14 Aug / Luci Soars by Lulu Delacre [in Shelf Awareness]
With more than three dozen publishing credits, bilingual author/illustrator Lulu Delacre (Us, in Progress) knows how to balance text and art to achieve memorable literary results. In Luci Soars, Delacre introduces a girl whose noticeable difference – she doesn’t have a shadow – draws out bullies, but she learns she can rise above her detractors.
Delacre begins her story in muted black-and-white as baby Luci grows to toddlerhood, her missing shadow unremarkable to loving family and friends: “‘¡Qué linda!’ was the way people saw me.” As she matures, her lack draws stares, for which she compensates by walking “always in other people’s shadows” even though she “longed to be in the light.” At school, her bravery in stepping out into the open is met with pointed fingers, laughter, and icy stares from the “mean shadows” who are her peers. Wiping her tears, she examines the blank space behind and wonders if the shadow is what keeps others on the ground.
Delacre deftly, cleverly captures Luci’s shifting perspective in literal page-turns: she momentarily beckons readers into the white space of Luci’s tearful thoughts, then returns outward with a fresh point of view. Suddenly, the bullies shrink against Luci’s newly discovered, ascending self-reliance. Abandoning the black-and-white visuals, Delacre imbues Luci with vibrant hues, her jeans a cerulean blue, her shirt full of bright polka dots, the air around her aglow. With each consecutive spread, colors intensify as Luci claims the “superpower that makes me strong.” By book’s end, Luci uses that strength to break through the page, directly addressing readers: “I can change how I look at things …/ and so can you.” Through her vivid new hero, three-time Pura Belpré Honoree Delacre encourages young audiences to step out from judgmental, unwelcoming shadows and soar.
Discover: A girl born without a shadow discovers her superpower to rise above her grounded – stuck – bullies by shifting her perspective upward.
Review: “Children’s & Young Adult,” Shelf Awareness, August 14, 2020
Readers: Children
Published: 2020