Girl on Fire (Graphic Novel)

 My Thoughts:

I admit I picked this graphic novel up because it's Alicia Keys and "Girl on Fire" is my anthem "she's living in a world and it's on fire/filled with catastrophe, but she knows she can fly away/ oh. . . She got both feet on the ground/and she's burning it down" When life gets chaotic, and I just have to dig in and hold steady rather than back down, this is the song I go to for inspiration. 

I thought maybe this was a memoir in graphic form on the artist Alicia Keys. Obviously I didn't look at the cover well, although I would love to read a graphic novel memoir of Alicia Keys (like March by John Lewis). This is a comic style superhero story about 14-year old Lolo. She is a good girl. Conscientious, skipped a grade smart, loving towards her family, including her dad, her maternal grandmother and her older brother. Her mother has been out of the picture since Lolo was a toddler, but although they live in the projects, Lolo's dad is doing his best to get them out. 

Seemingly out of the blue two things happen to her - she has some kind of physical connection with another boy from the projects and when her brother is mistaken for a robber at the bodega and smashed into the ground with a gun pointed at him, Lolo finds that she has superpowers. 

Although they try to keep it under wraps, Lolo is still connected to Mike and tries to keep him from going down a bad path as he deals with his frustration of being too short for football. In addition, the drug dealer that Mike ends up working for wants Lolo's to work with him and will hurt her family to get her. 

Lolo's bravery and kindness, characteristics that she had even before she had super powers help to ground her to the values she holds dear even in the face of bullies and criminals. That, I think is what makes Lolo the Girl on Fire. She stays grounded and she can burn it down. Great for middle grades but older teens and adults will also enjoy this. 

From the Publisher:

Lolo Wright always thought she was just a regular fourteen-year-old dealing with regular family drama: her brother, James, is struggling with his studies; her dad’s business constantly teeters on the edge of trouble; and her mother . . . she left long ago. But then Lolo’s world explodes when a cop pulls a gun on James in a dangerous case of mistaken identities. Staring down the barrel, with no one else to help, Lolo discovers powers she never knew she had. Using only her mind, she literally throws the cop out of the way.

Problem is that secrets like Lolo’s don’t stay a secret for long. Skin, a dangerous dealer with designs on taking over the neighborhood, hears of Lolo’s telekinetic abilities and decides that he needs her in his crew. Skin might not have Lolo’s powers, but he’s got nothing to lose and is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. And what he wants is Lolo.

Lolo’s not willing to let Skin use her to hurt the people—and neighborhood—that she loves. But it’s going to take a whole different kind of bravery to stand-up for what’s right, especially after Lolo’s mom returns suddenly and turns Lolo’s whole world upside-down. For too long, it’s true, Lolo’s had her head in the clouds, but this time, it’s on her . . . and she’s not backing down.

Girl on Fire is a young adult graphic novel about a girl who’s a flame. It’s the first-ever graphic novel from beloved GRAMMY® Award-winning artist Alicia Keys, co-written by Andrew Weiner and illustrated by Brittney Williams.