Brian Freschi

This enchanting graphic novel follows the days of Electra, or Ellie, as she goes from a klutzy would-be athlete to a graceful ballerina. But Ellie can’t let her mother know about her dancing. Since her parents separated, Ellie, her older brother Robbie, and her mother have moved to an apartment away from her musician father. Her mother wants Ellie involved in a sport to keep her busy and make new friends, but Ellie wants to dance, which her mother is oddly against. Ellie doesn’t understand why.

Every sport she tries, she fails at, gloriously. Her best friend, Chloe, goes to the same middle school she moves to and they share classes and make new friends together, friends who encourage Ellie to be true to herself and dance. From her first crush to getting in trouble for hitting a mean girl, to sneaking into ballet lessons, the reader wants Ellie be her true funny, quirky yet graceful self.

The illustrations are perfect for this story, the colors are bright but not overpowering, and the style is befitting the story of a young girl and her family, even the visual elements that depict Ellie’s quirkiness and emotions are just right.

This book was originally written in Italian, but the theme of trying to find your gifts is universal. It’s a nice way to share translated books with younger readers.… (more)

(Full disclosure: I received a free e-ARC for review through Edelweiss.)

India is a 29-year-old elementary school teacher in Italy. With a loving boyfriend, ridiculously good looks, a cute apartment, and a fulfilling job, India seems to have it all. Yet she suffers from debilitating panic attacks. Her boyfriend Pier sometimes struggles to understand India; her mom is less than supportive; and, when some of the parents at her school find out about India's anxiety disorder, she's subject to ableist and misogynistic bullying, culminating in a campaign to get her removed from her job.

As someone who's dealt with social anxiety for most of her life, I leapt at the chance to review THE VERTICAL SEA. However, most of the story just fell flat for me.

For example, India recounts her story to a therapist, who offers some pretty questionable observations, e.g., "You are an obvious nervous temperament, as Hippocrates called it. You're slim, with a slender face, as if pressed by an invisible force." Mmmmkay.

In order to quell her young students' fears, India employs a story about a young woman named Hava conquering a light-eating monster, Kalabibi. It's a potentially engaging device, but mostly I just found the story weird and occasionally confusing.

The author is Italian, and some of the odd word choices left me thinking that some pieces of the story were simply lost in translation.… (more)