As a digital subscriber, you’ll receive unlimited access to Horn Book web exclusives and extensive archives, as well as access to our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database.
To access other site content, visit The Horn Book homepage.
To continue you need an active subscription to hbook.com.
Subscribe now to gain immediate access to everything hbook.com has to offer, as well as our highly searchable Guide/Reviews Database, which contains tens of thousands of short, critical reviews of books published in the United States for young people.
Thank you for registering. To have the latest stories delivered to your inbox, select as many free newsletters as you like below.
No thanks. Return to article
40 pp.
| Scholastic |
January, 2009 |
TradeISBN 978-0-590-68041-7$17.99
(4)
YA
Illustrated by
Javaka Steptoe.
Myers recasts the romance of Swan Lake in the projects. Amiri is headed for "a life that's straight"; Odette is "hopelessly enslaved...promised to Big Red." The details of the plot sometimes strain to fit the setting, and Myers's poetry, often stunning, can also be pedantic, but the power of the story--done justice by Steptoe's jagged, dynamic, emotive collages on asphalt--shines through.