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Kirkus Reviews Sept. 15, 2023, review of Weiner, Andrew: DADDY AND THE BEANSTALK. p. NA.
Booklist vol. 120 no. 5-6 Nov. 1, 2023, Fournier, Talea. , “Daddy and the Beanstalk.”. p. 71.
School Library Journal vol. 69 no. 12 Dec., 2023. LeBris, Elisabeth. , “WEINER, Andrew. Daddy and the Beanstalk.”. p. 88.
ONLINE
Youth Services Book Review, https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com (March 27, 2022), review of Girl On Fire
Andrew Weiner is a graphic novelist, screenwriter, and filmmaker, and the founder of the multimedia entertainment company Inner Station. Most recently, he cowrote and created the YA graphic novel, Girl on Fire alongside Alicia Keys. To date, he has written, produced, and/or directed eight feature films. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, his two small kids, and their giant cat, Waldo.
About the author
Andrew Weiner is a graphic novelist, screenwriter, and filmmaker, and the founder of the multimedia entertainment company Inner Station. He cowrote and created the YA graphic novel, Girl on Fire alongside Alicia Keys. Most recently, he penned the early reader graphic novel Daddy and the Beanstalk, which tells the true story of the time he bought magic beans and climbed a beanstalk. To date, he has written, produced, and/or directed eight feature films. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, his two small kids, and their giant cat, Waldo.
ANDREW WEINER ’90: ON WRITING WITH ALICIA KEYS
Andrew Weiner '90Dina ElBoghdady
Andrew Weiner '90 rediscovered comics when his bosses at MGM Studios asked him to help assess the viability of adapting the graphic novel, Ghost World, into a movie.
“Reading it was a bit of an epiphany,” Andrew said about the coming-of-age comic by Daniel Clowes, which became an Academy Award-nominated cult classic after the movie was released in 2001. “I had relegated graphic novels to stuff I read as a kid. But that story blew me away.”
Today, Andrew runs his own multimedia company in New York City after spending a portion of his early career working for film studios and production companies. He now focuses on creating graphic novels that can be translated into feature film and TV properties.
Here’s what Andrew had to say about the graphic novel he co-wrote in 2022 with Alicia Keys, Girl on Fire, named after the title track of the Grammy Award-winning artist’s fifth studio album.
Girl On Fire by Alicia Keys
How did you connect with Alicia Keys?
I met her producing partner at the time, Susan Lewis, at a party in New York. She thought it would be cool for me and Alicia to do a project together. From the inception, it was going to be a graphic novel. Eventually, we discussed what a collaboration might look like. I learned that Alicia is a very cause-driven person who is particularly interested in stories that empower people of color and young women and girls. But it took a while to land on an idea. I came up with one that resonated with Alicia on paper. That’s when I was finally introduced to her, and then we started speaking directly about the idea. Flash forward five years, and we did it.
As a White man writing about a young Black girl, how did you approach the project?
Early on, Susan would send me a lot of reading material–essays, articles, and books–to help make sure that the characters felt right and that the perspective was female. Alicia grew up in NYC; I live in Brooklyn, as did Susan. But none of us grew up in public housing. So I wasn’t relying on our understanding of that piece of the story. I interviewed four 15-year-old girls who live in New York City public housing to learn about their lives. They were college-track kids, like the central character, Lola, and they were extraordinary. I leaned on Alicia too. She was a great writing partner, who labored over the details and made sure the voices resonated with her. Also, the team was almost entirely female, including Brittney Williams, an amazing young illustrator who has made it in an industry that’s been heavily dominated by white guys. It took months to find an illustrator that Alicia wanted and that we all felt was a good choice creatively for the book.
A graphic novel is limited in space, so how does that affect the written dialogue?
A writer has to put a tremendous amount of care into dialogue and trim as much fat as possible for the most impact. The goal with the writing and the art is to pull in readers and make it as entertaining as possible. I want the readers to feel as if they’re living in the character’s world.
Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
I wrote a story in first grade at GDS about two roads that get tired of being roads and take off for their own adventures. Cars started crashing into each other, and the roads returned to being roads. I’ve been interested in creative writing ever since. [Former MS Teacher] Clay Roberson and [HS English teacher] John Burghardt really nourished that interest. GDS makes a cameo in a series I’m working on right now involving a field trip from the School to New York City.
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Weiner, Andrew DADDY AND THE BEANSTALK Little, Brown Ink (Children's None) $12.99 11, 14 ISBN: 9780316592918
A father tells his daughter a most entertaining bedtime story.
Estella is getting bouncy, so her father, Andy, spins a yarn to settle her down. She requests a "little less than medium scary" tale, so he launches into a personalized version of "Jack and the Beanstalk." On an errand to buy groceries, young Andy encounters a suspicious, pompadour-sporting man with a bag of magic beans. He buys them, his mom throws them out the window, a beanstalk sprouts, and Andy climbs it to a town above the clouds. Curious and hungry, Andy seeks hot dogs instead of treasure and discovers that the giant is a child. The bedtime story doesn't deviate dramatically from the source material (though it has a happier resolution); the rapport between father and daughter is the real draw here. In Estella's imagination, cowboys and stagecoaches filled the streets when her father was young, and she tries to suss out how Daddy could possibly have been a mischievous kid. Crandall's bubbly illustrations serve the plot well, shining in sequences where a comparatively tiny Andy navigates the giant child's home. Andy, Estella, and their family are dark-haired and olive-skinned; the giant presents white and looks plucked from a midcentury sitcom; and the giant's monstrous peers have black, brown, and blue skin.
A cheerful, slightly snarky riff on a familiar fable. (Graphic fiction. 5-9)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Weiner, Andrew: DADDY AND THE BEANSTALK." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Sept. 2023, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A764873227/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=636ce47c. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.
Daddy and the Beanstalk. By Andrew Weiner. Art by Bethany Crandall, Nov. 2023. 96p. Little, Brown Ink, paper, $12.99 (9780316592918). Gr. 1-4.741.5.
In this lively bedtime story turned graphic novel, Weiner, mixes autobiography with fairy tale in an adorable spin on "Jack and the Beanstalk." Weiner unravels a story incorporating aspects of his own childhood, putting himself in the place of Jack and fulfilling his daughter Estella's insistence on a riveting tale, full of giants, peril, misunderstandings, and lots and lots of soup. Full of adorable banter between Estella and Andrew in real time, Weiner's accessible writing style will be entertaining for both kids and caregivers (particularly those who have their own bedtime-story interrupters on their hands). Crandall utilizes frame cuts from a slew of vantage points that make the story come alive with movement and help readers bounce from tale to storyteller with ease. Elementary-schoolers who can't get enough early reader comics, especially those who like fantasy adventures, will get lots of enjoyment out of Weiner's playful take on a classic story. A great read-alike for Chad Sell's The Cardboard Kingdom series.--Talea Fournier
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 American Library Association
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Fournier, Talea. "Daddy and the Beanstalk." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 5-6, 1 Nov. 2023, p. 71. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A774988479/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c5dd06ad. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.
WEINER, Andrew. Daddy and the Beanstalk. illus. by Bethany Crandall. 96p. Little, Brown Ink. Nov. 2023. Tr $12.99. ISBN 9780316592918.
Gr 1-4--Six-year-old Estella convinces her dad to tell her a bedtime story. She requests a "not-too-scary" one about him and his sister when they were kids and he opens with a tale that sounds very much like "Jack and the Beanstalk." The story smoothly jumps back and forth between the real-world dad and daughter to a fantasy adventure. They humorously discuss many life lessons with Estella adding her opinions. In keeping with the original tale, seven-year-old Andy, who is Estella's dad, is captured by a giant. Luckily his older sister followed him up the beanstalk. Together they escape and race back down, chop the beanstalk down, and cause the giant to fall. He regains consciousness and is able to explain the misunderstanding. Andy was afraid he would become soup for the giant, when in fact, the giant wanted Andy to make soup. The misunderstanding ends in friendship, and it turns out Andy makes terrible soup but throws a great pizza party. Crandall overlaps the two branches of the story while cleverly separating time lines by using pink tones for the present and yellows and greens in the fantasy past. Panels of all shapes and sizes make the story fun to read. VERDICT Laughs abound in this fractured fairy tale embedded in a bedtime story. Give this to fans of "Katie the Catsitter" by Colleen AF Venable and Giants Beware! by Jorge Aguirre.--Elisabeth LeBris
KEY: * Excellent In relation to other titles on the same subject or in the same genre | Tr Hardcover trade binding | Board Board book | pap. Paperback | BL Bilingual | SP Spanish
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LeBris, Elisabeth. "WEINER, Andrew. Daddy and the Beanstalk." School Library Journal, vol. 69, no. 12, Dec. 2023, p. 88. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A779118687/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8e35f46f. Accessed 30 Apr. 2024.
Girl On Fire by Alicia Keys and Andrew Weiner, illustrated by Brittany Williams
Posted on March 31, 2022 by susanh579
3 Votes
Girl On Fire by Alicia Keys and Andrew Weiner, illustrated by Brittany Williams. HaperAlley, 2022. 9780063029569
Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or starred review) 4.5
Format: Hardcover graphic novel
Genre: Urban fantasy
What did you like about the book? Lolo Wright, a black girl in the projects of Brooklyn, is just trying to live as the smartest kid in the 10th grade without bullies harassing her. But when her older brother James gets assaulted by the police for a crime he didn’t commit, Lolo’s hidden voice erupts from within, awakening awesome powers that stop the police attack. As she tries to harness her abilities, James struggles with the trauma of police brutality. Both of their lives take a turn for the worse when Lolo’s powers are noticed by Skin, the local gang leader who wants to control the neighborhood by force, even if that means threatening Lolo’s father and his business. Lolo must learn how to team up with her schoolmate Runt, a kid with his own superpowers who is quickly succumbing to the world of drug dealers and gang wars, in order to save her neighborhood and her family.
The art of the graphic novel is crisp, bold, and smooth, making it pop out of the page. The action is easy to follow and well paced, and characters express their emotions in a fun and distinct manner. All of the characters, even the side ones, feel fleshed out and authentic, with each of their personalities, and sometimes struggles, really shining through. I especially like the Wright family dynamic because it is healthy and full of love. Girl on Fire is a fresh coming-of-age superhero story that is grounded in real-world experience: The superpowers only add to the concepts of fighting for your neighborhood, not straying down the wrong path, and finding your voice in a harsh world.
Anything you didn’t like about it? The resolution after the climax of the story was a bit rushed as Lolo’s mother reveals herself off-camera and is already leaving them again. I wished I could have seen Lolo and James react to their mother more. But that happens at the very end, and should not ruin the rest of the novel.
To whom would you recommend this book? Tweens and teens, those who like superhero storylines, and those who want more black protagonists/characters in graphic novels.
Who should buy this book? Middle schools, high schools, public libraries
Where would you shelve it? Comics/graphic novels
Should we (librarians/readers) put this on the top of our “to read” piles? No, but near the top
Reviewer’s Name, Library (or school), City and State: Laila Carter, Boston Arts Academy, Dorchester MA
Date of review: March 27, 2022