Lady-Bird
by Fabrice Sapolsky, Starr, Dawn J., Sapulpo, Daniele (Illustrator)
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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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!
Clementine: Book One
by Tillie Walden
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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Everyday Hero Machine Boy
by Irma Kniivila, Trí Vương
A mysterious robot boy crash lands in a city, and soon his programming detects a threat. The programming goes into combat mode, attacking bystanders and accidentally destroying a grocery store greenhouse. But when a little bird is hurt, his programming seems to awaken a consciousness and the boy becomes aware of his actions. He looks around and realizes that the devastation is his own fault. He tries to make amends and rebuilds the greenhouse. He is adopted by a sweet lady, who he begins to call his grandmother. Gradually he learns to be human and fit in with society. But there are those who would use his robot programming for their own selfish ends.
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Tales of a Seventh-Grade Lizard Boy
by Jonathan Hill
Tommy has a secret. His family are actually lizard people trying to blend in with the human world. Tommy has to wear a human skin over his green lizard face. It’s difficult trying to be “normal” in middle school when everything is so different from your own lizard culture.
Tommy meets other seventh-graders who also have trouble fitting in. One of his new friends, Dung, is a Vietnamese boy who is dealing with culture shock and trying to learn English. They bond over their differences, discovering that they have more in common than they realized.
I loved this graphic novel! The plot is hilarious and emotional. The characters are complex. Their stories are meaningful. The setting and background are interesting. And the storytelling style is superb!
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Shuna’s Journey
by Hayao Miyazaki, Alex Dudok de Wit (Translator)
Shuna is the young prince of a poor valley land with few crops and starving citizens. An old man travels into the valley and tells Shuna about a land with bountiful wheat. Shuna leaves on a journey to bring back seeds from this land. He rides through many dangers and encounters a land full of slave traders. He rescues two sisters from the slavers, and they travel together to the edge of the land of the gods where Shuna is hoping he will find the wheat.
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Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
by Ethan Sacks, Will Sliney (Illustrator)
I ended up DNFing this book after reading other reviews that say that Han Solo and Chewbacca are only in the first chapter. So I read the first chapter, tried the second chapter, got bored and gave up.
I don’t super love the art style. Han looks like his face is all distorted or something. The aliens look cool, but that’s because they are supposed to be distorted and weird-looking.
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The World of Yaxin: Day of the Unicorn
by Man Arenas
This graphic novel doesn’t really have a story. It’s more like a collection of poetic lines with a loose story line of a lady unicorn, who gazes at the moon with her princess friend and little fauns. She meets a male unicorn and the artwork shows the male jumping over her while she rolls on her back on the ground. This is suggestive, but the text just says that “Love meets Life”. Then we understand that the lady unicorn is pregnant.
When the baby unicorn is born, the illustrations show the baby coming out of the mother in the process of birth. It’s quite graphic but beautiful. The text describes the pain and blood, and the artwork shows the placenta. But it doesn’t feel inappropriate or gross. It shows the miracle of birth in a special way.
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The Adventures of Snoop: The Mountain of Hope
by SENIOR TASSE
Snoop, the mountain goat, dreams of going on a quest to find the primordial grass. In this first volume, Snoop remembers a legend of an ancient goat who discovered the primordial grass and made a deal with cavemen to protect his herd.
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We Live, Volume One
by Inaki Miranda (Writer/Artist), Roy Miranda
3.5 stars
Tala and her little brother, Hototo, have to travel through many dangers to reach the Beacon, an alien rendezvous that will rescue five thousand children from the coming disasters which will cause the extinction of all humanity. They are attacked by wild animals and greedy humans, but Tala vows to protect her little brother. Hototo wears a cape and pretends to be a superhero. Along the way they team up with Humbo and Alice, who are also trying to reach the Beacon. But time is running out, and the countdown for the end of the world has already begun.
Luminous Libro 