Tagged

April 22, 2013
An age-old debate—is graffiti art or vandalism?—takes center stage in Walter’s high-energy tale, part of the Orca Soundings series and written at a fourth-grade reading level. Teens Ian and Julia are puzzled by their friend Oswald’s interest in a series of politically motivated, spray-painted murals that pop up around the city bearing the tag Wiz. But the pieces come together when Oswald admits his secret identity as the guerilla artist and that his motives were to create a portfolio for art school and call out a misguided mayor. An endnote featuring a quote from a Toronto street artist, Deadboy, gives the proceedings additional in-the-know cred. Ages 12–up.

June 1, 2013
Grades 4-6 Street art trumps local politics in this uncomplicated face-off between teens and city hall. A recent rash of elaborate, comical graffiti and guerilla art signed Wiz not only leads Ian's friends Oswald and Julia into thought-provoking arguments about what real art is and isn't, it sets off a frenzy of law and order rhetoric from Mayor Dumfrey, who is running for reelection as a hard-nosed conservative. Several broad hints later, Ian discovers that his seemingly idiotic buddy Oswald is the elusive budding artist. In a crowd-pleasing climax capped by a show of support from the entire school, Ian (son of a pair of lawyers) derails Dumfrey's grandstanding attempt to catch Oswald (literally) red-handed. Inspired by the experiences of a real Toronto tagger who tacks on a testimonial of his own, Walters' tale makes a refreshing change of pace from the sports- or personal-crisis-driven stories often aimed at unenthusiastic or less able older readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2013
Three teens are involved in a local controversy regarding their secretive nighttime graffiti: is it art or just a crime? When a town politician becomes the focus of a billboard mural, a battle of wits ensues between the high-schoolers and the law. This hi-lo novel suffers from some forced dialogue, but action and a thought-provoking premise will draw reluctant readers.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)