But in trying to change herself, Gabrielle risks giving Lydia the power to conquer Brooklyn. Gabrielle desperately wants to fit in despite the xenophobia she experiences every day and despite making new, accepting friends in Mexican American Carmen and Rocky the talking rat-rabbit. Arnold skillfully fuses distinct immigrant experiences with the supernatural to express a universally felt desire for belonging. Lydia makes her an offer she can’t refuse: achieving assimilation. A preternaturally sensitive child, Gabrielle feels responsible for not only her own success, but her whole family’s, so the stakes of moving in with her uncle, aunt, and cousins in Brooklyn are high-even before Lady Lydia, a witch, tries to steal her essence. When her parents’ paperwork issues mean she must immigrate to the United States alone, every heavenly thing she believes about America can’t outweigh the sense of dread she feels in leaving everything she knows behind. Warning: this just might spur frenzied requests for Frankenstein.Ī didactic blueprint disguised as a supernatural treasure map.Īt home in Haiti, 10-year-old Gabrielle Marie Jean loves the rain, scary stories, beating the boys in mango-eating contests, and her family, most of all. Her best friend, Elijah, is cued as Black.
Zee is presumably White (as is her rich-girl nemesis–cum-comrade, Nellie). This debut from a promising writer involves a navigation of caste systems, self-esteem, and villainy that exists in an interesting world with intriguing characters, but they receive a flat, two-dimensional treatment that ultimately makes the book feel like one is learning a ho-hum lesson in morality. The creepy supernatural current continues throughout, intermingled with very real forays into bullying (Zee won’t stand for it or for the notion that good girls need to act nice), body positivity, socio-economic status and social hierarchy, and mental health. But a dog with bleeding eyes in a cemetery gives her pause-momentarily-because the beast is just the tip of the wicked that has this way come to town. Don’t pity her, because Zee doesn’t acquiesce to snobbery, bullying, or pretty much anything that confronts her. She’s a storyteller, a Mary Shelley fangirl, and is being raised by her 21-year-old high school dropout sister while their father looks for work upstate (cue the wayward glances from the affluent demography). It’s not just her stark white hair that makes 11-year-old Zee Puckett stand out in nowheresville Knobb’s Ferry. Lora is of Chinese descent, and Alexa is White Lora’s middle-class North American community is vibrantly diverse.Ī coming-of-age tale that is both comforting and wonderfully peculiar.Ī girl who delights in the macabre harnesses her inherited supernatural ability. She artfully balances complex character arcs and suspense while bringing a touch of fantasy and wonder without overcrowding the plot. While this is Yee’s middle-grade debut, she is a veteran of comic books, and it shows. But the two friends gradually find their goals diverging, which leads to an emotional climax. Lora finds the courage to participate in more social events while staying authentic. With the help of some old friends, Alexa eventually discovers more about her long-forgotten past, having lived in the same town 50 years prior. The energetic, flowing graphics embellished with colorful details reveal complex narratives for both characters. The two become fast friends, with Alexa gently prodding Lora to reach out to peers and slowly engage in more social events. While throwing herself a séance tea party in the attic, she discovers a ghost, a girl about her age, named Alexa.
While her best friend and her classmates seem obsessed with parties, boys, and texting, her interests have remained fixed on witches, ghosts, and nostalgic activities of childhood. In this graphic novel, 12-year-old Lora Xi finds herself increasingly isolated.
As a girl struggles to navigate adolescence, she finds support from an unlikely source.
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