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saidtheraina's review against another edition
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 against another edition
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 against another edition
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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