Odessa

Gr 8 Up–It’s been eight years since the Big Quake changed everything, and Ginny Crane, who is Vietnamese American, and her family have been trying to survive by scavenging the ruins left behind. When Ginny receives a package from her mother, she decides to leave her dad and brothers behind to find the woman who left them to fend for themselves, but her little brothers end up following her. Naive and inexperienced, the Crane siblings squabble their way down the California coast unsuccessfully trying to avoiding bikers and gang wars in search of answers. Although the artwork is intriguing with its pink-toned black-and-white illustrations, the characters, plot, and world-building will leave readers wanting more. Most of the dialogue involves the characters bickering with one another, and hints of mutants, monsters, and advanced technology are dropped into the story without explanation. The plot often feels redundant with the repeating scenario of the Crane siblings running into and then trying to run away from generic bad guys. The cliff-hanger at the end of the book makes this feel like a long set up for future volumes.