Etta Invincible
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
In this touching, “snappy…[, and] well-paced” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) debut middle grade novel, a girl with hearing loss and a boy adjusting to life in a new country connect through their love of comics and get entangled in their own fantastical adventure.
Twelve-year-old Etta Johnson has Loud Days where she can hear just fine and Quiet Days where sounds come from far away and she gets to retreat into her thoughts. Etta spends most of her time alone, working on her comic book about Invincible Girl, the superhero who takes down super villain Petra Fide. Invincible Girl is brave, daring, and bold—everything Etta wishes she could be.
But when Louisa May Alcott, a friendly Goldendoodle from across the street, disappears, Etta and the dog’s boy, Eleazar, must find their inner heroes to save her. The catch? Louisa May has run onto a magical train that mysteriously arrived at the station near Etta and Eleazar’s houses. Onboard, they discover each train car is its own magical world with individual riddles and challenges that must be solved before they can reach the engine room and rescue Louisa May.
Only, the stakes are even higher than they thought. The train’s magic is malfunctioning and spreading a purple smoke called The Fear through the streets of Chicago. Etta and Eleazar are the only ones who can save the city, save Louisa May Alcott—and save each other.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In a contemporary Chicago plagued by worsening storms and anise-scented clouds, Black 12-year-old Laureatte "Etta" Johnson loves drawing her own superheroine, Invincible Girl. But the comics fan doesn't feel her protagonist's bravery as she confronts the increasing hearing loss and vertigo that are symptoms of her "Big Maybe" diagnosis of Ménière's disease. Etta's tentative friendship with Eleazar, a fellow seventh grader homesick for Colombia, deepens after following his beloved goldendoodle, Louisa May Alcott, onto a magical train that pulls in to their neighborhood station, and whose cars feature whimsically nightmarish obstacles that they must outwit as they search for Louisa. Their quest gains increasing urgency as evidence connects the train with the enchanted storms that are draping Chicago in despair, endangering their families. Through Etta's perceptive first-person voice, Eschmann (the Home for Meow series) grounds the train's Hayao Miyazaki–like atmosphere in both children's realities, involving Etta's interest in art-making as well as her use of sign language and Google Translate to communicate with others, including Eleazar, whose first language is Spanish. Lusky's (Primer) interstitial b&w comics panels bring vivid life to Etta's original comic book creations. Ages 8–12. Author's agent: Danielle Burby, Nelson Literary.
