Reviews

Alterations by Ray Xu

macklin's review against another edition

God this was a fun graphic novel. Also love seeing Toronto! 

eviemcevers's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring lighthearted relaxing fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Great book good for lazy Sundays and I think this book was showing what a life is like for kids where their parents work to so late and I think it’s good that ray xu  included that.

brogan7's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny sad medium-paced

4.0

This is a story about being young and not quite fitting in to the world, that hard age when some kids want to be "cool" and don't treat other kids very well, that time when you just want to play and escape and responsibilities feel burdensome and beyond your understanding.
I think it's a great book to teach about empathy, Kevin the MC is so relatable and his family, complicated and strewn with stress fractures, feels real.
I'm not convinced that the intergenerational conflict would be as caring as it is portrayed to be in the book, I think often times the elder generation(s) really can't relate to what kids are going through here, now--where his parents and grandmother emigrated from China and faced such hardships there, I don't know how much tolerance they would have for Kevin's process

and I don't know if their love would be spoken of or understood in the way it was at the end of the book.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying

matt717's review

hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

dgrstory's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

jphe's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring fast-paced

4.0

missmeganmann's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

I think this does a really job of depicting what it’s like to not understand your identity both at home and, in this case, at school. It’s so easy to just give up on yourself because others don’t understand you, but it’s more important to just be yourself and be proud of who you are.

alexandrac's review against another edition

4.0

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! Some of the struggles and tensions that Kevin’s family faced were ones that I could relate to in my own family. Popo had some great quotes! For example,

“Today’s pain is tomorrow’s strength.” 

There was another quote I liked in which she talked about colonizers. I forgot to write it down before returning the book to the library 🤦🏼‍♀️

listless_librarian's review

funny inspiring medium-paced

3.5

craftymxlibrarian's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This was a funny, heartfelt graphic novel about a Chinese-Canadian family. They are first-generation immigrants with the grandmother, mother, and big sister having been born in China and the MC in Canada. Mom is recently divorced and trying to keep her business going, so grandma moves in to help. This story did such a great job of showing all the normal struggles of middle school and how they are often compounded when the kid is from a marginalized community.