This was really good! Perfect for a middle school audience and upper elementary. It was beautifully illustrated and touched on some interesting themes in a very age-appropriate way

Operatic is beautiful but in my mind I have to review it separately, artwork vs story. The artwork is stunning. The story is a bit disjointed. I understand what the author was trying to do but it just didn't gel. The author was trying to do too much honestly. They wanted to address so many things that happen in a middle school/high school setting while throwing in a story about an opera singer that stems from a music class research project.

There are many aspects of this story that are relatable: First love, one sided love, love who you want to love, ride or die friendships, awkwardness, all eyes on me, let me be me, I love you but I'm rooting for you in your new relationship, what am I doing, what is life... lol

Yeah... I'll come back to this one because the story was as disjointed as this review.

Thank you, Netgalley/author/publisher for a copy in exchange of an honest review.

I wasn't able to finish this before it was archived, but I really enjoyed the portion that I was able to read.

2020 Maverick List. Beautifully illustrated graphic novel about the loneliness and anxiety that teens face and how one can connect through friendship and music.

'Operatic' by Kyo Maclear with art by Bryon Eggenscwhiler is a graphic novel about finding the thing you like, even if everyone doesn't.

Charlie is in a class in school where she is supposed to find her favorite song. She is puzzled by this assignment, because she hasn't really run across that song. She is also puzzled by the empty desk of student Luka, who is supposedly out sick. As the class studies genres, Charlie is struck by a Maria Callas aria. Maria's rise to fame is interwoven along with Luka's.

I liked this story of young people finding themselves when things are difficult. I liked the personal feel of the stories, and especially the way the interwoven stories used different colors for the art.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from House of Anansi and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

This book was unlike anything I was expecting. It's one of those stories where each character is so well-rounded you have to wonder if this was based on real events.
Mostly set in a middle school music class, this story illustrates how the power of music affects everyone differently - bring back memories, providing guidance, offering strength to go on. It can be all of those things (and more) interchangeably or all at once.
The final assignment is to choose a song that defines their life in the current moment and write about it. Charlie, the protagonist, feels lost on what to pick until she is introduced to opera and Maria Callas. With a friend mysteriously missing from school and a quite classmate who opens up, the link between music and mental health is also broached.
In this graphic novel, the illustrations provide more than just color and drawings - they convey emotions and sounds and thoughts - all greatly adding to the story.

I love the music aspect of this book and the exploration of it. I was a bit disappointed that there is so much going on in the story but the end felt rushed and certain aspects were just glossed over.

Beautifully rendered, more of a slow-burn that may appeal to a smaller subset of students who enjoy work by Telgemeier, and who are primarily interested in internal character development and dialogue

Another beautiful story from Kyo Maclear, with stellar art from Byron Eggenschwiler that is both evocative of time and place, and feels dreamlike and ephemeral. Maclear has a wonderful feel for young voices, and everything here feels very fresh and real.

I always love to see more diverse casts of characters, and this is no exception with the many of the main cast Asian-American, as well as our main character Charlie. This follows Charlie’s time in music class and navigating not only friendships and crushes but your peers and dealing with how others perceive you.

As someone who has always loved music and feels music deeply (for lack of a better term) this really resonated with me. I wake up with a song in my head that changes from either day to day or week to week. I, like some other older folks, will listen to music like Mr. K that takes us back in time to when we were younger and makes us remember when a song really resonated with how we were feeling or the song that was on at a significant moment in our lives.

Maclear clearly represents how middle school was/is and how it felt to be a teenager-judged for every little thing (especially for being different), somewhat dramatic and trying to become invisible by blending in with the crowd, not to mention the cliques, but also trying to figure out who you are.

I loved the illustration for this graphic novel. It is somewhat dream-like and whimsical and, I feel, perfectly captures the mind of a teenage girl. Some of the things included felt like they didn’t have a point to the story, like the fact that Emile loved insects and had to mind his family’s beehive. I don’t think it detracted from the story since it was kind of just a little fact to round out his character.

I would have also loved to see the playlist for their class in like the back of the book as well, just as a little “extra”.

I really loved this book! I’m a big Kyo Maclear fan, so I was excited to read this one too. It’s such a beautifully written and illustrated book! Charlie is very relatable and I enjoyed following her story through the world of middle school as she learns to find her own voice.

This book quite literally took my breath away and left me awestruck and gasping for words and air. Packed into this tender and slight graphic novel is the power of music to change lives and discover deep emotions. One teacher opens the tombs of music history, genres and asks his students to dig deep and find their one true song that defines them in the moment in their life. There is so much to unfold in this book and I am left yearning for more time with these raw and emerging teens.

I love the graphics in this novel. I liked the story line of the Opera singers life. The main characters story line confused me because it jumped around. I still did enjoy it though and would still recommend it. I liked that the main plot was about music. The book seems to want to tackle a lot of concerns at this age: identity, fitting in, sexuality. But, none are explored in depth and while I had a lot to look with beautiful sketches, I wanted to know these characters better.

This book is about a group of kids in 8C, a music class in middle school. They are tasked with doing a project on a genre of music that defines them. Charlie is having a hard time figuring out what type of music defines her. They are learning about a different genre of music each day and Charlie doesn't know which one she relates to the most. Until they come to opera. She discovers Maria Callas, an amazing opera singer. She finally finds something that she connects to.

This is a fantastic book. I loved the story and the artwork. This is one of those books that I would recommend to someone if they are just starting out reading comics/graphic novels. I think that this is a fantastic addition to any library - personal or public.

Such a great book! Reminded me of Jillian and Mariko Tamaki. Middle grade drama. Beautifully illustrated, can’t get enough of it! And Opera! And music! And personal struggles, friendships, identity. So so good!

This book was a gem for me. I thankfully discovered it through NGs BookBuzz selections earlier this year where it was featured with excerpts and then a link to selecting the ARC was included.
I love the cover and hope that the actual final cover is the same or close.
The story was a sweet, middle school tale of a music class being instructed to come up with a song that represents them personally. Their teacher wants to create a “playlist” for their class that they can take with them that will remind them of who they were at this age. Brilliant idea. Obviously, many eras and genres of music will need to be explored and I appreciated the bouncing around from one type of music to another for this reason, recreating a true classroom feeling.
There was diversity with both different ethnicities and LGBTQ representation, which felt authentic to a middle school class, especially in the arts. But the love interests were awkward and sweet, as expected for this age as well.
I completely enjoyed the mentioning of the various artists representing the various genres and laughed at how some of the “classics” were standards when I was a kid. I made my own playlist by looking up the songs or artists that I was less familiar with and listening to their music as I read. This was a very pleasant way to read this ARC.
My only negatives are in formatting: the digital ARC was very difficult to follow because the dialogue was not always in sequence correctly and the artwork was small. And I read this on an iPad Pro, so it has a fairly large screen and well lit. I know this will be fixed for the final physical release but just as a point in reviewing, it was difficult.
Thank you for introducing me to Maria Callas and her stunning voice. I have heard some of the titles she has covered by other singers and wow. She is amazing.

#Operatic #NetGalley

I really enjoyed reading Operatic. Not only is this graphic novel filled with stunning illustrations, it's also a story with a ton of heart. If you've ever felt inspired by music at all, even a little bit, this story will resonate with you. All of the other messages that were wrapped up in this story were simply icing on an already beautifully created cake.

I thought that this graphic novel perfectly captured the tumultuous feelings that come along with transitioning from middle school to high school. Poor Charlie isn't sure where she fits into the world and so, when her teacher tells them to find their own perfect song, she's equally confused about what would really describe her. Watching her mull over her choices, and ultimately find someone who inspired her, made my heart happy. It's hard not to feel emotional while reading this, partially because of the content and partially because the illustrations just have so much movement and atmosphere wrapped up in them.

If I had one complaint, it would be that this story does jump around a lot. There are a lot of items to fit into one girl's story, including crushes, lost friends, and feeling unsure of oneself. Still, I kind of felt like this also fit with the content. After all, a middle school brain is definitely exactly like that. Lots of emotions, lot of skipping around, essentially a torrent of new and processing information. So, I gave that a pass. As I said above, the illustrations are honestly too beautiful to ignore either way. I never felt all that lost during Charlie's story. In fact, I saw a bit of myself.

Lovely story, stellar illustrations, and an all around beautiful read.

Thanks to Netgalley and House of Anansi for a digital galley in exchange for an honest review. Quotes are taken from an ARC.

A graphic novel, Operatic features a young protagonist, Charlotte ( Charlie)Noguchi, a middle schooler who navigates the ups and downs of being a teenager while also trying to find her own place in the world.

Mr. K believes that everyone has a song, he says that somewhere in the universe there is the perfect tune for you.

Most of Charlie's narrative takes place in the music classroom and this shapes much of her story as she discusses the boy that once sat in the now empty desk, her crush on a fellow student, and her interest in opera singer, Maria Callas. The latter's story becomes a bit of a mini-biography within the contemporary storyline. I actually listened to Maria Callas'"Una Voce Poca Fa", the song that stirred Charlotte in this story. Wow, what a beautiful voice this woman possessed!

I felt that the images were good, the storyline a bit choppy, and the encouraging moral of the story a bit light for some of the situations presented.

Review Date: 30/03/19
Publication Date 02/04/19

This book should have had an easy 5 stars with me. I did my undergraduate degree in opera. I love Maria Callas and opera and know what it's like when most other students don't like opera at all. I love graphic novels for kids as I'm now a librarian and do a lot of RA for graphic novels. But I did not like this at all. The pacing is a nightmare. It has two major storylines which have almost nothing to do with one another and neither of which really involves the main character very much at all. The characters seem to look and behave as if they are in high school when this is supposed to be junior high. And their teacher is irresponsible and inappropriate. Swearing on an 8th grader's assignment does not make you hip, it makes you a crappy educator. What music class is jumping from 1990s genre's to opera and then back to 1980s hair metal. What is that lesson plan? For me, a slice of life story like this has to make more sense than this.

The art is gorgeous and really breathtaking at points, which is what earns this a 2 star rating.

This is one of my favorite graphic novels. It centers around a middle school girl who's learning more about music. She develops this huge fondness for Maria Callas and it makes her brave.

I love the idea of little kids (and I'm sorry, middle schoolers count as little!) learning about opera. It makes me feel really happy, like maybe they're not just listening to uptempo nonsense I haven't even heard of. (This is probably the grumpiest thing I've ever typed.)

This also discusses Maria Callas a little, and basically all I knew was "legendary diva" so that was good, too. 

This is all about music and I feel like I always think about how books and movies impact me but I don't really think about that in terms of music. Part of that is because my personal pop culture choices skew heavily toward books and movies, then TV and my music choices tend to be the same artists I've loved for years and there are so many songs that can instantly change my mood (for better or worse) and I love that this book talks about that. Music is so powerful and this honors that.

If you aren't into graphic novels, this may be a fun way to start. Recommended.