Hope LarsonRecensioner

A Wrinkle in TIme is appropriate for intermediate readers
This book is about a group of kids who go on a journey through time and space to rescue one of their fathers.
This book would be useful when teaching about graphica/graphic novels.

Middle level
Discusses biblical aspects along with science fiction ideas.
The book talks about friendship, family and how love overcomes evil which is considered to be the dark thing in this story.

Perfect for fans of Ghibli movies!!!

One of the best Batgirl comics I’ve read!! 🙌🏼💙🖤 #BabsIsBae

An interesting graphic novel about the summer between 7th and 8th grade and a girl finding herself and her confidence. I love a representation of a tattooed mom. Ours is classified in JG, but I think a better fit for middle grade or YA.

I loved this graphic novel of a book I loved as a child. The illustrations were striking and imparted a lot of emotional information. The story was powerful and mysterious.

In October 1993, fourteen-year-old ninth-grader Christine begins keeping a diary. She documents her friendship with "shiny" Landry, her crushes, her work for the school paper and her friendship with Paul, life with her mom and two younger siblings, high school parties, nightswimming, kisses, breakups, and working at a video store. Achingly realistic, yet not too dark.

See also: Phoebe's Diary by Phoebe Wahl; Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Quotes

...just be normal, like everyone else.
The funny thing is, trying to hard to be normal is starting to make me feel crazy. Like, if I don't empty out all the murky goop swishing around in my brain, my head will eventually explode. (4)

This is like long-distance Truth or Dare. (122)

That's the essence of shiny-ness, really: simultaneously standing out and looking like you belong. (136)

I sometimes have dreams about finding rooms in my house that I didn't know were there. I'll be in a room I've known all my life, and suddenly there's a door that leads to an attic full of treasures. That's how tonight felt: like a door to a world I might never have known....I caught a flash of the other side of heartbreak. Things suck right now, but if I can just hang on, everything will be okay. (212)½

This was cute, but the narrative felt thin and unpolished. I did like Tintin Pantoja's sketchy, webcomic-y art, although it's not to all tastes.

Really nice art. This is the second book I've read by Larson (not counting her adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time) and I don't connect to her storytelling very well. Her plotting and pacing always feel a little off-kilter, her characters slightly opaque. She's a clever and thoughtful writer, just not my thing.

Every time I read A Wrinkle in Time, I am reminded just why I love Madeleine L'Engle: her novels are so complex and rich, without ever being too "heady". It is because her stories are anchored in love, which is the theme of this wonderful story after-all. And, I have to say that Hope Larson, the cartoonist behind Chiggers, Grey Horses, and Mercury, does a wonderful job adapting Madeleine L'Engle's classic novel into the graphic novel format. This was my second reading of Larson's adaptation and It is obvious that Larson has great affection for the tale of time and space travel, outsiders, and fascism, and she has created a touching graphic novel from it. Larson's vividly imagined interpretations of tessering (which I loved) and favorite characters, like the Happy Medium and Aunt Beast are quite wonderful. Perfect for delighting old fans and winning over new ones, this graphic novel adaptation is an absolute must-read about the triumph of love over evil on a cosmic scale.
L'Engle said in her Newberry Medal Acceptance Speech that "a book can be a star, explosive material, capable of staring up fresh life endlessly, a living fire to lighten the darkness, leading out into the expanding universe." How true this is of A Wrinkle in Time.

This was fun! A fitting close. One loose end didn't get resolved though... what about Bina's bro and husband helping match funds? are they still going to match the funds, or when Lora said they got the money, did she mean the portion needed for Bina's fam to match the rest??? i'm thinking too financially about this lol

3.5^

Chaotic teen drama but entertaining. The narrative voice is stellar.

Not truly a graphic novel more Diary of a Wimpy Kidish/mixed media-ish

Elegant, but very slight (and short). My least favourite so far of Larson's books. I guess it was an early one, so her storytelling hadn't developed.

This is great - sophisticated story-telling, good characters, nice atmosphere. There should be hundreds or thousands more comics this good - this should be the mainstream. That said, its worth noting that it is a YA book, and the characters are mostly teens - people who are allergic to that kind of thing may want to steer clear. But if they do, they're missing a very fine comic, streets ahead of most 'mature' comics currently out there. If I had one slight criticism it's that some of the characters can look a touch too similar (although the characters that are meant to look alike I had no trouble telling apart, despite their similarity). Otherwise, this is excellent stuff.

This a graphic novel about 12 year old Vonceil, whose older brother has returned from the war with a fiancée Vonceil is suspicious of.

I loved the opening, with its vivid portrayal of being a girl on the cusp of adolescence, and of rural American life in 1919. It turns into a fairytale-esque coming-of-age adventure in which Vonceil sets off to save her family, and I liked that, too, but not quite as much as the beginning. (Which surprised me. Maybe this story is the sort that I prefer in prose format, which can capture atmosphere and a protagonist’s emotions in a different way from pictures?)

I was a bit disappointed by the final scenes, which felt rushed and didn’t really address my questions about how Vonceil re-adjusts to ordinary life after her adventure. But I would still recommend this, it really is lovely.½

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Netgalley.)

It's the first day of 1996 and, after a false start with journaling in her freshman year of high school, sixteen-year-old Christine is ready to put pen to paper - all part of her resolution to be a newer, SHINIER version of herself this year. (Kind of like her bestie Landry.) Over the next twelve months, we follow Christine as she makes new friends, and says goodbye to old ones; tries to find love, but mostly just ends up kissing a few losers; applies to college and worries over her lack of a LIFE PLAN; copes with grief after the loss of her father; and realizes that she is in love - and has been all along.

BE THAT WAY is a bit of a time capsule, and the nostalgia factor definitely soothed my GenX heart. However, I was hoping for more: more depth, more pathos, but mostly just more illustrations. I love Larson's style, and was disappointed to find that BE THAT WAY is a little prose-heavy. Alas, Christine doesn't get into graphic novels until the very end of the story, so there's that.

BE THAT WAY felt a bit like reading my own diary from that time period, for better or worse.

I think Hope Larson did a great job of translating Madeleine L'Engle's book to graphic novel format. The art style is beautiful and so many characters turned out pretty close to how I pictured them in my head when I was reading the novel.

The only problem I saw is that people who have not read the novel might be a bit confused a couple times because there is no real narration - it's almost entirely dialogue. Some of the concepts and feelings are kind of out there, and a lot of Meg's narration and insight into certain situations is missing as a result, so the reasons given for certain things seem kind of random.

Other than that, this was great and enjoyable!

Goldie Vance is a sweet graphic novel that gives me old school Nancy Drew vibes.

I love a fun graphic novel, especially one with lots of spunk like this one! Goldie lives in her Father's resort, and she's great at getting into shenanigans. She's really good at solving tiny cases, like missing jewelry within the hotel. When a bigger mystery comes about, she decides to help a detective solve it since her curiosity is just too high!

Goldie is spunky and fun, everything you want in a character like this. She reminds me of Nancy Drew, Cam Jansen, and those other fun books from my childhood! Except this time, it's in graphic novel form! I can easily see middle graders, young adults, new adults and just adults loving this story. There's really no set age group - it's just a fun mystery!

The illustrations were spectacular and super colourful. They drew my attention in and kept it there, alongside the excellent story. Throw in that this book also has a diverse cast and is LGBT friendly, and I'm even more excited.

Overall, this story was super sweet and cute!

Four out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boom! Studios for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

Cute, fun, fast read. I enjoyed the characters and the artwork. The only thing about the book that kind of bothered me was how convenient a lot of things were, but I suppose that is what you can expect from a YA detective story that is slightly cheesy. Not sure if I’ll pick up the sequels immediately, but I may check them out some day when I’m in the mood for another quick read.

A fun and exciting little adventure has a 12-year-old girl setting off on a road trip and risking her life to save her family's Oklahoma farm from a witch's curse in 1919.

After taking time throughout the story, the ending seemed abrupt and the closing pages of the flash-forward epilogue felt like a mistake, making me close the book with a slight scowl.

This was quite good--though I did prefer the novel better. However, I liked seeing yet another person's take on Mrs. Who and Aunt Beast among others.

I feel prepped to see the movie now ;)

2,5

This is the first graphic novel I have read and is a great interpretation of a classic story. I read it to my 4 and 6 year old and they loved it. My 4 year old does not like listening to chapter books as much as my 6 year old. This was a great compromise, the more sophisticated plot of a chapter book, but with plenty of pictures.

The first two filler stories had me disappointingly thinking this book was aimed at much too young readers for me, but the main story that followed was surprisingly solid, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.½