The Year of the Beasts
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Alternating chapters of prose and comics (illustrated by Eisner Award-winning graphic novelist Nate Powell) are interwoven in Cecil Castelucci's extraordinary YA novel about jealousy and grief, and how they cut us off from the ones we love.
Every summer the trucks roll in, bringing the carnival and its infinite possibilities to town. This year Tessa and her younger sister Lulu are un-chaperoned and want to be first in line to experience the rides, the food . . . and the boys. Except this summer, jealousy will invade their relationship for the first time, setting in motion a course of events that can only end in tragedy, putting everyone's love and friendship to the test.
Castellucci's deft shifting between straight prose and graphic novel visualize how Tessa processes the events of the summer, seeing herself and her friends as freaks personified by characters from Greek mythology.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Castellucci (First Day on Earth) and comics artist Powell (The Silence of Our Friends) mix narrative and graphic storytelling to produce an innovative, moody story about jealousy and grief. Through Castellucci's prose, readers learn about 15-year-old Tessa's growing rivalry with her younger sister, Lulu, who starts dating Tessa's crush, Charlie, and grabs the spotlight among Tessa's friends ("Tessa was a smoldering coal ready to light up at any moment.... Tessa believed that Lulu was stealing her place"). Meanwhile, in alternating chapters, Powell's skillful b&w panel art envisions Tessa's life through the lens of myth and monsters, with Tessa cast as Medusa, outcast and terrified by her ability to turn others to stone; her best friend Celina a mermaid; Charlie a centaur; and Jasper, a loner Tessa dates in secret, a minotaur. The story builds toward a tragedy that leaves Tessa devastated and sheds light on the themes of the graphic interludes. Readers will appreciate their access to Tessa's dark emotions throughout; this is a book teens will likely read and reread, gaining greater understanding as they piece together the two halves of this challenging coming-of-age story. Ages 12 up.
