Chat with us, powered by LiveChat

The Oracle Code



by
Marieke Nijkamp
illustrated by
Manuel Preitano

Edition
Paperback
Publisher
DC Comics
Imprint
DC Ink
ISBN
9781401290665
POTENTIALLY SENSITIVE AREAS
None
$9.00   $7.50
SEE MEMBER PRICE
QTY
Out of stock

JLG Category

Paperbacks High

After a gunshot leaves her paralyzed, Barbara Gordon enters the Arkham Center for Independence, where Gotham’s teens undergo physical and mental rehabilitation. Now using a wheelchair, Barbara must adapt to a new normal, but she cannot shake the feeling that something is dangerously amiss. Within these walls, strange sounds escape at night; patients go missing; and Barbara begins to put together pieces of what she believes to be a larger puzzle.

But is this suspicion simply a result of her trauma? Fellow patients try to connect with Barbara, but she pushes them away, and she’d rather spend time with ghost stories than participate in her daily exercises. Even Barbara’s own judgment is in question.Full-color illustrations.

POTENTIALLY SENSITIVE AREAS
None

Details

Format

Print

Page Count

208

Trim Size

9" x 6"

AR

0: points 0

Genre

Fiction

Scholastic Reading Counts

0

JLG Release

May 2020

Book Genres

Detective Story, Graphic Novels, Mystery

Topics

Superheroes. People with disabilities. Rehabilitation. Self-actualization (psychology). Mystery and detective stories. Friendship. Comics and graphic novels.

Standard MARC Records

Download Standard MARC Records

Cover Art

Download Cover Art

Praise & Reviews

Starred or favorable reviews have been received from these periodicals:

School Library Journal

School Library Journal

An accident devastates a superhero but can’t crush her spirit. Before, Barbara Gordon was an elite hacker. But when an attempt to help her father, police commissioner Gordon, with an armed robbery goes wrong, Babs is shot, leaving her paralyzed below the waist and unsure how to reawaken her curiosity and sense of daring. She enrolls at the Arkham Center for Independence (ACI), where patients with disabilities are rehabilitated. Though Babs finds the ACI ominous and director Dr. Maxwell unsettling, she stays at the behest of her father and finally rekindles her determination as she realizes that students are going missing and her mistrust of the institute may be more than paranoia. In this fast-paced and thoughtfully crafted mystery, Nijkamp gives comic book lovers a refreshing take on Barbara Gordon’s journey to becoming Oracle (the persona that in the late 1980s replaced Batgirl as Barbara Gordon’s alter ego). While Babs copes with post-traumatic stress disorder, and some doubt her abilities now that she’s in a wheelchair, she realizes that though her life looks different, that doesn’t mean that the future she envisioned for herself has to change. She’s a winning and deeply relatable protagonist, though her friends are more thinly developed and function more as plot devices. Shadowy illustrations evoke film noir and set the perfect tone for Babs’s escapades; imagery of puzzle pieces represent her growing understanding of what’s really going on at the institute, as well as in her own heart. This strong and empowering addition to DC’s growing line of origin stories will resonate with superhero fans while also enticing newcomers.

School Library Journal

Gr 6 Up-An accident devastates a superhero but can't crush her spirit. Before, Barbara Gordon was an elite hacker. But when an attempt to help her father, police commissioner Gordon, with an armed robbery goes wrong, Babs is shot, leaving her paralyzed below the waist and unsure how to reawaken her curiosity and sense of daring. She enrolls at the Arkham Center for Independence (ACI), where patients with disabilities are rehabilitated. Though Babs finds the ACI ominous and director Dr. Maxwell unsettling, she stays at the behest of her father and finally rekindles her determination as she realizes that students are going missing and her mistrust of the institute may be more than paranoia. In this fast-paced and thoughtfully crafted mystery, Nijkamp gives comic book lovers a refreshing take on Barbara Gordon's journey to becoming Oracle (the persona that in the late 1980s replaced Batgirl as Barbara Gordon's alter ego). While Babs copes with post-traumatic stress disorder, and some doubt her abilities now that she's in a wheelchair, she realizes that though her life looks different, that doesn't mean that the future she envisioned for herself has to change. She's a winning and deeply relatable protagonist, though her friends are more thinly developed and function more as plot devices. Shadowy illustrations evoke film noir and set the perfect tone for Babs's escapades; imagery of puzzle pieces represent her growing understanding of what's really going on at the institute, as well as in her own heart. VERDICT This strong and empowering addition to DC's growing line of origin stories will resonate with superhero fans while also enticing newcomers.-Darla Salva Cruz, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY

Praise & Reviews

School Library Journal

An accident devastates a superhero but can’t crush her spirit. Before, Barbara Gordon was an elite hacker. But when an attempt to help her father, police commissioner Gordon, with an armed robbery goes wrong, Babs is shot, leaving her paralyzed below the waist and unsure how to reawaken her curiosity and sense of daring. She enrolls at the Arkham Center for Independence (ACI), where patients with disabilities are rehabilitated. Though Babs finds the ACI ominous and director Dr. Maxwell unsettling, she stays at the behest of her father and finally rekindles her determination as she realizes that students are going missing and her mistrust of the institute may be more than paranoia. In this fast-paced and thoughtfully crafted mystery, Nijkamp gives comic book lovers a refreshing take on Barbara Gordon’s journey to becoming Oracle (the persona that in the late 1980s replaced Batgirl as Barbara Gordon’s alter ego). While Babs copes with post-traumatic stress disorder, and some doubt her abilities now that she’s in a wheelchair, she realizes that though her life looks different, that doesn’t mean that the future she envisioned for herself has to change. She’s a winning and deeply relatable protagonist, though her friends are more thinly developed and function more as plot devices. Shadowy illustrations evoke film noir and set the perfect tone for Babs’s escapades; imagery of puzzle pieces represent her growing understanding of what’s really going on at the institute, as well as in her own heart. This strong and empowering addition to DC’s growing line of origin stories will resonate with superhero fans while also enticing newcomers.

School Library Journal

Gr 6 Up-An accident devastates a superhero but can't crush her spirit. Before, Barbara Gordon was an elite hacker. But when an attempt to help her father, police commissioner Gordon, with an armed robbery goes wrong, Babs is shot, leaving her paralyzed below the waist and unsure how to reawaken her curiosity and sense of daring. She enrolls at the Arkham Center for Independence (ACI), where patients with disabilities are rehabilitated. Though Babs finds the ACI ominous and director Dr. Maxwell unsettling, she stays at the behest of her father and finally rekindles her determination as she realizes that students are going missing and her mistrust of the institute may be more than paranoia. In this fast-paced and thoughtfully crafted mystery, Nijkamp gives comic book lovers a refreshing take on Barbara Gordon's journey to becoming Oracle (the persona that in the late 1980s replaced Batgirl as Barbara Gordon's alter ego). While Babs copes with post-traumatic stress disorder, and some doubt her abilities now that she's in a wheelchair, she realizes that though her life looks different, that doesn't mean that the future she envisioned for herself has to change. She's a winning and deeply relatable protagonist, though her friends are more thinly developed and function more as plot devices. Shadowy illustrations evoke film noir and set the perfect tone for Babs's escapades; imagery of puzzle pieces represent her growing understanding of what's really going on at the institute, as well as in her own heart. VERDICT This strong and empowering addition to DC's growing line of origin stories will resonate with superhero fans while also enticing newcomers.-Darla Salva Cruz, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY

Grades 10 & Up
Paperbacks High
For Grades 10 & Up

Whether it's action, romance, thrills, or mystery your high schoolers seek, they'll find it in the pages of these hot new trade paperbacks. This category contains 12 books sure to be of high interest.

12 books per Year
$148.92 per Year
Interests
Diversity,Fiction,High Interest/Reluctant Reader,Mature Readers,LGBTQ+,Struggling Readers,Thriller/Horror/Mystery,Novels,Funny/Humorous,Realistic Fiction
Like this book?
Get more like this every month.
LEARN MORE
Grades 10 & Up
Paperbacks High
12 books per Year
$148.92 per Year

Other Recommended Titles From Paperbacks High

Paperbacks High

August 2023

Clash of Fate and Fury

by Rachel Menard

Paperbacks High

July 2023

The Bone Wars

by Erin Evan

Paperbacks High

June 2023

Hot Dutch Daydream

by Kristy Boyce

Paperbacks High

May 2023
Copyright © 2017 Magento, Inc. All rights reserved.11