Common Sense Media Review
By Andrea Beach
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Realistic teen tragedy blends well with fantasy graphics.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
What's the Story?
CHASING SHADOWS, a graphic/traditional-novel hybrid, tells the story in words and pictures of twins Holly and Corey and best-friend Savitri in the final months of their senior year in high school. Their lives are dramatically altered when, on the way home from free running, Holly and Corey are victims of a shooting and Savitri is a witness to it. Holly's mechanism for coping is to retreat into fantasy as she imagines herself becoming a superhero called The Leopardess. The different ways she and Savitri cope with the knowledge that their lives could end at any random moment drastically affects their friendship and their future.
Is It Any Good?
In Chasing Shadows, author Swati Avasthi creates realistic, believable characters whose older-teen interactions are particularly well wrought. The different narrative voices are distinct and well balanced and offer nuanced looks into the heart of a lifelong friendship. The action moves well and builds to a climax that's intense and cathartic while staying refreshingly realistic.
Punctuating the emotionally charged prose are a dozen or so black-and-white illustrated spreads of varying lengths by Craig Phillips. These mostly convey the fantasy afterlife that Holly retreats into as she tries to rebuild her life, but they sometimes ably advance the narrative as well. The spreads are well laid-out and easy to understand, following as they do well-established comic-book conventions.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about why superhero stories are so popular. Why does The Leopardess appeal to Holly?
Do the illustrated sections help tell the story or get in the way? Would Chasing Shadows be better or worse without them? Why combine narration with comic-book-style pictures?
Have you or a friend lived through a traumatic or scary event? Did it change you or the friend in important ways? Did it change your friendship?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrator : Craig Phillips
- Genre : Friendship
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Superheroes , Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Friendship , School ( High School )
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Alfred A. Knopf
- Publication date : September 24, 2013
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 17
- Number of pages : 320
- Available on : Nook, Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : October 1, 2025
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