The Golden Hour

Starred review from August 23, 2021
After saving his art teacher from an armed attacker at school, Manuel Soto, a Latinx aspiring photographer, copes with PTSD with the help of a therapist and his single mother. Specifically, Manuel takes pictures on his phone’s camera to anchor himself during frequent dissociative episodes—dark grayscale scenes in angular, fractured panels convey these moments in contrast to otherwise painterly full-color illustrations. In art class, Manuel befriends two tablemates, both agriculture enthusiasts raising animals for the country fair. Sebastian, a white student, cares for a calf on his family farm, while Caysha, who is Black, sees to fancy chickens at her grandparents’ house. Smith (The Deep & Dark Blue) slowly builds a tender romance between Manuel and Sebastian—Manuel assists Sebastian with his calf, and Sebastian helps Manuel through an episode. With a soft start and a gentle build, Smith’s graphic novel details the realities of Manuel’s trauma response while reveling in subdued, generous scenes that showcase the three friends’ everyday joys. Back matter further contextualizes PTSD, anxiety, and the grounding techniques Manuel employs. Ages 8–12. Agent: Charlie Olsen, Inkwell Management.

Starred review from October 1, 2021

Gr 4-7-In the wake of witnessing gun violence at school, Manuel Soto struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and panic attacks. When a teacher pairs him with classmates Sebastian and Caysha for a group project, the ensuing friendship takes him by surprise. Manuel discovers that taking cell phone photos of Sebastian's family's cattle farm and his new friends anchors him when anxiety seems overwhelming. He joins the 4-H club to help Sebastian and Caysha prepare to show their animals at the county fair and finds the courage to enter his photography into a contest. But he struggles to convey his anxiety and PTSD to his busy single mother, instead turning to gentle Sebastian, who seems to understand Manuel intuitively, as romance blossoms. Smith weaves a beautiful story of resilience and the sweet onset of first love. Scenes at Sebastian's farm rely on warm, comforting colors; when Manuel has panic attacks, the art turns dark and suffocating as artwork bleeds out of each panel. Smith knows when to let Manuel's burgeoning artistic identity speak, leaving whole pages free of dialogue to show him carefully framing a shot or considering how to capture a sunset. Manuel and Sebastian's queer first love subplot is affirming and positive. Manuel is Latinx, Sebastian is white, and Caysha is Black. VERDICT A stunning work of self-discovery, vulnerability, and finding beauty beyond tragedy, this is the perfect primer for younger readers not quite ready for the work of Tillie Walden and Kevin Panetta.-Elise Martinez, Racine, WI

Copyright 2021 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 21, 2021
Grades 5-8 Manuel was in his art classroom when his teacher was the victim of a violent attack and, understandably, he subsequently has some PTSD. Luckily, making new friends in Caysha and Sebastian and finding a grounding coping mechanism in photography--plus regularly attending therapy--helps him along a path of healing and recovery. Smith keeps the story focused tightly on Manuel and his anxiety, but her warm, fine-lined artwork expands the scope, quietly emphasizing the healing powers of art, friendship, and animals. Time passes in snapshot-like scenes of Manuel and his friends in gold-washed prairie landscapes working on Sebastian's farm, and Manuel's moments of intense anxiety resemble photo negatives--cloudy white figures and jagged shapes appear on black backgrounds, sharply distinct from the bucolic warmth elsewhere. A gentle, burgeoning romance between Manuel and Sebastian is a sweet touch, and the matter-of-fact diversity of the cast is refreshing to see, especially in a story set in a rural community. An artful, conscientious, and deftly executed depiction of anxiety, perfect for fans of Jarret J. Krosoczka's Hey Kiddo (2018).

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2021
This tenderhearted graphic novel explores the traumatic aftermath of gun violence experienced by a teen, Manuel, who had witnessed his teacher being threatened at gunpoint. On his road to recovery, he slips into panic attacks brought on by dreams, video games, and random images from the scene of the crime. While hanging out at a farm with his friends Caysha and Sebastian to work on a group project for art class, Manuel copes by using photography as a form of therapy; snapshots from his camera phone deliver parts of the visual narrative. Intermittent flashbacks reveal disturbing details from the incident, much like fragmented memories that lie buried until they rise to the surface. Scenic rural landscapes infused with shades of deep blue and rosy pink create a calming mood and tone. Vivid panels rendered in black, gray, and white magnify Manuel's increasingly intense disassociating episodes as the plot progresses before coming to some resolution and healing. This moving story touches on themes of friendship, coping, and self-discovery amidst a haunting experience. Jerry Dear

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2021
This tenderhearted graphic novel explores the traumatic aftermath of gun violence experienced by a teen, Manuel, who had witnessed his teacher being threatened at gunpoint. On his road to recovery, he slips into panic attacks brought on by dreams, video games, and random images from the scene of the crime. While hanging out at a farm with his friends Caysha and Sebastian to work on a group project for art class, Manuel copes by using photography as a form of therapy; snapshots from his camera phone deliver parts of the visual narrative. Intermittent flashbacks reveal disturbing details from the incident, much like fragmented memories that lie buried until they rise to the surface. Scenic rural landscapes infused with shades of deep blue and rosy pink create a calming mood and tone. Vivid panels rendered in black, gray, and white magnify Manuel's increasingly intense disassociating episodes as the plot progresses before coming to some resolution and healing. This moving story touches on themes of friendship, coping, and self-discovery amidst a haunting experience.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

Starred review from September 15, 2021
After witnessing a brutal attack against his art teacher, young Manuel Soto struggles to cope with the trauma and anxiety that shadow him. Bouts of panic attacks and moments of disassociation afflict Manuel, especially when reminders of the attack crop up unexpectedly. To manage these flashes of great unease, he uses his love of and skills in photography to anchor and ground himself. One day, he's paired with Sebastian and Caysha, a couple of classmates, for a school project. As Manuel becomes fast friends with them, he learns more about his newfound friends' plans to participate in the summer county fair. Spending time on Sebastian's family's cattle farm outside of town, as well as with Sebastian's newborn calf, Manuel finds the space and quiet he needs to experience relief and engage in reflection. Slowly, he begins to open up to his friends about his trauma, joining in with their joyful preparations for the fair (Caysha's fancy chickens are a hoot) and forging a deeper, more affectionate relationship with Sebastian in particular. Employing artwork that expresses sobering realism with hints of softly colorful catharsis, Smith provides a compassionate, gentle look at a young boy in the grip of PTSD and his hard-won path to recovery. Lightness lingers among the tightly paced, evenly formed panels, broken only by the dynamic, sometimes slanted, lines used to characterize Manuel's panic attacks. Strong, good-natured characters and an endearing representation of young queer love round out a mighty sweet tale. Manuel is cued as Latinx; Sebastian reads as White and Caysha as Black. Exceptionally graceful and delightful. (author's note, resources, concept art) (Graphic fiction. 8-12)

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