This is really a graphic novel aimed at children. Still, Ari's black and white story stands out on many levels - first, it's a diverse comic, utilizing both Spanish and English throughout the book. Secondly, Avi treats the backstory as a book by actually using traditional prose pages to describe the Kurbs deal with humanity.

The story itself is the stuff firmly aimed at the tweener set. The Kurbs are the true owners of Manhattan, having only agreed to give it to the humans if the ritual of power trading on the 21st of December - a the present time, POWER has taken the form of a common subway token.

It may sound convoluted, but it comes down to a single human woman that passes her power onto her daughter through each generation - which is how we get to Sarah and our story. Of course, Sarah has no idea that she is in line for this power as she thinks her mother is dead, a secret her father has had good reason to have kept hidden from her all these years...

It's a quick read and things are resolved and revealed rather quickly. Considering the intended audience, though, that's probably exactly right! ( )

Complications abound in a graphic novel related in brief narrative boxes plus dialogue (some of it in both Spanish and English) in hundreds of b&w comic-book frames. Sarah has been told (falsely) that her mother died; Carlos can't understand why an old blind man is so interested in a subway token he's found. The two kids team up and eventually learn the truth: the evil Mr. Underton was blinded by Sarah's mother 11 years ago when he tried to steal the token that's the source of power for the metropolis (N.Y.C.), which will freeze if the token isn't delivered to safekeeping each December 21 by Sarah's mother (and, someday, by Sarah). With neat feats of derring-do but uncharacteristically lumpy plotting and motives (Stubbs hides from his wife for 11 years, fearing she'll hate him--to keep her love, he leaves her?), this isn't quite fish or fowl. Still, robust spirits run appealingly amok until the expected triumph of good. Author (and publisher) get high marks for experimenting with a new genre, though this may not be the book to make it fashionable. A bold venture that will probably entertain the young more than their elders

When Carlos picks up a subway token from the sidewalk outside of his house, he has no idea that he’s become entrenched in a battle between Thor Upton, who desires to use the power of the token for his own selfish purposes, and Asterel, who must return the token to its rightful place before the entire city is plunged into eternal winter.
I felt like the story moved a little too quickly, and I didn't have time to fully understand the main characters' motivations. (It also didn't help that my copy was missing a page.) But it was a very exciting adventure story, and the premise was really unusual and interesting. I'd recommend it for kids ages 10-14. ( )

To be honest I didn't get that in to this one. It wasn't bad, the story was kind of a fresh urban myth about the changing of the seasons in New York. I just felt like it whizzed by kind of fast.

magic token controls the seasons; girl holds the power of the token ( )