Review by Booklist Review
As Jade prepares to leave for a prestigious art camp, she learns that her best friend Phoebe has attempted suicide and is recovering at a hospital. At camp, Jade tries to focus on her pottery, which isn't as developed as her peers' work, and her budding romance with Mary, who makes interactive installations, but guilt gnaws at her. Why is Jade allowed to have so much fun when she knows Phoebe is struggling? Her feelings manifest themselves in her drawings--which, when aflame, take the form of hazy, fiery memories of Phoebe--and her animal sculptures, which attack her when no one else is looking. The cartoony roundness of the illustrations adds a youthful sweetness to Jade's coming-of-age tale. Meanwhile, the story dwells on heavy topics--including mental illness, the pressure to reach your potential, and learning to let go of things outside your control--making this a good fit for readers looking for a slower, more introspective graphic novel. Final colors not seen.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Shortly before high schooler Jade begins a monthlong summer art residency, her best friend, Phoebe, is hospitalized following a suicide attempt. Isolated by the rustic Art Farm's cell phone--free campus, Jade attempts to find a driving concept for her ceramics while struggling to understand Phoebe's actions as well as cope with feeling like she abandoned her friend. Working alongside talented peers and exacting instructors, and forming a strong connection with another artist, Mary, Jade feels ever more conflicted about leaving Phoebe behind--especially when her art, including a memory of Phoebe, literally comes to life. Debut artist Pandya portrays the characters simply, employing bold lines and sparse distinguishing details against richly depicted environments, all rendered in dreamy grays and electric pinks. Though the story centers conversations regarding mental health and its intersection with art, a lack of in-depth discussion and additional character development undercuts the narrative's overall impact. Text by McCoola (Baba Yaga's Assistant) ruminates, through Jade's interior thoughts and external dialogue, on themes of guilt and pressure. Characters are portrayed with varying skin tones. Ages 14--up. Agent (for McCoola and Pandya): Jen Linnan, Linnan Literary. (June)
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--Heavy with guilt over her best friend Phoebe's suicide attempt, Jade heads to sleep-away camp at the Art Farm. As Jade attempts to distract herself, she struggles to stay present at the camp and makes novice mistakes with her kiln, which destroys pieces created by her fellow campers. Mary, a romantic prospect, temporarily attracts Jade's attention and focus in a positive direction, but when Jade's Phoebe-inspired sculptures come to life and wreak havoc, her mind returns to the dark place she's been working to escape from all summer. Making expert use of white space and color, Pandya's sketchy, expressive artwork illustrates McCoola's shifting tones. Though the layout occasionally makes following dialogue difficult, overall this graphic novel successfully brings the story to life via symbolism and figurative language coupled with deeply developed characters. There are mature, elegant depictions of human anatomy within a character's portfolio. Mary and Jade appear to be Asian, while Phoebe appears to be white. VERDICT With themes ranging from mental health to self-discovery, this art-infused text will entice graphic novel fans and art students and leave them wanting another installment of Jade's story.--Angie Jameson
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
This graphic novel sensitively explores friendship, love, art, mental health, and self-harm. Just before Jade leaves for the Art Farm, a competitive summer intensive program that might snag her a scholarship to art school, her best friend, Phoebe, attempts suicide. Worried about Phoebe, who is now in a mental health facility, and fearing that her own clay art is simply not good enough, Jade tries desperately to focus on her Art Farm work. While searching for inspiration, she falls into a sweet summer romance with fellow artist Mary. Jade discovers that burning her drawings can create a kind of magic, replaying her memories with Phoebe in the flames. It's cathartic -- until it starts to bring the clay monsters she's now making to life. Pandya's illustrations are shaded white and navy except in moments of intense emotion, when scenes turn brilliant red. This device heightens the contrast between the friendly, rounded art style showing Jade's rural summer program and her growing internal distress. Her emotional arc is compellingly messy and gut-wrenching, as she grapples with her responsibility to a friend in crisis, genuine trauma reactions, and the stresses of life as an artist. Readers will learn about the process of working with clay and grow to care about these tender, complex relationships, including Jade's relationships to her art and to herself. Bodie Shanis July/August 2022 p.131(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Enrolling at the Art Farm should have been fun, but Jade's best friend, Phoebe, has just attempted suicide; the residency is more intense and competitive than she had imagined; and she's feeling lost among the creative, inspired residents. Yet the summer is full of promise, beauty, and friendship--especially the possibility of romance with the absolutely lovely and whimsical Mary--even as it comes with a side of guilt for Jade as she thinks about Phoebe. When pushed to consider her creative process, Jade turns clay and inner turmoil into ceramic monsters, which in turn change form, springing to life from the kiln. The color palette shifts from monochrome to sepia as Jade finds herself missing Phoebe and starts rationalizing her newfound feelings through imaginary conversations with her friend. Splashes of fabulism are seamlessly incorporated through illustrations and text to celebrate art--its purpose and technique and powers to heal, disrupt, and inspire--all without being sentimental. Slip is liquefied clay that's used to attach and protect pottery, and it serves as a metaphor running through the work about transformation, fragility, and bonding. Yet, there is space for more depth of character development, especially of the other artists at the Art Farm and in the relationship between Phoebe and Jade. Jade has brown skin and wavy dark hair; Mary has light skin and dark hair. A fierce, transformative graphic novel about art and relationships. (Graphic fiction. 12-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
