I received ARCs (Advanced Reader's Copies) of these two books from the publisher along with a note asking to hold reviews until August. Well, suffer my glowing review, First Second! The request is an odd one since all of the major review sources will publish their reviews before then. And isn't the whole idea behind sending out the ARCs to build up advance praise for a title? Well the books are going on sale in September...Who knows the reason for the request. I usually like what I read from First Second (a division of Macmillan), and this is no exception. They are the publishers of excellent graphic literature for all ages. Gene Luen Yang is the winner of the Printz Award for "American Born Chinese" in 2007 (I cried when it won...graphic novels had finally arrived...'course I was pretty exhausted since that was my first turn on the Newbery Committee). Here he brings the story of the Boxer Rebellion to life in two intertwined volumes published simultaneously. "Saints" follows Four-Girl who isn't given a proper name by her family..."four" is a homonym for "death"...lovely thing to name a child. She thinks of herself as a devil and has visions of a devil spirit in the body of a raccoon until, through a local doctor, she discovers Christianity. She doesn't totally understand it at first; it is the religion of the foreign devils (Europeans). As things get worse at home, she takes refuge in the religion that gives her an actual name. Her visions of the raccoon are replaced by visions of Joan of Arc...and, well you have to read it to get more of the story. "Boxers" follows Little Bao who loves to watch operas during local festivals. The foreign devils bring trouble to his village. The Chinese government is obviously in their pocket. After his father is disgraced by them, Bao takes up training with Red Lantern Chu. Bao and his brothers and town's boys defend locals from the foreign devils and their Chinese sympathizers; and when in battle Bao sees the heroes of those operas he loved so much in the bodies of his friends. That's all of his story you will get from me. You'll have to read this to get more. The two volumes offer sympathetic portraits of both sides. The two main characters do meet...I read Saints first and I think I'd recommend that (can't tell you why--it would give away too much). Both are excellent historical graphic fictions told with magical realism. You get a good idea of this period in Chinese history from following the lives of these two young people. Teens and tweens will likely be intrigued. But I would recommend these for everyone from tween to adults. Fascinating, heart-rending, page-turning...well worth your time. |
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About MeTim is a writer, book reviewer and Librarian. He has a Master's of Library Science and was on the Newbery Committee twice. Technology scares and often annoys him, but he is always game for a silly costume! Archives
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