12/01/2016
Gr 4–7—In a world where only boys can be newsies, Blue poses as a boy in order to live in the communal house and hawk papers each day. What seems like a familiar setup quickly takes strange and delightful turns in this graphic novel by new artist and author Xu. Blue's city is at war, and the leaders are looking for a missing weapon. Meanwhile, Blue's newest friend, Crow, and her new mentor Jack have lots of secrets as well. When Jack and Crow's secrets collide, it might be time for Blue to reveal hers. The full-color palette is beautifully rendered. Xu's artwork is imbued with a beauty and depth that create a world slightly out of step with our own, at once familiar and excitingly strange. The illustrations match pace perfectly with the story, frantic at times and celebratory at others. The style veers between steampunk and manga and more traditional American comics, resulting in an exciting and refreshing title. Some of the details of the plot and the world are maddeningly vague, but that should not confound readers for long. Those who enjoyed "Amulet" will eagerly devour this book, the first in what will surely be a popular new series. VERDICT This excellent and unique offering features strong world-building and an original story line. It will happily find a home in most library collections.—Elizabeth Nicolai, Anchorage Public Library, AK
2016-10-19
An escalating war unites a ragamuffin with a secret and two fugitives with secrets of their own in this steampunk-tinged opener.Having herself spent three years in disguise as a news "boy," orphan Lavender Blue is willing to accept Jack Jingle, a brilliant but distracted inventor, and the oddly clicking, heavily muffled figure Crow as friends without probing into their pasts. Ultimately those pasts come home to roost, though, with revelations that Jack has built a flying war machine and Crow is its reluctant but purpose-built mechanical pilot. An escape attempt ends in a crash, separating it from the main characters and setting up the next volume in the series. Xu creates a nicely realistic 1920s-style setting for events and spaces out her panels to make the action reasonably easy to follow. Her manga-influenced figures, though, display only a limited range of expressions, most of them more exaggerated than called for by the circumstances, and many of the story's twists are thoroughly telegraphed. Confusingly, the blue-eyed, light-skinned child is tagged as "mixed" (i.e., part Grimmaean) and therefore suspicious for her light hair, while Jack, with similar coloring, is accepted without comment. By and large, characters display a range of skin tones, from dark brown to white. Despite a few rough edges, a promising start. (Graphic science fiction. 11-13)
10/24/2016
Though Blue holds her own among the newspaper lads in the town of Nautilene, few know that she’s not a boy. Her adopted family helps keep her secret, but that loyalty is challenged as Blue’s need to press boundaries pulls her into the geopolitics of her homeland of Goswing and its warring enemy, Grimmaea. She first befriends and becomes an apprentice to a scientist named Jack, who seems all too familiar with the war effort, then stumbles upon the reclusive Crow, who, like Blue, is not all he appears to be. Xu doesn’t always pull together narrative threads of her first graphic novel in ways that feel natural; encounters and dialogues can be forced, as when Blue randomly meets Crow sitting atop a building on a secured naval base and they become instant friends. There’s no faulting Xu’s art, though, which blends the expressiveness of manga with an emphasis on cross-panel action more commonly found in western comics. With rich coloring, retro cityscapes that hark to the era of newsies, and a miscellany of steampunk gadgetry, it’s an enjoyable romp that considers how hidden secrets shape who people become. Ages 8–12. (Jan.)
*"This excellent and unique offering features strong world-building and an original storyline." - School Library Journal, starred review
"With rich coloring, retro cityscapes that hark to the era of newsies, and a miscellany of steampunk gadgetry, it's an enjoyable romp that considers how hidden secrets shape who people become." - Publishers Weekly
"A fantastic story about friendship, and a strong debut graphic novel!" - Kazu Kibuishi, #1 New York Times bestselling creator of Amulet
"Ru Xu's gorgeous illustrations and heartfelt writing makes NewsPrints a graphic novel I want to reread again and again." - Faith Erin Hicks, New York Times bestselling author of The Nameless City
"Xu's manga-influenced art is full of movement and life." - Eva Volin, Children's Librarian, Alameda Free Library
