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Mercury

*"The storytelling, both in words and pictures, brilliantly offers details from Canadian history and modern life. The dialogue varies from funny to poignant. An excellent graphic novel."

*"Lost treasure, mother love and misbegotten romance form the bases of this richly rewarding intergenerational graphic novel. . . . Larson skillfully maintains suspense . . . Classic themes of love, family, betrayal and renewal combine to create multilayered historical fiction that perfectly illustrates how the past continues to influence the present."

"Larson's greatest strength is in artfully depicting the small but telling moments of adolescence. Beautiful black-and-white interior illustrations, touches of magical realism and a spot-on ear for teen dialogue make this a great pick for tweens and young teens."

*"Larson (Chiggers, 2008) won an Eisner Award for Special Recognition in 2007, and is establishing an oeuvre of thoughtful, girl-centric graphic novels that often feature touches of unobtrusive fantasy, lending a dreamy quality that helps characterize her distinctive story-telling style. Mercury tells two tales: one of Josey, who lives in a small Canadian town in 1859; and the other of her descendant, Tara, who has returned to the same town in 2009, a year after her house burned to the ground. Tenth-grader Tara’s burgeoning relationships and her difficulty re-acclimating to her old school will be more identifiable than Josey’s forbidden courtship with itinerant prospector Asa, but the use of two timelines delineates the different eras’ outlooks on family and romance, which brings some immutable human truths into high relief. The gentle dose of magical realism doesn’t feel incongruous and underscores the powerful ways in which past touches present. The insights unfold leisurely, but patient readers will find themselves deeply invested. Comparisons to Craig Thompson’s Blankets (2003) wouldn’t be inappropriate, but Larson continues to perfect her own unique style and offers something the graphic format is sadly short on: a coming-of-age story for girls." –Jesse Karp, Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

*"Lost treasure, mother love and misbegotten romance form the bases of this richly rewarding intergenerational graphic novel. Alternating chapters tell the story of Tara, a contemporary teen who is starting over after her house was destroyed by fire, and Josey, Tara’s Canadian pioneer ancestor, who lived on the same piece of land 150 years ago. When a handsome stranger approaches Josey’s family with an unbelievable offer, her mother’s suspicion is aroused, leading to tragic results. Magical realism appears in the form of a necklace containing mercury that supposedly attracts gold and serves as a catalyst for change in both girls’ lives. When fate brings the necklace to Tara, she is able to right prior wrongs and recover a hidden fortune that lays all the old ghosts to rest. Larson skillfully maintains suspense through a deliberate revealing of facts that eventually come full circle, much like the mythical necklace with its spherical pendant. Classic themes of love, family, betrayal and renewal combine to create multilayered historical fiction that perfectly illustrates how the past continues to influence the present. (Graphic historical fiction. 12 & up)"

*"Set in Nova Scotia, this book relates two coming-of-age stories in tandem, showing how the past interweaves with the present. In the present, Tara and her mother have lost their old farmhouse in a fire, and Tara’s mother is struggling to support them from far away while Tara lives with relatives. She loved the old house and wants to rebuild it, but her mother is pressured to find a job elsewhere. In 1859, Josey, Tara’s ancestor, falls in love with a gold dowser who has convinced her father to open a mine. Her mother, who has supernatural sight, is sure that the dowser means no good. The stories collide as Tara goes searching for the gold said to have been hidden on her property, and Josey’s tale reveals how it came to be hidden. Elements of the supernatural echo in both settings as Josey experiences the same visions her mother has and Tara discovers that she has a knack for dowsing. Though the end of the story leaves things hanging for Tara and her mother, the actions that the girl takes to gain control of her destiny suggest that she will find a way to achieve her goals. The storytelling, both in words and pictures, brilliantly offers details from Canadian history and modern life. The dialogue varies from funny to poignant. An excellent graphic novel, particularly for fans of Faith Erin Hicks’s The War at Ellsmere (Slave Labor, 2008).”

"Set in a fictional small town in Nova Scotia, Hope Larson’s new graphic novel Mercury features lots of local color and an engaging story that weaves together history, romance, and teen angst. Tara is starting high school, made even more challenging by the recent loss of her home and belongings in a fire... and by the odd experience of being the new kid in her old school (thanks to a few years of being homeschooled). Given a mysterious pendant by her aunt, Tara begins to uncover hidden truths about her family's past as she settles into her new life.
"Simultaneously unfolding is the story of Josey, the first member of Tara's family to own the pendant... a gift from a handsome, possibly dangerous young man. A hundred and fifty years earlier, Josey lived on the same land eventually marked by the fire-ravaged remains of Tara's present-day house. Josey struggles with first love and an overbearing and superstitious mother as her story lays the groundwork for Tara's exciting discovery generations later.
"As in her earlier work (Chiggers, Salamander Dream, etc.), Larson's greatest strength is in artfully depicting the small but telling moments of adolescence. Beautiful black-and-white interior illustrations, touches of magical realism and a spot-on ear for teen dialogue make this a great pick for tweens and young teens."

"In Larson’s fourth girl-centric graphic novel, a search for gold leads to devastation for one family and potential salvation for its descendants. Intriguing linked tales alternate focus between two teens: Josey, who lives on a farm in Nova Scotia in 1859, and Tara, who inhabits the same land in 2009, staying with relatives while her mother works in Alberta to rebuild finances wiped out by a house fire. Josey is smitten with Asa, the handsome, seemingly humble young prospector mining for gold on her father’s property; while short-haired Tara is mistaken for a boy, specifically one named Ben, a student at her new high school, who turns out to be cute, funny, and—she hopes—interested. Larson flips gracefully back and forth between time periods, embellishing her realistic black-and-white cartoons with mystical touches. Spirits that masquerade as crows, second sight that allows Josey and her mother to witness ghostly funeral processions, a “quicksilver” necklace that passes through time from Josey to Tara: these otherworldly elements enhance the spell cast by Larson’s unique parallel stories of treasure lost and found."

"Beginning with a quick historical progression through the fictional town of French Hill in Nova Scotia, from the wilderness of 1400 through soldiers in 1775 to one of the story's main characters going for a run in 2009, this visual history, with fascinating detail, sets up the alternating narrations of the book. One takes place in 2009 and tells the story of Tara, while the other, set in 1850, tells the story of a girl named Josey. That the two are linked by blood is evident. They're also each in possession of the same necklace, a small glass pendant containing a drop of mercury with the mysterious ability to prospect for gold. The stories alternate in quick succession, making it sometimes difficult to keep track of narrative threads as crushes, friendships, and parental conflicts develop in both time periods. Larson's drawings are full of motion and life, her characters' faces expressive, and she uses decorative details to illustrate emotions and ideas. Compared with the wonderful art, the story comes up short, with little action for much of the book, but readers may take pleasure instead in the book's atmospheric appeal and the manga-like illustration of fluttery emotional states. Ages 12–up. (Jan.)"