Wonder Woman

Tempest Tossed

Laurie Halse Anderson, Leila del Duca (Illustrator), DC Entertainment (JUN 2) Softcover $16.99 (208pp), 978-1-4012-8645-3

Sixteen-year-old future superhero Diana discovers a wider world full of beauty and danger in Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed.

On the island of Themyscira, Diana is ready to celebrate her “Born Day” with her mother and the other Amazons. But when outsiders pass through a hole in the barrier that hides Themyscira from the rest of the world, Diana rescues a boatload of refugees, and in the process loses her way back home, landing instead in Greece. There, she lives as a refugee until she meets two men who work for the United Nations—steve Chang and his husband, Trevor, in a clever nod to Wonder Woman’s comic book history. She moves to the United States and stays with a Polish woman and her granddaughter, learning that her new home has many problems that she can help to solve.

The book is stuffed with modern-day hazards, including issues of child hunger, child trafficking, and developers looking to replace a park with condominiums. There’s emphasis on Diana’s brains rather than her brawn, and her ability to speak any language proves as useful as her burgeoning physical abilities.

Diana’s introduction to our world isn’t all bad news, however. The story includes sweet, memorable moments as she experiences parkour, polkas, and discusses problems like “face pox” and “moonbleeding” with another teenager. A wonderful scene finds Diana inspired by the Statue of Liberty and Emma Lazarus’s “The New Colossus.”

The art is a highlight. Diana looks the part of a teenager coming into her own: awkward at times, but passionate and with glimpses of the adult she’s destined to become. Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed reads much like its central character: intelligent, intense, and inspiring.