GIRL ON FIRE: A Graphic Novel Review by Guest Blogger, Elliott Kurta

Written by a Grammy-winning musician, Girl on Fire is Alicia Keys’ latest project. Aimed at mature middle-schoolers, this graphic novel is a good book for easing students into heavier reading with more complex themes. The book is illustrated by Brittney Williams. 

            Girl on Fire stars Lolo Wright, a Black girl who lives in the Monroe Housing Projects. Lolo thinks she’s normal, albeit smarter than all her classmates, until a police officer assaults her brother. Before even Lolo knows what she’s doing, the police officer is floating above the ground. Lolo discovers she has the ability to lift and manipulate objects, including people. Soon, she’s bombarded with visions of a classmate and former friend, Michael Warner. As Lolo and her family come to terms with her new powers, a powerful drug dealer, Skin, tries to enlist Lolo so that he can use her abilities. Michael has already started working for Skin, and he’s put in charge of bullying Lolo’s family so that Lolo will fall in line with Skin’s orders. With so many variables, Lolo knows that it’s up to her to make sure that her family and friends are protected. Will she succeed in keeping her family safe, or will the pressure be too much for her?

            Although there are some redeeming qualities to this book, for the most part, it reads like a bad publicity stunt. Each chapter, and even the title of the book, all share names with an Alicia Keys song. The book even ends with a verse from the song Girl on Fire. Aside from the branding involved in her book, Alicia Keys also creates a plot that both overwhelms and leaves something to be desired. Lolo Wright is a normal girl who’s trying to make a better life for herself. While battling drug dealers. And handling her new superpowers. And dealing with the sudden reappearance of her mother. In between standing up for herself to the school bullies and realizing it’s okay to be smart and confident in yourself. Plus, she has a love interest, as does her brother. Even with all of these concurrent plot lines, the ending is a bit of a Deus Ex Machina, and Lolo doesn’t progress much as a character. Various themes are introduced, then dropped, leaving many questions to be answered. For example, Lolo’s connection with Michael is never fully explained. There are also various disposable characters that serve no real purpose other than to add “depth” to the story.

            Even though this novel is written for middle schoolers, this graphic novel is an awfully graphic novel. There are drug dealers, murders, various explosions, and four near-death experiences. Lolo Wright and her family, especially her brother and father, go through a lot of bad experiences over the course of the book. High schoolers might be better suited to this book, or at least rising high schoolers.

            Plot holes aside, Girl on Fire ultimately tells a story of perseverance. Lolo Wright stands her ground and sticks to her morals and earns the ending she deserves. The theme of this book is to push through and do things the right way, even if that takes more time and effort. Even with the darker and less appropriate elements found in this story, the message behind it all is moving and empowering. And although readers may be consistently left a bit confused, they’ll certainly be able to relate to the characters in the story. Lolo and her friends and family all have realistic dialogue that stays appropriate for the ages of their characters. Lolo’s self-consciousness, her father’s values, and her friend Nia’s peppy attitude all shine through their words and actions.

            In conclusion, Girl on Fire has its share of flaws, but behind it all is a moving story. The novel is ridden with drug dealers and violence, but part of what makes this novel so graphic is the realistic characters and what befalls them. For mature Alicia Keys fans, Girl on Fire is a good introduction to darker themes for rising high schoolers. The illustrations in this book will draw readers in, but the realistic topics and characters will be what hook them.

Elliott is a prolific reader of various genres 
who is more than happy to share his opinions on books.
 In his free time, he enjoys writing, reading, and running. 
He is a 9th-grade student in Charlotte, NC. 

Don't forget to check out Greg Partridge's Always in the Middle blog on Monday with lots more MG books!

Congratulations to Connie Saunders who won MY HANDS TELL A STORY. 

The Road to Bittersweet: An Audio Book Review and Giveaway

When I read in the Tantor Audio new release list that The Road To Bittersweet was set in North Carolina in the forties, I knew this was a book for me. This was my first book by Donna Everhart, but I suspect it won't be my last. Today's post is a review of the book that is based on the Flood of 1940 in Silva, NC. On June 18th and 25th I am posting a two-part interview with Donna that provides the backstory for this dramatic novel that both young adults and adults will enjoy. (Note: Since I reviewed this as an audio book, quotes might not be exact. I did my best to capture the words as I listened.)

Review

The book opens with Wallis Ann Stamper, the protagonist, turning fourteen and telling a birthing story. Not her own story, like the reader might expect, but rather the story of her older sister, Laci, "whose name alone conjures a frail and delicate bein'." Wallis Ann repeats what she's heard her mother tell: how when the granny woman delivered Laci she "come out the color of a ripened blueberry." Although Laci survived that difficult birth, she doesn't fit in with the harsh way of life in Western North Carolina, but "exists as a whisper you barely hear" or a "shadow on a partly cloudy day."

Granny women
From Donna Everhart's Pinterest board

Mute from birth but gifted musically, the local doctor diagnoses Laci as an idiot savant; Laci hears a tune once and then plays it perfectly on the one thing that matters the most--her fiddle. (Today she would be diagnosed autistic savant.) Wallis Ann is given the responsibility of taking care of her sister; as a result Laci, tags along behind her older sister wherever Wallis Anne goes. Since the author spends so much time in the opening scenes showing Laci through Wallis Ann's eyes, the reader knows that Laci will be an important secondary character.

Wallis Ann's family including her little brother Seth, lives besides Stampers Creek. On the night of Wallis Ann's birthday, a monstrous storm hits their cabin. As the creek rises, Wallis Ann sees her father's face get tight, "smoothing out the normal crinkles and curves." With Laci clinging to her fiddle, they pack the truck cab "tight as ticks" and try to escape the rising waters. The fear in Wallis Ann's mouth "tastes like bitterness."

The creek, fed from the roaring waters of the Tuckaseigee River, becomes their enemy rather than a stream by which Wallis Ann and Laci had rested; Laci sitting on the Wishing Rock playing her fiddle, Wallis Ann thinking. In excruciating, tension-filled detail, the author shows as each family member is swept off the roof of the truck. "The muddy wall of water is like a charging, angry bull." As Wallis Ann fights the current, she sees dead animals and people floating downstream and wonders if it's selfish that she doesn't want her family to go under. 

Flood of 1940

"As spent as a nickel in a dime store," Wallis Ann finds refuge by climbing a tree where she stays for several days. When it's finally safe to come down, she is exhausted, weak, and starving. She's worried about her family but "I refused to cry over what I didn't know." 

On the road trying to get back to Stamper's Creek, Wallis Anne is met by Joe Calhoun and his son; Joe's wife was crushed by a pine tree that fell on their house. Wallis Ann smells his grief and misery, even as they lift the tree and rescue his little daughter. 

Flood of 1940

When Wallis Ann returns to the property, there aren't even two chairs left from their home. The oak that her great-grandpa had planted as a sapling had fallen down. Nothing was left but the stone foundation which her father had built twenty years ago. "A part of my history had been taken away."

Like Cricket in Jo Hackl's debut middle-grade novel, Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe," Wallis Ann listened to her father's stories about survival and is able to build a fire, boil water, and with the gifts of food from Joe, can sustain herself. When her family comes back together again they're convinced they've seen the worst--but unfortunately, that's not the case. 

Flood of 1940

I risk giving away too many spoilers but Wallis Ann watches Laci become more unstable without her lost fiddle; her parents desperation trying to survive increasingly colder weather without shelter, food, or warm clothing; disease and death. As Wallis Anne observes, "All of us was collapsing like the barn."

Their "salvation" comes in an unlikely place. They leave Stamper's Creek to find work and shelter, and end up on the road singing in churches for enough food and gas money to keep them going. Wallis Ann meets Clayton, a high dive act in a carnival. When Clayton finds out the Stampers are a musical family, he convinces them to join the carnival--a further blow to Mama's pride. 

This new period in Wallis Ann's life is rich with symbolism. After they perform she observes, "People stared at us like we were a side show of freaks rather than regular people." The carnival is full of freaks but when the carnival owner puts a sign up that advertises Laci as  "The Mountain Mute," Wallis Ann's father finally draws the line.  Wallis Ann and her mother are haunted by the question of who is normal and who are the freaks.

Circus Freaks were not unknown in the past. 

Laci's beauty and musical abilities attracts attention--even from Clayton who Wallis Ann crushes on--and she experiences annoyance over her sister's constant attachment. "How will anybody notice me with Laci beside me all the time?" And, "I'll never be able to separate from her and go after my own wishes."

Wallis Ann witnesses Laci and Clayton's love and her jealousy drives her to a response that she deeply regrets. This deep point of view shows how a well-developed secondary character can impact the protagonist and how motivations drive actions. "I wanted someone else to hurt as much as me."  When the couple disappears after Wallis Ann betrays them, she is consumed with guilt; she and her parents are overcome with grief. "Afterwards, we moved about the camp site like we was strangers. Like we’d each gone up a different mountain and stationed ourselves far apart." 

After much trouble and sorrow, The Road to Bittersweet  has a satisfying ending. When the family returns home, Joe Calhoun's wise words help Wallis Anne find a way out from under her paralyzing guilt that "tugs at her soul like the Tuckaseigee." 

Amy Melissa Bentley, the narrator, does an excellent job portraying both male and female voices. The perfect Appalachian North Carolina dialect lends authenticity to this period novel. Here's the snippet which opens the book.

The Caudill log cabin which inspired Donna's depiction of
the Stamper family's cabin.
Photo courtesy Iredell County Hiker's Club

GIVEAWAY

Please leave me your name and email address if you would like to enter the giveaway for this audio CD. A winner will be chosen on June 28, following the two-part interview with Donna. Leave comments on each of those blog posts and I'll add your name for additional chances to win.