The Year of the Beasts

Gr 7 Up—Fifteen-year-old Tessa has conflicting feeling toward her pretty, younger sister, Lulu. The simmering sibling rivalry erupts into jealousy one summer when Lulu begins to date Tessa's high school crush, Charlie, and develops a friendship with her best friend, Celina. Tessa's emotional turmoil is further complicated by her attraction to Jasper, a mysterious, quiet outcast. Her desire to be with him is at odds with her need to be accepted within her own circle of friends. The tension comes to a life-altering crisis when the sisters go swimming with their friends; both girls are pulled under the swirling water, but only Tessa survives. The narrative alternates between text chapters and graphic novel panels—a unique format that perfectly complements the story. The text sections chronicle the events of the summer, while the fantasy panels—where her friends are mythological creatures and Tessa is a Medusa-like figure with a head of hissing vipers—depict Tessa's pain-filled world after her sister's death. In the graphic illustrations, her terrifying snake hair can turn onlookers to stone, Lulu is a mermaid, and Jasper is a morose, Minotaur-like creature. Through this richly detailed window into her tortured existence, readers witness Tessa's struggles with her "beasts" of jealousy, shame, and grief. However, though "Tessa knew that she was made up of all kinds of darkness," the story offers a hopeful resolution.—Babara M. Moon, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, NY