About The Book:
Into The Dangerous World By: Julie Chibbaro Artwork By: JM Superville Sovak Release Date: August 18, 2015 Publisher: Viking/Penguin Pages: 352
Ror lives to draw—to her, it’s like breathing; it’s how she understands life. Raised on a Staten Island commune, she’s never attended a day of school, and knows little of the outside world. When her paranoid father burns down the commune with himself inside, Ror, her mother, and sister end up in a homeless residence in Manhattan. There, she runs into trouble—and love—with Trey, the leader of Noise Ink, a graffiti crew. On the city’s streets, and in its museums and galleries, Ror finds herself pulled in different directions. Her father wanted her to make classic art. Noise Ink insists she stay within their lines. Her art teacher urges her to go to college. But what does she want? Ror’s soul-searching—expressed in remarkable drawings and sharp-edged prose, set in the gritty Manhattan of 1984—is cinematic in its scope, and its seamless blend of text and art makes Into the Dangerous World a groundbreaking event in young adult fiction.
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About The Authors:
Julie Chibbaro and Jean-Marc Superville Sovak are the husband and wife duo behind Into the Dangerous World (Viking 2015).Julie Chibbaro was born into a family of artists, and also married one. She grew up in NYC during the explosion of graffiti art. She has written two historical novels, Redemption, which won the American Book Award, and Deadly, which won the National Jewish Book Award. JM Superville Sovak is half-Trini, half-Czech, half-Canadian. His fourth half is spent making art, for which he earned his M.F.A. from Bard College in NY.They both live in Beacon, NY.
Website | Julie’s site | JM’s site | Julie Chibbaro | JM's FB | Twitter | Tumblr
Bonus:
For those of you that purchase a copy of INTO THE DANGEROUS WORLD any time during the official book tour (August 18-September 30) will receive a one of a kind #IntoTheDangerousWorld pack filled with lots of goodies.(While supplies last)
To qualify you must send proof of purchase to amydelrosso(at)gmail(dot)com.
MY REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1374678637 3.5 STARS
Aurora
(Ror), her mom, her sister Marilyn and her dad all live in a commune,
squatting on land that they don't own and making a home selling things
they make and from animal produce. Their dad brings in a few more people
into the commune. But their dad isn't all together there and soon
everyone leaves but Ror's family. Their dad does something drastic and
Ror, Marilyn and her mom are left on their own.
They end up
staying at a shelter for a little bit until they can get some kind of
housing. Ror didn't like the shelter, she wanted to just go outside and
stay somewhere.
*Excerpt*
The place stank of anonymous farts, pit funk, dollar store perfume.
*End Excerpt*
They
end up in this community motel place, which just seems like an old
apartment building to me, but anyway, they have a room, a tv, a hot
plate and a couple of other things. They have to use a communal
bathroom.
Marilyn and her mother want Ror to wear a wig so she
doesn't have to wear hats all of the time. The back of her head got
burned so she was a bit of a skin head back there. This is Ror's
interpretation of what she thought!
*Excerpt*
I
looked in the mirror. I looked like I belonged in that movie Hair. Like
some tv hippie. I pulled the headband thing down around my neck, flipped
the wig sideways, and bared my teeth. Now I looked like I was in a band
with Sid Vicious
*End Excerpt*
Needless to say, Ror didn't wear the wig.
Ror
is a really great artist. Even the local man in the paint, etc store
thinks she should show her work to galleries. He's nice and I liked his
character, his name was Jonathan.
But Ror ends up in a graffiti
crew. She drew some really awesome things with this group. I was afraid
she would end up doing this and blow her whole supposed future away when
she started skipping some school.
It all worked out okay in the
end. I'm not sure whatever happened to Ror, but I would like to know if
she went on and became something.
There is also some really nice graphics throughout the book.
*I would like to thank Penguin Books and Julie Chibbaro for giving me the opportunity to read this book for my honest review.*
Watch The Trailer:
Read An Excerpt:
Interview with the Author:
Q. To get the ball rolling, can you tell us a
little bit about yourself?
A.
I’m a mess of contradictions. I’m shy, which makes being in public situations
where I don’t know anyone somewhat uncomfortable for me, but I love to meet new
people, so I make myself stay at parties and talk to strangers by asking them
all sorts of odd questions that put them off guard and make them laugh and
reply. People fascinate me, their stories, the hidden corners of their lives.
Also,
I’m married to JM Superville Sovak, the wonderful illustrator of Into the
Dangerous World, and we have a rambunctious daughter who apparently has
superpowers that allow her to listen in on any private conversation her father
and I are having anywhere in our apartment.
Q. When did you realize you wanted to be a
writer?
A.
I loved to read as a kid and I always admired writers, but I really wanted to
be an actress when I was younger. My mother wanted to be a writer, and she
suffered from mental illness, a weird coincidence that got all mixed up in my
head. I thought if I wrote, I would be mentally ill. My mom was my best friend,
and when she died, I got over my fear and decided I would go ahead and try my
hand at writing for the both of us. That didn’t happen till I was nearly 30,
after I realized that acting thing wasn’t going to take off.
Q. Can you tell us where the idea for your
novel comes from?
A.
My novel is the story of Ror, a sort of free-range kid who was brought up on a
commune on Staten Island, in New York in the 1970s and 80s. She’s an artist who
has never been to school a day in her life. Her dad, whom she adores, runs the
place, but he starts to have mental problems, and then burns the house down
with himself inside. She, her mom and her sister end up in Manhattan, and she
goes to school for the first time. She starts to see this ‘code’ on the walls
that she learns is graffiti, and then falls for Trey, the leader of the local
graffiti crew.
The
idea for the book came about a long time ago, when I was trying to understand
what made visual artists tick. I come from an artsy family, and my husband’s an
artist, and I felt like I didn’t quite comprehend what drove them. So I created
Ror. I did steal some things from my own life – I lived as a kid for ten years
on Staten Island and wandered the wild acres and abandoned buildings
incessantly. My mother was mentally ill. I struggled with becoming an artist.
Ror ultimately goes through the transformation into a more mature artist, though
her search for true direction continues, as does mine (hopefully, that’ll never
go away, as I feel direction always shifts and changes in a life.)
Q.
What makes your novel stand out from the crowd?
A. Ror, my main character, draws constantly,
and so you get to see, over the 130 drawings in the book, her progression
through the different styles she attempts. This adds a whole other layer to the
story, the way you get to see inside her head. Also, there are what I call
“Dado Dialogues” – her mental arguments with her absent father. I think
everyone has these kinds of conversations with their parents in their minds,
but you actually get to see hers.
Q.
How do you juggle writing & family life?
A.
I had a difficult childhood, a rageaholic father and a mentally-ill mother. I
made a decision when I had my own family that I would not repeat my upbringing.
I am home when my child comes home from school and I’m involved with my
husband’s life. But I also demand that I have time to write, and they
understand it’s a priority for me. It’s with a great deal of respect that we
give one another time to do the things that will make us better people.
Q.
What is your favorite part of the writing/publishing process?
A. The best part of the whole
process, from start to finish, has been working with my editor, Sharyn November,
at Viking. She has been the most generous editor to me, the way she helped me
hash out the more difficult parts of the story, and took chances with me and JM
in the drawings. It was wonderful to have another brain – a brilliant brain –
giving me feedback. I would love to work with her on a book again.
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