Synopsis
Drawn from the author’s own childhood like New Kid , this contemporary graphic novel paints a picture of an aspiring young artist on a mission to prove that the arts are worth fighting for.
Dale Donavan has heard the same lecture over and over Art will get you nowhere in life. A kid with a creative streak, Dale wants nothing more than to doodle, play video games, and create comics forever—maybe even as a full-time job one day. But between his grandfather pushing him to focus on his studies and a school with zero interest in funding arts programs, Dale feels like his future has already been decided for him.
That is, until he comes up with the perfect What if he starts an after-school art club, gathers a team of creative students like himself, and proves all the naysayers—his stubborn vice principal in particular—wrong?
This might just work, but if the club isn’t financially successful by the end of the semester, the school with shut them down. This may be Dale’s only chance to show the adults in his life that a career as an artist is not just a dream but a possibility!
The Good
I. Art (it is not finalized so subject to change):
Fits the target audience
Colorfulness
Some of the moments that stood out to me was the facial expressions and movements of characters- it felt fun. Also, I liked the shimmer of when they were in FFZ Online.
II. Art Conversation
A. Art vs Career: Does your art need to be at all financially beneficial for you? How are you going to make it monetarily beneficial if that is what you want is dealt with in the story. There are specific moments talking about keeping clients and your personal vision for a project.
B. Artistic process: Talks about different aspects of art, asks what type of art is for you, deals with different art forms, refining art (its process just like other forms of work), and more.
C. There were so many thoughts I had while reading this book (I talk about it in thoughts section) that makes me think this will be good read across age ranges (specifically adults in schools, parents, its target audience, artists, those considering artistic field).
III. Characters
Successfully managing different backstories, personalities, and character arcs of multiple characters.
There were a lot of really good moments but the “Not all of us are cut out to be scientists or engineers”(qoute subject to change because this is an arc) stood probably was my favorite.
Overall, I think the things tackled by the book was done in a way that I felt fit the target audience.
Thoughts
A. I wonder how millennial and younger generations are going to be as parents/grandparents. What knowledge are they going to pass down to generations behind them?
B. Art questions/thoughts: Is art and creativity put to the backburner? What does that mean for children seeing/being told it’s frivolous? Everything has to be financially viable, or it’s not worth doing/learning? What does that mean for the advancement/future of the arts? Do people come into the arts seeing it as easy and not needing work that other careers need?
C. Miscellaneous: Did the vice principal have his dream killed- it felt personal? To be fair to him preparing children for future is his job.
-I wonder about the adults who were apart of the art club that got disbanded by vice principal. What are their lives like now?
(image and synopsis are from goodreads)
I won this from Little, Brown Ink via goodreads
themollyweather 