Viking has bought The Young Pathfinders, a middle-grade graphic novel series by Francesco Sedita and Prescott Seraydarian. The book will be illustrated by Steve Hamaker. The Young Pathfinders is an adventure story featuring a diverse group of kids thrown together in a summer camp project. Researching their town’s history leads to a mysterious, abandoned castle that was once home to an eccentric inventor, and may still be home to great treasure.
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Rating: 4 out of 5.
I had to pick this one up when I read the premise and thought it would be a fun read – I wasn’t wrong. I will definitely be picking up other volumes as this was just a joy to read. A fun, puzzle solving mystery with a group of new friends. The art style is fun and vibrant, and the story flows super fast. I can’t wait to see what else they find on their adventures.
Wilder and her friends continue their adventures, exploring the secrets of their sleepy hometown.
Wilder, Macy, Dot, Karma and Ed continue their hunt for notorious pirate Black Mary’s secret treasure, and uncover their sleepy town’s hidden secrets. With tensions running high, and the smell of the sea (and unclaimed treasure) fresh on the breeze, the girls will have to work together to keep clear of the Denbys and Horace Shipp, not to mention Wilder’s increasingly suspicious sheriff mom, to get out of this without walking the plank!
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Rating: 4 out of 5.
I’ve been wanting to pick up the second volume of Misfit City for a while now and finally was able to – then made sure to devour it in one setting. Being a great lover of The Goonies I instantly give points to anything that references it and this one for sure does that. Sure, it plays on a lot of the same themes and tropes, but it was just a fun time. I loved the dive into Black Mary’s story that happened in this one and how the story wrapped up especially. There were some instances where I felt like some of the characters were hard to tell apart, so it might have been nice to have a slightly smaller group, or have more unique traits to them, but that didn’t decrease my enjoyment in the story as they had their adventure and discovered the truth.
Cute, clever, and comically ingenious, Andrés Colmenares’ popular shark comics are a sweet, sincere tonic for these anxious, troubled times
This hardcover collection features the cute, uplifting and ingenious aquatic cartoons of Andrés Colmenares, the creator of Wawawiwa Comics, followed by millions of fans around the globe. While sharks are one of the ocean’s deadliest predators, these sharks can smell insecurity, doubt, and gloom, and are quick to strike — with kindness, cuteness, and positivity!
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Rating: 5 out of 5.
After reading a number of the short form comic books that have come out in the last year, I was really excited to pick this one up, especially after reading the synopsis and seeing the art style. This would be the perfect book to flip through if you’re needing a quick laugh, smile or pick me up. I loved all the scenarios in this book and the little snippets of friendships and life between the different creatures features (one of my favorites involved penguins, but there were so many good ones!). I especially loved the continuing thread of the main shark and his fish friend as they interacted with other characters and lived their lives. All in all it was fun and heartwarming, sure to put a smile on anyone’s face.
Aster always looks forward to the Midwinter Festival, a reunion of the entire Vanissen family that includes competitions in witchery and shapeshifting. This year, he’s especially excited to compete in the annual Jolrun tournament-as a witch. He’s determined to show everyone that he’s proud of who he is and what he’s learned, but he knows it won’t be easy to defy tradition.
Ariel has darker things on her mind than the Festival-like the mysterious witch who’s been visiting her dreams, claiming to know the truth about Ariel’s past. She appreciates everything the Vanissens have done for her. But Ariel still craves a place where she truly belongs.
The Festival is a whirlwind of excitement and activity, but for Aster and Ariel, nothing goes according to plan. When a powerful and sinister force invades the reunion, threatening to destroy everything the young witches have fought for, can they find the courage to fight it together? Or will dark magic tear them apart?
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Rating: 4 out of 5.
I’ve been putting off reading this one for far too long, probably because I didn’t want it too end. Safe to say I loved it. It had continuing things found family, diversity and discrimination – especially when it can happen within families. I have loved seeing how all of the characters have grown, but even more so how Aster has come into their own. They’re still young and can still get hurt, but there’s maturity that is coming with growing up. I really enjoyed the very real portrayal of conflicts that other members within a family may have, and how their actions can be misunderstood. Seeing the very real conflicts, and then resolutions when they happen I think is very important. I loved this series and highly recommend picking it up.
In Be Prepared, all Vera wants to do is fit in—but that’s not easy for a Russian girl in the suburbs. Her friends live in fancy houses and their parents can afford to send them to the best summer camps. Vera’s single mother can’t afford that sort of luxury, but there’s one summer camp in her price range—Russian summer camp.
Vera is sure she’s found the one place she can fit in, but camp is far from what she imagined. And nothing could prepare her for all the “cool girl” drama, endless Russian history lessons, and outhouses straight out of nightmares!
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Rating: 3 out of 5.
I enjoyed this cute representation of how someone can feel like they’ve finally found the place where they are going to fit in, only to find out that they don’t really and that making friends is about more than being similar to people. This is the first title I’ve read by Vera Brosgol and I really enjoyed not only her art style but her story telling in general. She perfectly captures so many facets of what girls (and children in general) experience in their pre-teen ages – especially when they feel like they can’t fit in with anyone. I did really enjoy the experiences shown at camp and all the emotions Vera went through.
Millie is one unusual fox, and she knows it. She comes up with highly unusual thoughts, invents ingenious excuses to get out of her homework, and her classmates are not always sure quite what to make of her. But thankfully she has Ozy, one of the most loyal friends anyone could ask for. Together the two of them, their friends, and Ozy’s dad, Llewellyn (who happens to be a red dragon) enjoy various misadventures, whimsical conversations, elaborate schemes, and delightful bouts of mischief. Whether they’re navigating cliques, inventing new games, or just trying to make sense of life, Ozy and Millie are the perfect companions for upper middle grade readers as well as fans of Dana Simpson’s bestselling Phoebe and Her Unicorn series.
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Rating: 4 out of 5.
I didn’t know this web comic existed, but now I’m glad I do. The adventures that Ozy and Millie have are adorable and the two of them seem to balance each other well. Plus other characters, such as their parents, were great voices in the comics as well. I loved the art style and how vibrant the colors were. These comics are great for all ages and I do really enjoy that they included a glossary in the back for younger readers to learn about words they may not know and people mentioned.
Invulnerability is a pretty useless superpower if you’ve only got a one-hundred pound frame to back it up. That’s what Quinton West’s life became when he went from small guy who got beat up to small guy who can’t get hurt after the meteor shower dubbed “The Event” gifted him the power of invulnerability but no other powers to compliment it.
But there’s more to Quin than meets the eye, and after some encouragement from his new mentor—a local New Orleans–based superhero named Glow—Quin realizes that he can use his quirky hobby of creating Rube Goldberg devices to outsmart the opposition. But being a hero paints a target on your back, and Quin’s got to risk it all to join the ranks of the superheroes he looks up to. It’s a good thing he can take a punch.
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Rating: 3 out of 5.
This adventure was definitely a fun spin on the idea of people suddenly having superpowers and what they do with it but also unpacked some very relevant issues that are prevalent today. In it we follow Quin who can’t be hurt, but doesn’t really feel like it’s of much value in the grand scheme of things. A lot of the internal dialogue Quin has it really good introspection about what constitutes the right thing and how perceptions of what that is can vary. Overall it was a fun take on the superhero trope and I really enjoyed the art style especially. All of the colors were dynamic and I really enjoyed the varying ways panels were put together.
The town of Southborough used to be a major tourism destination, drawing folks from all over in the hopes they’d spot the famous Sasquatch, reportedly seen in the town many times over the years. But it’s been ages since anyone’s spotted the ‘squatch, and tourism is starting to dry up. A tech company called Start-up.com (a start-up that helps people start their own start-ups) decides to begin buying up places all over town in order to build their techie headquarters, driving out all the local townspeople. Luckily, Southborough is also home to Louie O’Connor, firm believer in the Sasquatch’s existence and all-around, mega ’squatch fan.
When Louie’s dads’ restaurant, Squatch Burger, starts to go under and fall prey to the techie start-up, Louie and her best friend Felix decide they’ll do whatever it takes to save the town from losing all the people and places that make it special. In hopes that convincing people the Sasquatch is real and to drive back tourism, Louie and Felix plan an elaborate hoax in hopes of saving the town from the dot-com takeover. But when Felix starts talking about leaving their hometown for college in LA, Louie will have to face some tough questions about herself, her future career, and her place in her beloved hometown.
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Rating: 4 out of 5.
Just the premise of this one sounded fun to me, so I knew I wanted to pick it up. We follow Louie who is trying to save her town after the tourism market seems to dry up. Woven into the story is also her going through that period of late teens where she’s trying to figure out what she wants to do and what comes after high school. It has a diverse and unique cast of characters and Louie is quite a character herself, but I was surprised when I discovered she was 17 as she does read a tad younger. There were times that her reactions were a little more adolescent than her age, but those were minor things. It’s a fun adventure of one girl trying to save her town from being bought up and renovated and all the different things she tries on the way there.
When you’ve reached that sweatpants-wearing cozy place in your relationship, it’s all In Love & Pajamas! This brand-new collection of Catana Comics presents some fan favorites and half of the book features never-before-seen comics that delight and amuse readers of all ages. Wholesome, sweet, feel-good humor!
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Rating: 5 out of 5.
I had no idea that Catana Chetwynd was releasing another collection of her comics, but as soon as I saw it I had to give it a read. Her comics are so relatable and easy to identify with, especially when you’re able to see your own relationship in her vignettes and snapshots of her relationship. If you’ve seen her comics on the internet, then you will recognize her style. She perfectly captures situations that can be both common and rare, but equally special, in a great relationship. This one definitely ends up being a great companion to her other collections.
Katie is dreading the boring summer ahead while her best friends are all away at camp–something that’s way out of Katie and her mom’s budget, UNLESS Katie can figure out a way earn the money for camp herself. But when Katie gets a job catsitting for her mysterious upstairs neighbor, life get interesting. First, Madeline has 217 cats (!) and they’re not exactly . . . normal cats. Also, why is Madeline always out EXACTLY when the city’s most notorious villain commits crimes?! Is it possible that Katie’s upstairs neighbor is really a super villain? Can Katie wrangle a whole lot of wayward cats, save a best friendship (why is Beth barely writing back? And who’s this boy she keeps talking about?!), AND crack the biggest story in the city’s history? Some heroes have capes . . . Katie has cats!
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Rating: 5 out of 5.
I was initially sucked in just from the description because it mentioned lots of cats, but I loved this! The surface layer of the story is a superhero/supervillain story, but beyond that it is a story about things that happen when a friendship starts to become distant and fade away. All of us have gone through it at some point, but an often time it does happen is in those transition years between middle school and high school.
It isn’t just a story about Katie catsitting and finding out things about the superheroes and villians in her city, it’s also somewhat about her figuring out what trajectory her life is going to take and who she’s going to spend time with.
I loved so many things about it and have to point out the details and personalities that went into all of the cats. I’m not going to say much more because spoilers, but I adored it! The art also was a shining part of this book, with a muted palette that perfectly suited the mood.
The Wandering Wordsmith 