Burn It Down
Rigsby WI Volume 2
A sixteen-year-old grapples with school, social life, and an unstable home in the outstanding graphic novel Burn It Down, the second book in the Rigsby WI series.
Anna plays violin and works as the stage manager of her school play, even as her own life undergoes dramatic turns. Her mother, whose boyfriends linger at their house, is often at work, and Anna’s older half-sister, Kierie, exemplifies wasted potential. Then Anna is assigned to a class project with Frank, a misfit who’s about to age out of high school. Anna bonds with Frank over their broken families and later recalls the burning of her first home, leading to a deeper connection with a friend.
The book is full of emotional realism and resonance. People’s tones, slang, and attitudes, combined with effective punctuation, combine in the book’s exchanges for the realistic effect of overheard conversations; characters discuss mundane topics like recycling and gas mileage along with their deeper personal concerns. When Anna asks Frank why he attends school at all, he responds, “I ’unno. What […] else am I ‘posta do?” Further, the art captures a wide variety of moods and emotions through on-the-mark facial expressions and purposeful page compositions. Flashbacks, delivered with bright colors, provide backstory and contrast to the darker color tones of Anna’s current life.
Interwoven with characters from the first series volume, Burn It Down is a moving graphic novel in which an uncertain girl works to manage her chaotic family and school lives.
Reviewed by
Peter Dabbene
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
