The Deep Dark

Starred review from March 11, 2024
Restrained high school senior Mags Herrera diligently shoulders every responsibility that gets thrown at her. Even over Christmas break, she cares for her ill abuela, works at a local diner, and stalwartly harbors a dangerous secret that has troubled her family for two generations. Enter Nessa, Mags’s warm and effervescent childhood friend who has unexpectedly returned to SoCal for the first time since her sudden departure ten years before, ready to reconnect. As the two rekindle their easy friendship—and start a romance—they unearth memories from their past of a boy’s decade-old accidental death and its cause, which is caged in Mags’s basement to protect everyone—except Mags herself. But if she wants to grieve the past and grow into her most authentic self, the confinement cannot hold. Majority grayscale illustrations depict Mags’s present while flashbacks are rendered in unbridled color. Pairing measured pacing, dynamic paneling, robust dialogue, and abundantly realized main and supporting characters, Ostertag (The Girl from the Sea) delivers an expansive triumph—her best yet—to examine issues of grief, identity, intergenerational trauma, and reconnection. Includes an author’s note that shares how “making this book changed for the better.” Ages 14–up.

July 1, 2024
Desert and rural landscapes from the U.S. Southwest serve as the backdrop to the coming-of-age stories of two childhood friends. High school senior Magdalena "Mags" Herrera, who lives with her abuela, is in a secret relationship with a girl at school. Mags is afflicted by grief, guilt, and uncertainty for a variety of reasons, and when her childhood friend Nessa, who is trans, comes back to their small town, it stirs up a rollercoaster of emotions. As the two friends spend time together, they uncover repressed memories, including a friend's death. A mysterious creature that lives in Mags and Abuela's basement brings mythical elements to the narrative and connects to family and personal secrets. The illustrations in this graphic novel effectively shift between black-and-white for the present story and color to represent childhood memories. Although Mags's heritage isn't specifically named, the incorporation of Spanish language (with occasional errors and, at times, an overly formal tone), settings, names, and motifs indicates a Latinx Catholic household. Strengths of the novel include the fully fleshed-out queer characters as well as the depiction of their internal and external battles as Mags and Nessa release their respective hurts and discover their real selves. An author's note, with images, reflects on Ostertag's process. Sujei Lugo

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

July 1, 2024
Desert and rural landscapes from the U.S. Southwest serve as the backdrop to the coming-of-age stories of two childhood friends. High school senior Magdalena "Mags" Herrera, who lives with her abuela, is in a secret relationship with a girl at school. Mags is afflicted by grief, guilt, and uncertainty for a variety of reasons, and when her childhood friend Nessa, who is trans, comes back to their small town, it stirs up a rollercoaster of emotions. As the two friends spend time together, they uncover repressed memories, including a friend's death. A mysterious creature that lives in Mags and Abuela's basement brings mythical elements to the narrative and connects to family and personal secrets. The illustrations in this graphic novel effectively shift between black-and-white for the present story and color to represent childhood memories. Although Mags's heritage isn't specifically named, the incorporation of Spanish language (with occasional errors and, at times, an overly formal tone), settings, names, and motifs indicates a Latinx Catholic household. Strengths of the novel include the fully fleshed-out queer characters as well as the depiction of their internal and external battles as Mags and Nessa release their respective hurts and discover their real selves. An author's note, with images, reflects on Ostertag's process.

(Copyright 2024 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)