Manga Review: Josee, the Tiger, and the Fish

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish by Seiko Tanabe

Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (manga)
by Seiko Tanabe (Original Author), Nao Emoto (Artist)

5 out of 5 stars

Tsuneo dreams about studying the ocean in Mexico, and he works all the time so he can save enough money to go. He takes a part-time job helping Josee, a girl in a wheelchair. However, he finds the job more difficult than he had imagined. She is angry and grumpy and mean. Tsuneo tries to be patient with her, and when they discover their shared love for the beauties of the ocean, they begin to connect.

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Book Review: Scurry

Scurry by Mac Smith

Scurry
by Mac Smith

4 out of 5 stars

A little mouse named Wix is scouting through an abandoned human neighborhood, looking for food for his colony of mice. Back home at the colony, Pict cares for her ailing father, and worries that some of the mice might be planning some kind of betrayal against the council. While Wix faces danger outside from cats and other predators, Pict wonders if there is also danger from within the colony.

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Graphic Novel Review: The Death of Nancy Drew

Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys by Anthony Del Col

Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Death of Nancy Drew (Nancy Drew: The Death of Nancy Drew)
by Anthony Del Col (Goodreads Author), Joe Eisma (Artist)

4 of 5 stars

Nancy Drew is dead. She was tracking down the last remnants of a criminal gang, when her car ran off the road into a river. The Hardy brothers, Frank and Joe, are arguing about whether her car crash was accidental or whether they should be investigating her death. Nancy’s ex-boyfriend, Ned, is now the new mayor of River Heights. Nancy’s father, Carson Drew, is disgraced and unemployed. But it is the rich Bobbsey family and the Bobbsey twins, Freddie and Flo, who are definitely hiding something. As layer upon layer of the mystery unravels, everyone seems to have their own reasons for wanting Nancy dead, but who is actually responsible for her death?

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Graphic Novel Review: Operatic

Operatic by Kyo Maclear

Operatic
by Kyo Maclear (Goodreads Author), Byron Eggenschwiler (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

Charlie is a girl who is exploring what music truly means to her. As her class at school put together a list of their favorite songs, their music teacher introduces many styles and genres of music and encourages the students to listen and feel the emotions within the music. One boy, Luka, expresses himself through singing with courage and strong feeling, but the other students make fun of him to the extent that he doesn’t return to school. Can the class find a way to use music to repair what has been broken?

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Graphic Novel Review: Breath of the Giant

Breath of the Giant by Tom Aureille

Breath of the Giant
by Tom Aureille, Fabrice Sapolsky (Editor), Tarek Abdel Razek (Color Assist)

4 out of 5 stars

Two sisters embark on a long journey to the wild North, searching for giants. Legend says that if you can kill one of the giants and capture its strength in a magic stone, then you will be able to bring the dead back to life. The sisters will brave any danger and endure hardship in the frozen wastelands if it means they can bring their mother back from the dead. But they are not the only ones searching for the giants.

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Graphic Novel Review: Bountiful Garden

Bountiful Garden by Ivy Noelle Weir

Bountiful Garden (Bountiful Garden, #1-5)
by Ivy Noelle Weir (Goodreads Author) (Writer), Kelly Williams (Artist), Giorgio Spalletta (Colorist ), Justin Birch (Letterist)

3 out of 5 stars

A group of teenagers have been trained to terraform a distant planet, but their spaceship stalls and they are awakened out of cryostasis ten years too early. They explore a nearby planet looking for supplies, and a mysterious presence begins to make itself known.

This graphic novel was a little too scary for me. There is some gore and blood that was gross.

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Graphic Novel Review: Gustav and Henri: Tiny Aunt Island

Gustav & Henri Tiny Aunt Island (Vol. 2) by Andy   Matthews

Gustav & Henri Tiny Aunt Island (Vol. 2) (Gustav & Henri, 2)
by Andy Matthews, Peader Thomas (Illustrator)

5 out of 5 stars

Gustav wants to go water rafting and drags his friend Henri along for the ride. After getting caught in a storm, they are left stranded on a des_ert island, but something strange is going on with this mysterious island.

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Graphic Novel Review: Lady-Bird

Lady-Bird by Fabrice Sapolsky

Lady-Bird
by Fabrice Sapolsky, Starr, Dawn J., Sapulpo, Daniele (Illustrator)

4 out of 5 stars

This graphic novel follows Mina, a girl with an extraordinary ability to defy gravity. Her blood can cure any disease, and she has been locked in a basement for as long as she can remember with a nurse drawing her blood each day. When she escapes, she discovers that her family’s past reveals a much more complex relationship with her captors than she could ever imagine.

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Graphic Novel Review: Loonicorns

Loonicorns by Ced

Loonicorns
by Ced

3.5 stars
A little girl with a horn mysteriously appears in Looniland right when a plague begins sweeping through the city. Could it be that she brought the sickness with her? The unicorns and cyclopes who live in the city are divided into groups of “pretties” and “uglies”, but only the “pretties” are getting sick. It’s up to Kurb and his “ugly” friends to find answers by going on a quest!

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Graphic Novel Review: Clementine

Clementine by Tillie Walden

Clementine: Book One
by Tillie Walden

2 out of 5 stars

Clementine is struggling to survive on her own in a world full of zombies. She has had one of her legs amputated, and has to hobble along travelling north. Sometimes she meets people, but is reluctant to trust anyone. Amos is an Amish teen, leaving his homestead community to look for work in the mountains. They travel together for a few days and develop a tenuous friendship. But the world is cruel and people can’t be trusted.

I was not a fan of the graphic violence and profanity in this book. I understand that obviously a book about zombies is going to have some serious violence, so I expected that. But the profanity was just completely unnecessary. If it had been just one or two words, then I might have overlooked it; but it got worse as the book went on.

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