Jukebox - Nidhi Chanani
Shaheen, a teen girl familiar with the kind of knowledge and appreciation of classic music (think Bessie Coleman, Marvin Gaye) that exists only in the young people of fiction, has a failing out with her father, who goes missing. She and her cousin Tannaz look for him at the hip record shop, where they discover a magical jukebox that sends people back in time. Specifically, to the release day of whatever record is playing. It's an interesting idea, but one that didn't click for me. I found the art sketchy and unappealing, but that's just my taste. The real problem here is in the writing. Everyone acts and talks in a bizarre, alien way. Shahi's mother is unconcerned with her husband's disappearance; the record store owner is weirdly angry about his records despite owning a literal time machine; both girls take the time machine in stride; the people in the historical eras act stilted and clichéd. On top of all that, outside of the famous James Brown concert after MLK's assassination, there is little interesting historical information or anecdotes. I found all of these authorial choices off-putting. [2.5]
