May 6, 2025 by Kids Can Press
E ARC Provided by Edelweiss
In this graphic novel, we meet Nansi, who lives with her siblings and supportive parents, who are of Jamaican descent. Her grandmother, who has a strong accent, lives with the family as well. Nansi is in seventh grade and on the track team, and is upset when Tania beats her in a race, since she wants to be the fastest runner in the world. Sure that Tania’s speed is due to her fancy new running shoes, Nansi decides to get a pair for herself. Her parents, finding out that they cost $340, suggest that she get a job in order to pay for them, and her mother even helps her get a job sweeping up at a friend’s salon. Nansi makes no effort to eat better, get more sleep, or even train, but does sign up for extra practice sessions, and isn’t happy when Tania signs up for them as well. When these sessions occur at the same time Nansi is supposed to be working, she talks her brother into impersonating her and doing the work. In a hoodie tied over his face, pretending that he can’t speak, her brother willingly does this, but of course the adults are aware of the deception. In return, Nansi has to pretend that her brother’s girlfriend is a friend of hers when she comes to dinner with the family. Nansi’s stomach is upset and her running is not improving, so she finally has to come clean to her family. Even though she doesn’t get the shoes, she manages to hold her own in the race.
Nansi is supposed to reflect some of the qualities of Anansi, the West African trickster spider character, and she does try several ill considered ploys to improve her running. She has an active imagination, and there are some dream sequences where she and her friends are represented with characters that resemble the Power Puff Girls a bit. Nansi’s emotions are over the top, with lots of wailing at disappointment and star-eyes at happiness. I am glad to see a graphic novel that centers around sports, but I wish that better training practices had been shown. The Jamaican culture in the family was good to see, but some readers may struggle to understand the grandmother’s dialect, especially since Nansi sometimes does as well. The only other graphic novel that I can think of that involves running is Maddox's Running Overload, which depicts an experience with cross country.
E ARC Provided by Edelweiss
In this graphic novel, we meet Nansi, who lives with her siblings and supportive parents, who are of Jamaican descent. Her grandmother, who has a strong accent, lives with the family as well. Nansi is in seventh grade and on the track team, and is upset when Tania beats her in a race, since she wants to be the fastest runner in the world. Sure that Tania’s speed is due to her fancy new running shoes, Nansi decides to get a pair for herself. Her parents, finding out that they cost $340, suggest that she get a job in order to pay for them, and her mother even helps her get a job sweeping up at a friend’s salon. Nansi makes no effort to eat better, get more sleep, or even train, but does sign up for extra practice sessions, and isn’t happy when Tania signs up for them as well. When these sessions occur at the same time Nansi is supposed to be working, she talks her brother into impersonating her and doing the work. In a hoodie tied over his face, pretending that he can’t speak, her brother willingly does this, but of course the adults are aware of the deception. In return, Nansi has to pretend that her brother’s girlfriend is a friend of hers when she comes to dinner with the family. Nansi’s stomach is upset and her running is not improving, so she finally has to come clean to her family. Even though she doesn’t get the shoes, she manages to hold her own in the race.
Nansi is supposed to reflect some of the qualities of Anansi, the West African trickster spider character, and she does try several ill considered ploys to improve her running. She has an active imagination, and there are some dream sequences where she and her friends are represented with characters that resemble the Power Puff Girls a bit. Nansi’s emotions are over the top, with lots of wailing at disappointment and star-eyes at happiness. I am glad to see a graphic novel that centers around sports, but I wish that better training practices had been shown. The Jamaican culture in the family was good to see, but some readers may struggle to understand the grandmother’s dialect, especially since Nansi sometimes does as well. The only other graphic novel that I can think of that involves running is Maddox's Running Overload, which depicts an experience with cross country.
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