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saidtheraina's review
2.0
This is a retelling of the Swan Lake plot set in a black urban neighborhood. Myers wrote a poem and the illustrator illustrated it with paintings/collage on concrete. Ballet plots are so simple that I got kinda bored. And I'm curious to hear of a teen who actually liked it. We have it in the graphic novel section, but I think it should really be in the 811.54s. I know teens supposedly like poetry, but I personally haven't met many of those teens.
crystal_reading's review
3.0
I am not terribly familiar with Swan Lake, but I thought it ended differently than this. I liked this ending though. would imagine that it would work out well to compare the two. I appreciated the poetry and the tension that Myers conveyed. I wish the book had been longer so I could have gotten to know the characters better. The dramatic format was an excellent idea. It felt like I was watching a play in progress.
I gave it a lower rating because I felt that there was a bit too much missing for the reader to totally understand what was going on, but that might just be this particular reader. It felt rushed.
I gave it a lower rating because I felt that there was a bit too much missing for the reader to totally understand what was going on, but that might just be this particular reader. It felt rushed.
greenbeanteenqueen's review
3.0
GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: I picked this one up mainly because it was on my cart of new books at work and because it was an updated version of a story typically told through ballet-this seemed like an interesting concept and I wanted to see how Myers pulled it off. Plus, the artwork caught my eye!
The story is told beautifully, and even though the book is short-coming in at 40 pages-it's a powerful one. Swan Lake is a housing project and Amiri's mom is worried he won't settle down with the right girl, so she opts to throw him a party. Amiri meets Odette, but instead of being cursed to turn into a swan, in this tale, Odette's curse is a drug addition and she can't escape the clutches of the dealer Big Red.
I really didn't know much about the story of Swan Lake, which I read the summary of after I read this one and I think I should have read it before. Since I knew it was based on Swan Lake, I kept taking some of the things as fantasy and kept thinking about the swan curse, because that's what I knew of the story, so I wasn't really clear on Odette's drug addiction until the end. I guess I just need some things spelled out for me sometimes!!
I really loved the artwork-the artist makes it look like graffiti and the paintings were done on asphalt, which has a really cool effect.
This is a quick read, and it's worth it!
The story is told beautifully, and even though the book is short-coming in at 40 pages-it's a powerful one. Swan Lake is a housing project and Amiri's mom is worried he won't settle down with the right girl, so she opts to throw him a party. Amiri meets Odette, but instead of being cursed to turn into a swan, in this tale, Odette's curse is a drug addition and she can't escape the clutches of the dealer Big Red.
I really didn't know much about the story of Swan Lake, which I read the summary of after I read this one and I think I should have read it before. Since I knew it was based on Swan Lake, I kept taking some of the things as fantasy and kept thinking about the swan curse, because that's what I knew of the story, so I wasn't really clear on Odette's drug addiction until the end. I guess I just need some things spelled out for me sometimes!!
I really loved the artwork-the artist makes it look like graffiti and the paintings were done on asphalt, which has a really cool effect.
This is a quick read, and it's worth it!
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