3 stars Written as part of her Master of Fine Arts project, this book gives glimpses into El Sayed’s life, both from childhood to adolescents and into adulthood. The book tackles many topics including cancer, parental expectations and double standards, racism, bullying, divorce, friendship, religion, and moving to a different country. It deals largely with…
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4 stars Another winner from Brosgol! In this part-memoir graphic novel, Brosgol tackles her time at Russian summer camp, complete with mean tent-mates, horrific outhouses (aka the Hollywood), new friends, run-ins with wild animals, camp competitions, reluctantly getting caught up in drama, and the desire to belong. Brosgol doesn’t shy away from some of the…
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4 stars Ten authors pair up with Chad Sell to create interconnected stories from the world of the Cardboard Kingdom. Sell does the artwork throughout, giving it consistency while letting the characters and authors shine. Reality and fantasy converge as the neighborhood kids play their way through summer, making new connections and learning lessons along…
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5 stars I wasn’t intending to spend all day reading this, but here we are. Once I started, I did not want to put this book down. I forced myself to take breaks so I wouldn’t speed through and miss out on the great storytelling and wonderful artwork. Still, I read the whole thing in…
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3 stars A sweet, modern twist on Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, featuring a unicorn from the woods who attends school with other unicorns for the first time. Featuring a delightful cast of magical friends, including a fatherly troll and supportive goblin, fairy, cat, and minotaur, Haddish presents an engaging world. Though there’s plenty of…
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2 stars Picked this up because I loved the idea of an imaginary mascot cheering the main character on. However, I was pretty disappointed. Chunky feels like he was added on to make the story more interesting but wasn’t actually that important. He sort of serves as Hudi’s conscience, but mostly just enthusiastically roots for…
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2 stars I’ll start by saying I am unfortunately an adult and it’s possible my feelings about this book stem from that. I couldn’t relate to Raven. She mostly just annoyed me. But that may just be because I am no longer a moody teen (thank goodness!). I generally enjoy YA and children’s graphic novels,…
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3 stars I’d like to take a moment to just marvel at Maroh’s artwork. That color scheme is just… wow. Okay, on to the review. As I said the artwork is great. I loved the color choices. They really captured the desert versus water dynamic going on. The art style I loved so much in Blue…
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5 stars A powerful tale of a life lived and how quickly the world can change. Inside Out & Back Again tells the story of a year in the life of Hà, based on Thanhha Lai’s own childhood. In that year (1975), Hà experiences the Fall of Saigon, the treacherous journey by ship to America,…
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5 stars I fell in love with this book the moment I saw it. The colors, the designs, the characters, the message. It is just what we needed in the world. The message of body positivity and loving yourself is not necessarily new to children’s literature, but I’ve need seen it presented in a way…
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