Category: Ages 12+

Flash Review: How It All Ends by Emma Hunsinger

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By Maureen Tai, 30 November 2024

Many graphic novels for children and young adults that I’ve been reading as a judge for the 2024 Cybils Awards are about new beginnings at new schools. One of my favourite books in this category, How It All Ends by Emma Hunsinger (ages 12+), is a brilliantly executed, belly-achingly hilarious and cleverly illustrated tale of 13-year-old Tara’s premature jump from middle school to high school. Skipping grade nine doesn’t seem that big a deal to the wildly imaginative and high-performing teen … until the first day of school arrives. Tara is swept into a heaving crowd of chaotic high school bodies and even more chaotic behaviours, armed only with a school map hastily drawn by her best friend and older sister, Isla, and accompanied by her bearded ex-middle school classmate, Jessup, who clings to Tara like she’s an inflatable life buoy. Will our beloved Baby Genius survive the exhibitionist males in her English class? Will she lose herself in the labyrinthian hallways of high school? Will she find friends and fit in? You’ll have to read the book to find out How It All Ends (you won’t regret it, promise!).

Ages 12 and up.

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!

Flash Review: The Worlds We Leave Behind by A.F. Harrold, illustrated by Levi Pinfold

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By Maureen Tai, 17 May 2024

Friendships are tricky, especially if you’re a 10-year old boy like Hex who doesn’t understand himself sometimes. Like why he spontaneously danced in class. Or made fun of the classmate who had wet his pants. Or runs away from a terrible accident that happens in the woods while Hex, his best friend Tommo, and an irrepressible little girl called Sascha (who has tagged along with them) are playing on a rope swing. Caught up in a swirl of emotions, Hex runs, and the next day, Hex keeps on running until he meets a strange woman in the deep, dark forest and is beckoned to her cottage. The woman’s shaggy dog, Leafy, is depicted in one of the many spooky, monochrome illustrations to be as large as a pony. The woman offers Hex the chance to right the wrongs done to him, to erase the hurt. Does Hex take it? Do any of the complex, haunted characters in this richly imagined, carefully brewed, middle-grade novel take that one devastating option offered to them, to irrevocably alter the world – and their lives – as they know it? The story in The Worlds We Leave Behind unfolds slowly but surely, revealing itself to be dark, deeply philosophical, and above all, exquisitely written.

Ages 12 and up.

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!

Flash Review: Lost in Taiwan by Mark Crilley

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By Maureen Tai, 16 January 2024

Can you lose your way in an unknown place and end up finding yourself? This is what happens in Lost in Taiwan (ages 12+), an exquisite ode to the island, in graphic novel form. Paul, an angst-ridden, screen-addicted American high-schooler finds himself lost in the town of Changbei, Taiwan, without his phone and without any Mandarin language skills. Luckily, he is saved by an unexpected new friend. Bubbly, scooter-riding Peijing takes Paul under her wing, showing him – and readers – a side of Taiwan that is rarely seen, and challenging Paul’s Western ethnocentricity when he refers to her culture as “exotic.” The stunning and masterfully rendered illustrations are thoughtful and detailed, bringing Paul and Peijing’s blossoming friendship (and romance) to life. This gentle, coming-of-age graphic novel shows how enriching and rewarding travelling outside one’s comfort zone can be, and will appeal in particular to those keen to catch an authentic glimpse of how the Taiwanese live, love, and pray.

Ages 12 and up.

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!

Flash Review: Mexikid by Pedro Martin

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By Maureen Tai, 17 September 2023

There’s a lot to like about Mexikid, a graphic memoir (ages 10+) about Pedro, a American boy of Mexican heritage, and his big family (11 members in all, enough for a full mariachi band as wryly observed by a waiter in the novel). The illustrations: energetic and boldly coloured, largely in comic-style but also in realistic, swirling watercolours. The characters: engaging, relatable and so well-developed that even though there are so many of them, you don’t ever feel lost or confused. The setting: the pre-Internet days of late 1970s America/Mexico, peppered with nostalgic references (at least to much older readers like myself) to popular tv shows (Happy Days), iconic technology (cassette tapes), and questionable comestibles (Pop Rocks). The culture: Mexican food, drink, music and warm, Spanish-speaking families (all big of course!). And lastly, the story: a humorous account of an epic family road trip by secondhand winnebago to transport Pedro’s elderly (yet extremely robust) abuelito from Mexico to the USA. As a kid, I used to watch a tv show called The Waltons and it made me wish I came from a big, rambunctious, bickering, jostling family. Mexikid made me feel the same way, all over again. A lively and engrossing read that will appeal to middle graders, in particular boys obsessed with superheroes, imaginary or real. (Many thanks to the independent publisher, Guppy Books, for making a copy available to me on NetGalley).

Ages 10 and up.

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!