Gear School (2007), Volume 1

November 15, 2007
Ina seemingly endless war against an alien race that uses huge robot craft that look like giant insects, Gear School trains an elite force of young people to operategiant war machines called Gear. Thirteen-year-old Teresa Gottlieb has just entered Gear School, and she faces not only the intimidating three-stories-tall Gear but also social cliques, instructors who seem to have it in for her, and boys. Then, on the day the cadets leave simulators to train in actual machines, an alien craft appears out of nowhere and attacks. Writer Gallardo plunges readers into the action from the opening page, providing lots of mechanized fighting scenes along with sometypical tween-fiction elements. The artwork demonstrates a strong manga influenceclean backgrounds, interestingpanel layouts, and a European-style color palate. Boys and girls alike will enjoy this action-packedstory, which sidesteps the more problematic content found in most mecha manga.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)