This is officially one of the coolest comics that I have ever read solely because it has a CULINARY CONSULTANT as part of the creative team! They create a world where food is a part of the story-although we aren’t there yet because this is only the first issue! So far, we know that the main character, Xoo, has two disabled parents and she runs their restaurant with her talking dog. Her uncle has come to live with them as her caregiver because the state says that she can’t run a restaurant as an underage and undocumented chef. This was a recommendation from Austin Books and Comics that I’m glad I purchased! I expect big things from this comic! :)
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I LOVE LOVE LOVE Moonstruck! This is one of my favorite comic book series for its inclusivity and diversity. In this issue, Selena invites Chet and Julie to accompany her to a frat party that ends up having a fairy circle around it. For those not familiar (haha!) a fairy circle "summer-izes" whatever it surrounds, so the party being held in the winter feels like summer.
*SPOILERS AHEAD!* As most fantasy nerds know, fairies can't be trusted and the friends get stuck at the party. I can't wait to see how this storyline turns out! This graphic novel was a lovely, well written, and beautifully drawn memoir of a girl's adventure to visit her family's homelands. Using a guide, old photos, and her grandmother's memoir, she leaves France to explore Algeria where she learns (and teaches the reader) a lot about Algerian political history as well as her family's history and influence on the country.
Pig the Pug by Aaron Blabey is a super cute, rhyming story about a pug who doesn't like to share. He eventually learns why sharing is important in a very funny way. Pig the Winner by Aaron Blabey is another great, rhyming story about Pig's need to win everything and cheating. It teaches kids how mean cheating is and how it affects others. I'll Wait, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony is precious! My favorite story of the day shows many animals asking Mr. Panda what he is baking with his repeated response to wait and see, but each animal is impatient and leaves. Each time this happens, the little penguin stands by and says, "I'll wait, Mr. Panda." and is rewarded for his patience. LOVED IT! A Bike Like Sergio's by Maribeth Boelts teaches kids about honesty. The main character, Ruben, is very aware that his family is not like his friend, Sergio's family. Sergio has a bike that he rides to and from school everyday while Ruben walks because his family cannot afford one. One day after school, Ruben goes to the grocery store for his mom and finds a one hundred dollar bill on the street after it hsa fallen out of a woman's bag. He goes back and forth between returning it or keeping it and buying himself a bike, but in the end, he must decide for himself what he will do. I loved this story and how it illustrated the inner turmoil that Ruben goes through and many of us do as well at some point in our lives. Final book haul! Schlastic rewards their volunteers with books. I am so excited about Aru Shah and Refugee!
OOMMGGG!! THE POET X is everything that Hispanic girls need right now. Elizabeth Acevedo tells the story of Xiomara (See-oh-MAH-ruh),a twin born fighting angry. Her mother constantly gets after her for the way that men look at her (which she can't help) and wants X to be a devout Catholic, like she is. The interaction between X and her mom felt familiar in not just a Hispanic family dynamic but with any teenage girl and her mother. X keeps a journal where she writes poems that are never meant to see the light of day.
X has never been interested in the attention that she gets from boys, but when she meets her lab partner, Aman, who is quiet but listens to her poems and doesn't push her to do more than she is ok with, X starts to develop feelings that make her question everything that she's ever been taught. Xiomara's English teacher, Ms. Galiano notices X's potential and invites her to a poetry club and eventual poetry slam. After some catastrophic events, X finally gives in and allows herself to be heard. This book will leave everyone teary-eyed and wanting more from X. Her poems are honest and full of life that you can't help but feel what she is feeling and cheer for the outcome that X deserves. This book is a perfect reflection of those crazy mixed-up feelings that we have as teenagers and is a light in what seems like a dark time for Hispanic girls. City on the Other Side is a fun adventure of a graphic novel. It tells the story of a girl who feels ignored by her parents and finds her place on the "other side" of a city where creatures of all kinds work together to stop a fairy war.
Y'all, I absolutely DEVOURED this book. I LOVED the return to Simon's world and how real Leah is. She felt perfect for a movie or even an audiobook; her voice and feelings make her real and relatable. I love how she is trying to find herself as well as coming to terms with her sexual identity. My favorite part of Leah is how she repeats "I love my body.." her body positivity was a breath of fresh air in our body negative world.
If you coudn't already tell, Simon's Spier's best friend, Leah, got her won book, in which she has to navigate her best friend's breakup while falling for the girl that her best friend just broke up with meanwhile worrying about her upcoming graduation and the usual college applicatio process anxiety. Her mom is dating again, so add that to the pile of feels that Leah is dealing with. I loved every second of this book. Readers should be aware though that Leah is a potty-mouth and if you didn't like Katherine Langford playing her in Love, Simon, then you won't like her in this because she is a wonderful depicition of Leah.
This graphic novel is awesome! It is Diverse, Inclusive, magical, and fun! Moonstruck is set in a universe where centaurs and lesbian werewolves work together in coffee shops that serve everyone. Two werewolves, Selena and Julie are in the very beginning stages of a relationship and are still getting to know each other when they go on a date that includes Chet, their centaur friend, who ends up becoming human in an evil magic show and loses his horse butt. While funny, the graphic novel does an amazing job of showing how disastrous and emotionally traumatizing this is to him. The girls and their friends have to help find the evil magician that put on the magic show, get Chet’s butt back, and stop him from hurting others all while trying to figure out their feelings and new relationship!
The main character, Julie the werewolf, is pretty whiny and emotional, but she is a great representation of how feelings of others need to be respected and how to be kind. Overall, this was a great book! The world has been invaded by aliens that abduct teenagers and children from their families, people who are identified as "strong," and loaded up into robots that are taken to other planets (I assume). In this particular graphic novel, the two main characters, Sam and Wyatt, are twins who are trying to help other people from their town while searching for their parents. Wyatt, who has autism, classifies the aliens and helps Sam escape them. The two deliver food and supplies to other people under the code name "Bird One." When the aliens trick them by using a video of their parents to lure them to them, one of them is taken and the other has to find a way to save them on their own.
While the plot took a while to pick up, I enjoyed this graphic novel. The theme of working together and looking past weaknesses is one that really shines through the illustrations. The people of Elizabethtown learn to work together despite their differences to rally against the aliens that are ripping their families apart. |
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