? Or, throughout his elevator ride that seems like an eternity, is he having an internal battle with his conscience? Toward the end of the novel, he goes from believing he must follow the rules, to questioning them, and admitting he is scared. Though the ending is ambiguous, it is more likely that, due to this internal struggle, he has found clarity to break the cycles of violence he has experienced.

Pacing

The pacing of this novel is effective in that the first quarter or so is dedicated to establishing Will’s character, his brother’s death, and the mission he feels he must now carry out to avenge his brother, even if it means he may be someone’s next target. As he reaches the elevator on his way to carry out the killing, the story develops with each floor the elevator descends. A new ghost gets on the elevator at each floor, all telling their story to Will, until they have all reached the bottom together and give Will the opportunity to change his fate. With each new floor, he learns a new lesson and becomes closer to accepting that revenge may not be the answer, as it continues to cause pain indefinitely. 

Reference

Reynolds, J. (2017). Long Way Down. Atheneum Books.

Review of Strange the Dreamer

 

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Genre/Category

Strange the Dreamer is a fantasy romance novel. The category I am reviewing for is 6th-12th Grade Fantasy.

Target Age Group

Strange the Dreamer is recommended for teenagers and young adults 14 years and older.

Summary

In Strange the Dreamer, Lazlo Strange was orphaned as a baby and raised by monks. One monk in particular told him stories of an unseen city full of fantastic and whimsical elements like streets paved with lapis lazuli. One day, while playing make-believe, Lazlo discovered he could no longer say or remember the name of this city, only “Weep,” as if it were removed by magic. Lazlo decided to dedicate his life to learning about this city and uncovering the truth. One day, those efforts paid off as the warrior Eril-Fane from Weep emerged in his life. Joining Eril-Fane and his crew, Lazlo set off to uncover the mysteries of Weep, which include finding love with Godspawn Sarai, with blue skin and cinnamon hair, and unlocking his true identity, lost to him all this time.

Justification

Strange the Dreamer has won both the Printz Award and the Leslie Bradshaw Award. Also, Goodreads listed the title as Best YA Fantasy. I’ve had this title on my shelf for a while as a gift and was excited to finally give it the time it deserves!

Evaluation

I have chosen to evaluate the world-building, characterization, and conflict of Strange the Dreamer.

World-Building

One of the most unique elements of Strange the Dreamer is the world it is set in. Laini Taylor’s world-building does not rely on fantasy cliches or repetitive techniques, but rather creates a distinct set of monsters, gods, cities, abilities, and more. For example, Thyon Nero is an alchemist who uses his own liquid spirit to dissolve Mesanthium, the metal of a giant, winged, floating city casting an eternal shadow onto Weep, the reason for Lazlo’s mission. Sarai, a child of the Goddess of Despair lives up in the citadel and can scream moths that allow her to observe and manipulate the dreams of humans. These elements and much more give the novel a heavily-immersive quality and makes the title a standout in the fantasy genre.

Characterization

This novel is full of complex, well-rounded characters including Thyon, a golden boy prince who is abused by his father and has to consult Lazlo to achieve his dreams; Eril-Fane and Azereen, husband and wife separated by grief and shame; Ruby and Feral, two teenagers never having been exposed to the outside world and wanting to explore life’s pleasures; Minya, a hurt child with godlike power; Sarai, a girl with the power to cause pain but only wanting to create understanding; and Lazlo, a dreamer who thinks he is nobody but whose true identity is more than he could comprehend. All these characters and many more work to create an intractably woven narrative with different desires, trauma, motivations, and perspectives.

Conflict

The conflict of Strange the Dreamer is significant because it is multi-layered, internal, and external. Moreover, the multiple lines of conflict overlap and resolve at nearly the same time and create new conflict. Lazlo Strange struggles internally with the knowledge that he does not know his parents or identity. Even worse, this lack of concrete identity leads him to be labeled as a nobody, leading to many instances of self-doubt. Externally, the city of Weep requires a hero to save them from the aftermath of years of servitude to wrathful Gods and the eternal darkness they are trapped in. Another conflict at play are the children of such gods leftover from the carnage, seeking survival and purpose in life. These three conflicts, plus many more, come to a head toward the climax of the novel, making for an intense resolution and setup for the second installment in the narrative.

Reference

Taylor, L. (2017). Strange the Dreamer. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.

Review of The Girl from the Sea

 

The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag

Genre/Category

Graphic novel, Romance, Fantasy, Coming of Age, LGBTQ+. The category I am reviewing for is 7th-12th grade LGBTQ+ (any genre). 

Target Age Group

The age group for The Girl from the Sea is 12-18, or 6th - 12th grade. The book contains mild language, discussions of sexuality, and mild kissing.

Summary

The Girl from the Sea follows the story of Morgan and her struggles with coming out of the closet as queer to her friends and family. Morgan embarks on a summer romance with Keltie, a seal-person, who is made human by true love’s kiss. As Morgan reckons with revealing her sexuality, Keltie is determined to find a way, with Morgan’s help, to save her seal family from environmental pollution and interference that is driving fish away from the bay.

Justification

From New York Times bestselling author Molly Knox Ostertag, The Girl from the Sea is a heartfelt journey about the importance of being true to yourself and giving others in your life the opportunity to see and accept the real you. It contains themes of friendship, queer acceptance, family, and even environmentalism.

Evaluation

For my evaluation of The Girl from the Sea, I have chosen to narrow my focus on the illustrations, characterization, and pacing. 

Illustrations

I would describe the illustrations of The Girl from the Sea as artistic, emotive, and charming. The art style depicts teenage, sea-side life with bright colors, frequent texting scenes, dialogue bubbles, blushing faces, awkward body language, and more. As Morgan is a character who hides many aspects of herself, the illustrations help the reader understand a bit more about her below the surface by her reactions to different situations. For example, one scene I thought was especially clever is included below. In this scene, Morgan’s friend Lizzie is talking to her about a guy, but Morgan is worried about a situation Keltie has gotten herself into. The friend’s speech bubble is located behind Morgan, whose panicked face is at the forefront, indicating that she is not really listening and her mind is focused on something else. Moments like these are peppered throughout the narrative, and supply for multiple ways of reading and understanding the narrative and characters.

Characterization

Morgan, the protagonist, undergoes intense character development as she learns the importance of being proud of her identity, and she’s not the only one who demonstrates growth. Throughout the novel, Keltie also learns the importance of being honest and selfless, as she admits her motives for becoming human to Morgan that involve saving her seal family. And she also learns the importance of sacrifice to save others. Morgan’s friends and family learn the importance of accepting your loved ones for who they are, and understanding that letting them process their emotions alone can be the best thing you can do for them. Overall, every character in The Girl from the Sea is well-developed with their own motivations and stories, making for a realistic and engaging narrative.

Pacing

One successful aspect of The Girl from the Sea that stuck out to me was the pacing. Throughout the novel, from when Morgan first kisses Keltie and she turns human, there is a presence that something is going to happen to make the narrative take a turn. Morgan becomes less responsive to her friends, as illustrated by texting scenes where her presence is noticabley absent. Morgan’s brother becomes suspicious of how much time she spends with Keltie. Morgan’s friend Serena keeps referencing her birthday party on a huge boat, the same boat Keltie is rallying against due to its negative affects on the bay. All of these events culminate at different points with both negative and positive results (without spoiling what they are!). Ostertag does a masterful job of pacing rising actions, climaxes, and falling actions to the point where the reader eagerly anticipates what the next page may bring. 

Reference

Ostertag, M. K. (2021). The Girl from the Sea. Graphix. 

Review of Hey, Kiddo

 

Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Genre

Graphic Memoir. The category I am reviewing for is 7th-12th grade Graphic Novel. 

Target Age Group

Hey, Kiddo is a young adult book suitable for readers aged 12 and up, or 7th grade to 12th grade.

Summary

Hey, Kiddo follows Jarrett Krosoczka and his family history from before he was born, through his toddler years, junior high, and high school. Narrated by the author with illustrations and real-life artifacts, this memoir deals with the experiences of having a mother struggling with drug addiction, grandparents who love both tenderly and a bit tough at times, a father who reappears later in life, and the importance of choosing who you allow in your life and achieving your dreams.

Justification

This National Book Award Honoree has been on my TBR list for a while, as I have seen other reviews for it online and amongst my colleagues at my library. It can’t be denied that this memoir is full of emotion and heart. Rarely do I find myself shedding a tear at many books anymore, but by the author’s notes, my eyes were definitely welling up. The heavy themes are a reason to embrace this title rather than shy away from it, though. It makes the narrative and characters that much more impactful. Don’t worry, there are moments of humor, too! 

E-Book Reading Experience

I chose to read Hey, Kiddo as an e-book, and, overall, I am glad I did, as it enhanced my reading experience. While I am a proponent of reading books physically over e-books, I enjoyed being able to zoom in on illustrations and authorial artifacts to analyze them better. The colors of the illustrations were also quite vivid on my device. Lastly, I was grateful for the opportunity to “bookmark” certain pages to review at a later point. Plus, the check-out/check-in process for e-books at a public library is very straightforward and hassle-free. 

Evaluation

I have decided to limit my evaluation to cover Hey, Kiddo's illustrations, mood, and dialogue.

Illustrations

Though this memoir would standout anyway without illustrations, having it take the form of a graphic novel is important for many reasons. For starters, this is a memoir not only about family tragedy and growth, but of an artist’s inception. Having the narrative be visual as well as worded is another form of autobiography. The illustrations are Jarrett’s life as well. The illustrations and color palette are consist throughout. The heavy, cartoon brushstrokes against the gray, black, and orange watercolors provide a steady throughline for the narrative to work on and with. These patterns are only broken by the sudden inclusion of reallife artifacts like letters, photographs, invitations, and more that remind the reader that, though these people are animated, they are and were real figures for the protagonist, who is also a very real figure.

Mood 

As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the color palette of gray, black and orange in combination with the distinct line work and character design greatly impacts the narrative. The way Krosoczka plays with color, lighting, and zoom all affect the mood throughout the memoir in interesting ways. For example, during serious, intense moments, the page is mostly dark, centered in on one figure. During reoccurring nightmare scenes, orange and gray monsters crowd the page and the protagonist, creating a sense of anxiety and dread. When Krosoczka learns about his mom’s addiction from his grandpa, the page is centered on the grandpa’s deadpan face, as if we are the protagonist being told this information. Lastly, when there is shouting, large orange words take up space on the page, making characters feel withdrawn and small. Overall, Krosoczka does a fantastic job of conveying various serious, intense, moods throughout the memoir.

Dialogue

Told in first-person, Krosoczka's narration changes throughout the memoir as he grows up. His age at each section of the narrative underpins how he voices, and understands, the events happening to him at each time. As a toddler, he does not understand where his mom has gone, but he still loves her deeply, and the narrative reflects that. As a teenager, he has developed a deep understanding that his mother is addicted to heroin, and that she has been in and out of jail and halfway houses. This, too, impacts the dialogue and narration from an older, and more angsty perspective. The dialogue given to each character makes them each distinct and lifelike, which would make sense given the genre. The title, Hey, Kiddo, makes an appearance several times, in the mouth of his grandparents and mothers, reminding the audience that this is the author’s story we are being let in on, and these other characters all speak in a manner toward a young child, adolescent, and then young man. 

Reference

Krosoczka, J. J. (2018). Hey, Kiddo. Graphix.

Review of The Poet X

 

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

Genre/Category

The Poet X is a realistic fiction and romance novel in verse. The category I am reviewing this book is for 7-12th Grade National Book Award Winner.

Target Age Group

The target age group for this novel is 13 and up as it contains mature themes such as sexual content, religious/family trauma, and some violence. 

Summary

The Poet X follows Xiomara Batista, a 15-year-old who lives in Harlem with her mother, father, and twin brother, Xavier. Xiomara’s family, specifically her mother, is devoutly Catholic and disapproves of many aspects of Xiomara’s interests and behavior, such as slam poetry. In this novel, Xiomara battles religious trauma, body image issues, self-expression, family heartaches, and first love, all in an effort to understand herself and become closer to her love of poetry. 

Justification

The Poet X is a multi-award-winning title that has garnered extensive attention and reviews since its publication in 2018. It has won the National Book award, Printz award, and Pura Belpre award. I have also heard about it due to Acevedo's fantastic role in narrating the audiobook. I also love poetry, so I was excited to give this novel a shot!

Audiobook Reading Experience

Normally, I am not a huge fan of audiobooks as I am a visual learner and find it difficult to follow along with the story if I am not reading it in my head in my own voice. However, I am glad that I chose to listen to the audiobook of The Poet X as it positively affected my experience with the book. I will discuss this further under the “narration” section, but overall, hearing the story in the author’s own voice brought the story to life and helped with my comprehension of the poems and Spanish text inclusion. As this is a novel in verse, Acevedo not only reads the poems but also performs them with rhythm, a great parallel to the protagonist and her love for slam poetry. 

Evaluation

I have decided to limit my evaluation of The Poet X to audiobook narration, characterization, and figurative language.

Narration   

Acevedo’s audiobook narration really brought the protagonist Xiomara to life. It felt as though Xiomara was telling her story directly. Additionally, Acevedo’s pronunciation of Spanish in a Dominican dialect emphasized the power of the words, an aspect that would missed simply reading the book without the narration. Lastly, Avecedo brought an appreciated rhythm to each poem. Naturally, poems are meant to be read aloud and for an audience to experience them that way. Acevedo brought a necessary rhythm, emotion, and power to each word such as these lines when Xiomara is describing how she feels about love interest Aman: “it’s real nice. / Real, real nice. / Blood on ice, ice / waiting for that warmth / that heat that fire” (Acevedo, 2018, p. 164). Overall, the narration greatly increased the drama and intensity of the novel.

 

Characterization 

The characters in The Poet X are well rounded, especially the protagonist, Xiomara. As this is a novel in verse told from the perspective of the protagonist, the reader is let into her mind and all of her emotions, desires, and insecurities. When discussing how her body has garnered negative attention her whole life, we get poignant lines such as “I’ve forced my skin just as thick as I am” (p. 13) and “My body was a problem. / And I didn’t want any of these boys to be the one to solve it” (p. 130). With each poem we learn more about her trauma with religion and her relationship with her strict mother. We also learn about her relationship with her twin, Xavier and best friend Caridad. Most importantly, Xiomara undergoes a beautiful transformation of being shy and unsure of her poetry to standing out at open mics and performances. There are many journeys that Xiomara and her family go on in this novel that Acevedo explore to their full extent.

 

Figurative Language 

The key difference between a novel and novel in verse is how poetically the narrative is told. Instead of sentences, Acevedo focused on line length, rhyme, rhythm, and figurative language to convey the narrative. The three figurative language moves Acevedo makes the most frequently are metaphor, anaphora, and line repetition. By the end of the novel, Acevedo presents a powerful metaphor that sums up both Xiomara’s relationship with religion via her mother and poetry: “There is power in the word” (p. 288). Poems such as “In Aman’s arms” present each poetic line beginning with the poem’s title followed by how Xiomara feels in relation to her love interest. Many poems make use of repeition of words such as “no” or “how” to reinforce a particular sentiment. Another interesting move that mimics the poems action with the shape of the words is when Mami is dragging Xiomara to the altar of the Virgin, and pushing her down on her knees to pray on grains of rice, while the words explaining this are also slanting and falling down the page. All of these examples provided are to say that Acevedo is methodical in her language in this novel, and it makes for a non-stop engaging piece.

Reference 

Acevedo, E. (2020). The Poet X (E. Acevedo, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Quill Tree Books.