This one ends well, closing out this particular story while opening up the world and the series for many more stories. She’s also going to be caught up in a whole tangle of new problems and concerns, but those can wait for the next book. Rue gets her friends to help investigate: she knows her mother isn’t dead (even if Rue doesn’t know where she is) – but she’s less sure about the dead student, so they start poking around to see what they can find.Įventually, Rue learns that she’s not quite who she thought she was, that her mother had to go away because of something her father did, and that she has a whole side of her family that no one could have expected. And then her college-professor father is arrested – a student of his was found murdered, and the police suspect he killed his wife as well. But her mother has been missing for three weeks, her father is acting weird, and she’s starting to see things. ]] is the story of Rue Silver, who thinks that’s she’s an ordinary teenage girl – not even overly disaffected or downtrodden.

This is how it’s done: you get a good writer, let her work on something she knows and does well, pair her with a complimentary artist, and package it for the audience that already knows and loves both of the creators – note that this is a $16.99 hardcover, a price point similar to teen novels and comics collections. Scholastic also paired Black with Ted Naifeh, a well-known cartoonist and illustrator in his own right, whose most popular works have a Goth flavor and likely are loved by the same kids who read Black’s books. ]] is an original graphic novel series set in the modern world, mixing teen drama with an otherworld of nasty folkloric faeries – faeries along the same lines as those in Black’s novels for teens. Scholastic, unlike DC with Picoult, didn’t try to shoehorn Black into some already-existing corporate property, but worked to her strengths. Getting her to write a graphic novel series for teens is of the same magnitude as the long-underwear companies signing up bestsellers like Brad Meltzer and Jodi Picoult.īut the difference here is that Black is working for Scholastic, one of the oldest and smartest publishers of books for younger readers around.

Holly Black is a major writer for young people – one-half of the team behind the phenomenally popular “]]” (along with Tony DiTerlizzi) and the author of three dark contemporary-fantasy novels for teens, starting with Tithe. Scholastic/Graphix, September 2008, $16.99

Kin by Holly Black